Team bonding in 30 minutes or less

Last week I gathered my team of 20 together for our annual 'Outback Summit', an opportunity for us to get together as a team and discuss a variety of topics important to our company and our people.

Our team is scattered geographically across the globe. Yes, Skype is a great tool for virtual meetings, and allows us all to see each other every week or so. But seeing each other in person is SO much better. It gives us all a chance to get to know each other far better.

This year we played the "About Us" game. Prior to the Summit we all submitted a list of "5 things you probably don't know about me" to one of the Summit organizers. She then compiled the lists and handed them out to all of us.

We then had 10 minutes to figure out who each person was. It was like speed dating at work! It was fascinating to me how little I really knew about many of my crew. Marybeth has been to Antarctica and gone for a swim there. Philip was a national level trampolinist in the UK. Jules has jumped off well-known bridges in the middle of the night. Who knew?

I walked away from this quick activity with a new appreciation for my team and who they are as individuals. At the office we're all guilty of forming opinions of colleagues based solely on interactions and outputs at work. This activity will break down those characterizations, and be a lot of fun too!

Regardless of your role in your workplace, take 5 minutes today to email your colleagues and ask them for their 'list'. Compile the lists, then at lunch on Friday play the game. Just like me, you'll be glad you did.

Team Building Activities in California

There are over 3 million companies registered in California, and it is well known that team building events are extremely helpful for any company, regardless of size and state of the economy, to keep the company intact and reach the goals of its mission and vision. If successful, a team building event can increase individual understanding of company dynamics and improves team work within employees. Most of all, it will help each member realize that generating results are team accountability and not just individual responsibilities. But what activities are considered team building and what are the best team building activities and events that can be done in California?

As simple as hanging out, having a meal and a few drinks together after office hours at a nearby pub can be a team building event, but it will only offer socialization and familiarization between staff. Setting objectives while having fun, like an Iron Chef BBQ challenge on a weekend, will give the same effect, but will also help each member to participate, collaborate and work as a group in order to achieve that goal. Here are some great ideas for an effective team building:

The Amazing Chase
This event is adapted from the famous reality TV series with the mechanics fairly the same. It is a great team building activity in San Diego where a lot of landmarks and monuments are present and can be used as Route Markers, Road Blocks and Detours. Technically, you can choose or create the course for the participating teams and can start or finish wherever you want. It can be done in any type of weather and in case it snows or rains, it will add to the challenge. Many clients say that the elements end up making the bonding experience much more valuable. At the end of the race, during the refreshment or over dinner, a video can be played showing the activities done while medals and trophies can be awarded to the teams. The best twist to this is that, you can make the challenges hilarious or funny. It doesn’t have to be very serious because at the end of the day, win or lose, everybody is a winner!

CI: The Crime Investigator
Everybody loves suspense and everybody loves to do some crime solving, whether CSI style or Sherlock Holmes style. A great team building event in Los Angeles would be CI: The Crime Investigator. Imagine working on an intriguing case (no matter how fictional it is) related to a Hollywood star or perhaps a famous celebrity visiting sunset boulevard. Like the famous franchise of CSI, investigative works cannot be done alone. A team with individual expertise must work hand in hand, gathering evidence, processing it and working to find out who did what, when and why. The great thing about it is that the event can be staged in multiple locations and each location can provide evidences or statements and teams can search for clues, preserve the documents and solve the case. A crime investigating team is not complete without a lab, so an on-site lab can be made for anyone to use and process evidence. Solving a crime can be frustrating, especially if different individuals have different interpretation of the clues and statement. This will test the teams with their trust with one another, cooperation and how to make collective decisions as a group.

Wild Goose Chase
Every little boys and girls love to play scavenger hunt. The feeling of excitement in finding the items on the list and the sense of adventure as they go along trail are what thrills them. They even imagine going through the jungle, over the mountains and into volcanoes. They end up trusting their friends more, work better with their comrades and enforce unity as a group (whether they are group of pirates or team of Anthropologists). How can we use this activity for adults and how can we arrive with the same effect? Through a digital, state of the art, scavenger hunt called – Wild Goose Chase, or simply, Urban Goose Chase. Each team is equipped with a smartphone to take pictures of the items listed on the scavenger hunt list and must work together to accomplish multiple tasks and challenges. The pictures may include the whole team in it, a few with strangers, or just several members. The best thing about this is that each task or picture corresponds to a certain point, and the team with the most points (most number of tasks accomplished) by the end of the game wins. The intensity increases as different teams arrive or meet at the same time on a certain challenge. Each would try their best to finish the challenge fast and proceed with the next one. By the end of the game, you will be surprised when all the pictures taken are flashed in front of everybody because sometimes some teams would hilariously do anything just to complete the task. This great team building activity is best done in the sunny, dessert – resort city of Palm Springs, where the sun is shining and the light is great. Every shot is perfect and taking pictures is very easy, even without a flash.

