The Client had planned their annual team building and away day at a hotel with landscape gardens. The requirement was for half-day activity after a morning strategy meeting.

After a fine buffet lunch the groups got into the teams that had been pre-selected. The event is a flexible option which can be staged at any venue in-house, hotel, conference centre or any location with a dedicated private area. It can be divided into two or three sections subject to timings and location and is ideal as part of a dinner/evening activity. In this case the three stage option was selected.

The first stage was a short themed treasure hunt around the gardens. The teams had to locate and answer various questions to solve a cryptic challenge and earn good points to set them on their way.

Stage two was a general knowledge quiz. A good variety of questions had teams scratching their heads for those answers that tease the memory banks. This took place in a noisy and high-spirited atmosphere.

Stage three was an antiques road show. Teams were given the opportunity to examine and assess a number of fascinating antiques for value and authenticity (one being a fake!) before taking part in A genuine auction for the chance to buy (for the purpose of the event only!) any of the objects. The points accrued in previous stages were converted into ‘pounds’ which they could use to attempt to buy one or more items. Each item had been properly assessed and valued and team’s ultimate success depended on whether they had made good profits or losses against the actual valuations. Profits meant more points and losses of course, reduced scores.

The winners showed amazing skill (or luck) making great buys but all teams agreed that this had been a great afternoon where all felt involved as different people excelled in different skills. The directors were delighted by the spirit and cooperation shown during the afternoon and were confident that this would be highly beneficial in the long term development of the whole team.