Everybody Loves a Treasure Hunt

On the Road Again

Well, it's been that kind of summer, Ultimate Treasure Hunts and Can You Find It out on the road.  It started with that trip to Maine back a couple months ago when they (up "north") still had snow on the ground even though we (down "south") were well into spring and quickly approaching summer. The Northern Outdoors' permanently installed orienteering course is coming along nicely and will be presented to them (another road trip!!!) soon. Then it was down to Miami, Florida for a great GPS Navigation game for the sales team of a major publishing company.   POIs (points of interest) included the Roy Lichtenstein Mermaid sculpture on the grounds of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, The Jackie Gleason Theater & Emeril Lagasse's restaurant at the stunning Lowe's Hotel complex.  One of the highlights of this trip was an incredible Mexican meal outside (under cover) in the pouring rain at a place called Oh Mexico on Washington Street where Deb was introduced to my favorite, Mole Poblano.  After Miami, we programmed our bearings and headed north to Stowe, Vermont for another GPS game put together for a major, Boston based consulting firm.   A few fun birthday and graduation parties took us to Saugus, Dover & Duxbury, MA as well as Bedford & Durham, NH.  During the 4th of July week, we put on our annual treasure hunt for the town of Ossipee, NH. for their annual community celebration days (thanks to Peter Waugh, the town's Director of Recreation for having us).  Tomorrow were out at Blue Hills in Canton, MA. for an orienteering training and plans are in the works for an Ultimate Boston Treasure Hunt...more news to come on that as it develops. Whether we're presenting corporate team building exercises or unique birthday games, all these great events and wonderful people met can't help but confirm that it's true....Everyone Loves a Treasure Hunt!

The Inner Child

Who doesn't reflect fondly and almost child-like at discovering & opening presents at holiday time, or the indelible thrill of an Easter egg hunt, or getting together with your friends on a cool summer evening at twilight to play hide and seek until it gets too dark and it's time to go home?  As adults, in our adult lives and all that goes with it, we lose, to some extent, this sense of play, of wonderment and curiosity, and the thrill and pride of small discoveries. We relish those rare times when we can get away from it all and be kid-like again, to use the part of the brain that holds simple logic, to be Huck Finn-like, to have a chance to overcome basic fears, to be lost and, given that it's a temporary state, found again.  And when we've had such moments of well-deserved frivolity and are back firmly entrenched in our office in front of the computer or back on the job site where everything is dictated and structured, we cherish and share those new memories of being adventurous and free to find our own way. One of the rewards of what we do, after completing a GPS Navigation Game or a treasure hunt for adults, is seeing the excitement in participant's faces and hearing them extol on how much fun they had and how it brought them back to when they were a kid.  It's the same with Team Building events in that when barrier's are broken and day-to-day corporate roles are shed, everyone exists on an even and leveled "playground," free to rediscover individual abilities and, at times, their dependence on other's to achieve a particular goal as well as their ability to be depended on. 

Life is a Highway

We've all heard the saying, "The Road Map of Life."  And it's true.  Everything we learn along the way, everything that makes us who we are and helps build our characters and personalities are analogous to all the peaks and valleys, new construction zones, paved and unpaved roads, four lane highways, harbors, open spaces, congested cities, small towns, serene lakes and wild winding rivers found on maps. In our business, we incorporate the analogy of life as a navigation game requiring us to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land, recognize key points, pitfalls and best possible routes to reach our next destination and achieve desired goals one at a time.  Sometimes help is needed, much like when we incorporate GPS Navigation units in our GPS Navigation Games or when we design a detailed treasure map for our treasure hunt events. Life is a journey.....use a map!

Why We Love Maps

  Everyone seems to love maps, particularly when they're lost! OK, "love"may be overstating it, but whether it be a standard atlas or road map, or the layout of a mall or an amusement park, or a walking map of any given city, the presentation of a map always seems to interest people in a myriad of ways.  They first try to find that proverbial "You Are Here" arrow.  However, if such simplicity is not present, they generally & instinctively go into navigation mode in order to find a familiar landmark or structure to determine where they stand at that given moment.  They then think of where they've been or where they want to go, tracing in seconds with their mind's eye what may take of has taken hours for them to get to in real time and distance. They may be amazed that there's a large lake tucked in those woods they never knew about, or that the mountain they're traversing isn't really as high as it seems in relation to others in the area.  They may make a decision to take a winding rural route to their next destination instead of the same old boring, straight, predictable highway they usually venture forth on.  And who knows what new potential discoveries await along the new route! Their curiosities are piqued.  One may realize that the space they fill is so small compared to the surrounding world that they are inspired, literally and figuratively, to venture forth to new distances and heights.  That's part of the rewards we experience through Corporate GPS navigation games & team building, treasure hunts and map making.

If You Build It....

Creating and establishing permanent map based & orienteering focused team building event sites is just one of the things we do best.  We're bringing this effort to our current project - Northern Outdoors located in The Forks, Maine on the banks of the Kennebec River. 

A week's worth of meticulous mapping was completed, (in glorious, sunny, cool, pre-black fly weather - a small window in Northern Maine's almanac!), covering every square foot of the adventure resort's acreage. The information and layout is being transformed into what will be a permanent & challenging all ages/abilities orienteering/team building course, the challenge and attraction being the unique and varied natural topography and man-made elements we found during this initial phase. Upon the completion of this map, the next phase will entail a return visit to actually train the Northern Outdoor staff in utilizing the map in order for they, themselves, to be able to offer, present and execute orienteering races, team building events & GPS games on their newly custom designed course.

We can certainly attest to the wonderful accommodations at Northern Outdoors as well as the kindness, generosity and cooperative spirit we have found in the staff there particularly Russell Walters, President of NO., Stephanie Koetzle, Group & Corporate Programs Director, and Chris Russell who runs Maine's Finest Youth Adventures, Adventure Bound, a branch of Northern Outdoors.

Finally, we apologize to all the bugs we "met" on our journey!

Experiential Learning and Navigation

Companies that wisely invest in team building activities realize that a well planned event is an intentional process directed at improving effectiveness. In our customized challenges, individuals can come together outside of the daily business to participate in challenges that exercise all personalities, learning styles, and relationship dynamics.  Emphasis is on fun, here, as this creates a 'risk-friendly' atmosphere for people to dare to 'be themselves'.  Using different styles and objectives throughout the program encourages participation.
The key to success, from our experience, is to change the initiative through out the games to encourage different skills and levels of participation.  An individual that is savvy with maps may start off the day by showing the others where to go, but within minutes, the challenge will require the person with communication abilities to transfer information from a puzzling clue discovered to the rest of the group.  Strategies will be developed and decisions need to be made about which route is best to take.  Problem solving or creative activities will arise that will allow another individual to come forward. 
Ultimate Treasure Hunts is the original website that focuses on teaching navigation and out of that grew the corporate events that are high- tech and sophisticated for adults.  Events have been created for small gatherings as well as hundreds of participants.  Towns have brought us in to design 'town-wide' treasure hunts that incorporate the history of the community and introduce people to their neighbors and fellows.  Orienteering and maps is the common denominator in this unique form of group activity.  Customized maps allow us to go anywhere to create the 'playing field'.  GPS units allow us to stretch the site to include larger areas of cities and forests.