Boat Building Regatta
The most wonderful thing about the state of California is that it has a long coastline. This would mean miles and miles of beaches, swimming and most of all – boating. Take advantage of this by having your teams build boats – out of cardboard. This is just half of the challenge because each team needs to have a member ride the boat and compete on the water in a navigational challenge. This will not just bring out the creativity in each member but also cooperation, critical thinking and flexibility to arrive with a common solution that will keep the boat afloat and bring your member across and back from the waters. Since there are different phases in the boat creation and the race, each member gets a chance to be a leader and brings out the true essence of team building.

Philanthropic Team Building
Wouldn’t it be nice to hold an event that promotes staff unity and productivity, and at the same time charitable? That would be heart warming and awesome! Now you can do that, by doing a cake making team building event or toy building activity, The Apprentice style. Form your teams, include or increase the challenge by judging who bakes the best cake or who makes bikes fastest, and then by the end of the day give these creations to those less unfortunate like the kids suffering cancer or people without health care. There are about 439 hospitals in California and more than 12,000 orphans all over the state. Just choose what you want to make, add the challenge and give joy to another human being on this planet.

There are tons of team building ideas you could choose from and it doesn’t really matter whether you want a preset event or something new. All of these events are fully customizable and organizers like us would love to hear your ideas. What is important is that your teams will enjoy and learn what it truly means to be a team.

Call our Event Solutions Representative today at 1-800-713-7238 or e-mail at info@americanoutback.net and let us help you create the best team building event for your company.

The Outback Group

Great Team Building Ideas in San Diego

The city of San Diego is one of the cities with the best weather in the world. Virtually any team building events and activities can be done all throughout the year, making it difficult to choose which one is the best event for your group. Here are a few of the “top choice” activities most companies and had a wonderful experience and showed positive responses in their teams.

The Amazing Chase
This event is based on a popular TV show which was already featured on several cities around the world. Like the show, it will lead the teams around the city following specific markers, work their way through challenges and enjoy fun detour. Aside from practicing communication skills, strategy and team work, the teams can enjoy San Diego’s famous landmarks and sightseeing spots. This can be enjoyed by either someone born and raised in San Diego, or someone who is fairly new in the city.

The Wild Goose Chase
Scavenger hunt got even better – and more high tech! This is the best way to integrate effective use of technology for communications between staff and departments. All it takes is for the teams to download an app in their smartphones and access a list of tasks for them to accomplish. Once a task is complete, a photo must be taken and then uploaded to our online server. Each tasks or missions corresponds to a specific point and the team with the most point, wins. At the end of the day, everyone can get to see the photos made by each teams, and surprisingly, some really looks wacky and funny!

The Great Camera Caper
This is another digital scavenger hunt that brings team building to a whole new experience like being a tourist in your own city. Get to know more about each other as you explore the city, find secret locations, see local landmarks differently and complete tasks and challenges as you stroll along the way.

It is not difficult to hold Team building events in San Diego, all you need to do is choose which event you want, have all the members of the group present, and most of all, enjoy the adventure as you go through the challenges.

If you are looking for something different or something unique, we could customize how your team building event the way you imagine it. Call our Event Solutions Representative today at 1-800-713-7238 or e-mail info@americanoutback.net and let us help you create the best team building event for your company.

Outdoor Adventure: Braving The Rapids at Cheakamus River

One of the best recreational outdoor adventure activities on a river is white water rafting, and the best place to do this is in Cheakamus River. Found in the magnificent and Scenic Squamish Valley, it offers the best white water to raft on to, with just a short drive from Vancouver and Whistler, this could be the best river rafting adventure your family could enjoy. Rafting brings out a thrill and excitement no theme park could provide. As its name implies, it is usually done across a body of water, usually a river, with varying degree of roughness. You will then negotiate and manoeuvrer through the water current, big exposed rocks and small river bedrocks and then you will feel the wind on your face, the splash of water on your hair, your adrenalin pumping with the excitement with the ride and a satisfaction of getting from start to end of the raft trail. Immersing yourself in nature through rafting can help you become fit as well, know more about the environment and learn how to protect our rivers and mountains.

