by Tibi Grigore, Teambuilding Division Manager

“We knew the event would be a “WOW” for the participants, but the “Wow” was doubled / tripled.” I didn’t have a single participant who had anything negative to say about the event, it’s just a well-known saying “you can’t please everyone…”. Here’s how it can be done. I carefully observed the members of the Universum project team and was very impressed by the way they work together. Congratulations!”

And that’s how the thought flies away. It seems like it was yesterday, somewhere in Sinaia. Evening falls and the team begins to gather.
We greet each other, we are happy to be together again and plan tomorrow’s event. A day of outdoor Olympics with 100 participants.

The evening is just beginning. Bonding and discussions. The moment when the project team is formed. We often receive feedback that we understand each other by looking at each other, but rarely does anyone ask how this happens. The synergy of the team of facilitators is one of the unwritten objectives of any team building.

At the moment when 36 facilitators have to synchronize to the minute, beyond good planning, the technology that helps us make things easier and Main Faci aka the MC of the event, the last but not the last element in the puzzle is the degree of cohesion and energy of the facilitation team.

Another thought flies in the past when someone told me that the facilitators should not have more fun than the participants. One of the myths dismantled over time. The facilitators must feel at least as good as the participants. They are the hosts of the event and the ‘guests‘ must feel comfortable in their home.

We started telling stories and the evening fell. I don’t know when I fell asleep, but it’s morning.
The sun begins to rise over the beautiful clearing where the activities take place.

The logistics team works hard so that the workshops are ready long before the participants arrive.

The facilitators’ dry run begins and when everything seems to be going smoothly and we are too relaxed, a challenge appears – one of the buses that brought the participants to the event broke down.
I don’t know what an elevator speech means for others, but for me finding a bus in 10 minutes that would be in front of the hotel in 15 was an elevator speech.

To reach the Sinaia transport directorate in 2 minutes, for the manager to come in 5 and to have 3 more minutes to convince him to send a coach there in the next 3 sounds like an elevator speech.

If I learned one thing from this story, it’s that anything can be solved as long as you are open to solutions and have faith in what you want. And in people. As long as you are well-intentioned and have a solution-oriented attitude, problems become challenges that make the game more interesting.

Again the evening catches us in Sinaia. We celebrate the day that just ended. The client is happy, the team is happy and only one thing is missing – What do we learn from here?
The fact that we had a challenge and were able to manage it quickly was because everything was in place long before the event started. It was because the team prepared before the event. It was because after each event we learn and want to surpass ourselves. It doesn’t matter that everything went perfectly, it’s important to see what went so well and what we could do even better.

Teambuildings must be fun. To energize us. And to respond to the learning objectives of the participants.

They all seem like common sense things and at first glance the thought appears that you don’t need a training / team building for this.
And yet, just as we recommend certain activities with confidence to our clients, we also implement them in our team.

Once every 3 months we have planning, once a week we have Superheros Academy where we run teambuilding and training activities for our team. And every time we are surprised. Because no matter how well you know the dynamics of an activity, a game with new rules makes us behave naturally and we are surprised because each activity grows us and that me from last week has learned something more and will react better in a situation nine.

A day in the life of an event organizer is always a story. With characters that gather. With intrigue and denouement. And every good story inspires us to surpass ourselves.
And let’s ask ourselves with whom we will write the next one. Until then, let’s have an excellent week, full of inspiration.