Dallas Businesses Use Interactive Scavenger Hunt for Teambuilding Event

April 25, 2012 - PRLog -- Two local businesses, Schneider Optical Machines, The Colony, and Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), Irving, turned to Urban Adventure Quest to provide a unique teambuilding activity for their individual employee events. The Dallas Urban Adventure Quest is an interactive scavenger hunt adventure guided from any smart phone.  Groups are divided into teams of 4 to 5 players and then solve clues and complete challenges to navigate through downtown Dallas.  

Teams experience a fun two-hour Amazing Race-like adventure with the game software automatically keeping track of points and time, making it easy to declare a winning team.  Using a smart phone as “the guide” allows the activity coordinator the flexibility to start the event when they want and when it fits the group’s schedule.

“The set up was quick and easy. We initially set up the event to be an employee appreciation event, but found teambuilding as an added benefit,” said Kathy Goodin-Mitchell, SPHR, director, human resources, PPAI.

Whether at work or play, the best business teams find a way to use the unique skills of each member to benefit the common goal.  While participating in the interactive scavenger hunt, teams may discover that the methodical analysis of the accounting department team member compliments the creative thinking of the marketing department member.

“Training can be boring. You sit in a class and work through the process or listen to a speaker as an uninterested party.  This was fun, interactive and brought a mix of options to the table for our organization. We were able to mix teams with people from different departments who had never had a chance to work together before.  Now they all have new work friends,” said Goodin-Mitchell.

By combining Urban Adventure Quest with any personality style training, companies can create a program that allows team members to apply what they have learned about their co-workers’ communications style or skill sets in a non-classroom setting.  Activity coordinators can assemble teams of mixed personality styles and then send them off to solve challenges, providing a chance to learn about each other in a fun, interactive way.
The president of Schneider Optical Machines, Kurt Atchison, also found the Urban Adventure Quest for Dallas to be a great teambuilding activity and something completely different for their quarterly group activity.

“A typical week for us includes plenty of travel, technicians venturing all over the U.S., phones ringing, parts shipping, and everyone a bit scattered to get the job done.  Once a quarter, we try to get all the employees together in one place to relax in a non-work related setting,” explained Atchison. “Everyone was talking about the upcoming Urban Adventure Quest challenge for weeks leading up to the Saturday event. The preparation and teambuilding started long before the actual event, so the game provided a double impact.”

Schneider Optical Machines had four teams run the event, while PPAI had eight teams. On each company’s game day, their teams gathered at Union Station where they were sent out with five minutes between teams. Following the clues and completing the challenges lead the teams to parks, a cemetery, monuments, outdoor art and historic locations around Dallas. The total walking distance was 2.3 miles, with 23 questions, 3 bonus questions, plus local history provided in Urban Questologies along the way. For teams taking their time and enjoying the sites, completing the Quest should take between two, to two and a half hours.

“Our employees really enjoyed the quest and the information learned along the way.  The event was so out of the box.  It is not what you would think of for a company event, yet I would recommend it to any company who wants to mix things up and take people out of their comfort zones,” said Goodin-Mitchell.

Atchison’s teams were a bit more competitive, with some teams actually running to get the fastest time. “Although a nice, leisurely tour is possible; all our teams were quite competitive.  I believe I saw brand new running shoes on a few contestants, and they were put to great use.  The streets of Dallas looked more like marathon day as everyone ran from clue to clue.  (The first place Schneider team completed the Dallas Quest in one hour twenty-six minutes) At the end, everyone asked impatiently about the scores from the other teams or how another team figured out a certain clue.”

For companies on a tight budget, Urban Adventure Quest scavenger hunts are a budget-minded teambuilding solution with per team NOT per person pricing of $49 per team. Group discounts are available for companies purchasing five or more teams.
“As a non-profit, we don’t get a chance to do much out-of-office type training.  The budget must be maintained.  With the Quest, we paid a low fee per team and could bring everyone that wanted to attend,” said Goodin-Mitchell.

Currently offered in 13 major cities within North America including Dallas, Texas, Urban Adventure Quest provides ready-made scavenger hunt adventures that can turn a company’s team building activity into the hottest topic at the water cooler. To learn more about Urban Adventure Quest, visit their Web site at http://www.UrbanAdventureQuest.com or contact Christie at Christie@UrbanAdventureQuest.com.