 Depending on the roughness of the water, rafting can be considered a leisure ride or an extreme sport. With the Cheakamus splash adventure, families with kids as young as 6 years old can enjoy by using a wide inflatable boat and paddle through waters with small rough areas, maybe some rocks and may only require little manoeuvring.  This is a great way for children, and adults alike, to boost their confidence joining intensity ride, reconnect with the family, experience something that is not done everyday, and interact with nature. For those who will help paddling across the river, this is a great way to exercise. It strengthens the upper body and can burn 100 to 200 calories in 30 minutes and may reach to up to 500 calories on high intensity.

Rafting is environment friendly and requires no motor to run it. It also lets you see the beautiful scenery, especially the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, including other surprises you might see along the riverbank. With the river rafting expert with you, learn more about the area and know more about the magnificence of the valley you are rafting on. By being educated how the river flows and what fauna and flora are present there, we will know how human interaction can affect the place and how we could help save it.

Give your family an outdoor adventure that they have never experienced before, give us a call today on 1-800-565-8735 (Canada) 1-800-713-7238 (US), or visit our websites at www.canadianoutback.com and www.americanoutback.net.

Here is a YouTube video of the last Cheakamus River Explorer:

Banff Cave Tour Wild Adventure

Spelunking is perhaps one of the most exciting outdoor adventures in the whole world, each cave offers unique experiences each day even if you've explored them several times already. It offers a magnificent view, an extra ordinary challenge and a sense of fulfillment once you've completed the tour of the cave.

One exceptional place to go caving is in Banff. The surrounding mountains and parks contain hundreds of cave systems which are now the home of some rats, snails, bats and other animals, especially during winter where they hibernate. Depending on the season you will see, along the way during your trek towards the cave entrances, some elks, moose and different goats and sheep. As soon as you enter the cave, signs of bigger lives diminishes with the light but signs of smaller animals and insects start to appear.

Despite the darkness upon entering the cave and as you slowly climb into the depths of the system, the lamps will light series of Stalactites and Stalagmites along the way. You will be thrilled by the tight squeezes and drops that would make you feel excited to move along and push further forward until you reach a main hall. In the case of Rat's Nest Cave, it will be the Grand Gallery and the Grotto.

This is one of the best eco-adventure you could experience which the whole family would truly love. Whether it would be a Banff Cave Tour or a Cannmore Cave Tour, you will surely enjoy and appreciate nature at its best.

Watch this video to know more about the tour or visit http://www.canadianoutback.com for more information:

This is the transcript from our YouTube video featuring Banff Cave Tours with Canadian Outback that can be found at http://youtu.be/Zb2mxNrv9ng.

Shannen: This is Shannon from Canadian Outback Adventures & Events and today I’m talking with Carla, our Alberta Adventure Expert. I know you book a lot of tours and you get to experience a lot of different adventures, what is your favourite adventure and what do you recommend most to our guest in Banff, Carla?

Carla: That’s a good question and what I definitely get asked a lot. Working in the tourism industry, it has its perks and I have gotten the pleasure of experiencing quite different tours but I still always say “without a doubt, the coolest outdoor activity I’ve ever done, the most unique, fascinating adventure has been caving”.

Shannen: Where about do you go caving?

Carla: The caving tours that we offer take place at Rat’s Nest Cave, which is in Grotto Mountain, and that’s just outside of Canmore. Canmore is about a 20 minute drive from Banff so really accessible for anybody who is staying in Canmore, driving in from Calgary or staying in Banff and Lake Louise.

Shannen: That sounds pretty amazing! Tell me a little bit more about this caving experience, what happens? How do you go about exploring these sites?

Carla: Definitely in caving, it’s a very wild, adventurous activity so it is always best to go with trained professional guides. The tours that we offer, they actually start with about a 20 to 30 minute hike up of a mountain trail and that really is to get us out and up towards the cave actually entrances. Once we enter inside that cave, you really do enter a whole nether world, it’s completely pitched black and it is a world of ancient tunnels, formations, everything is just thousands of years old once you enter into the cave system.

Shannen: Now I always think of caves when I think of bats. I’m sure you get that question all the time, are there bats in these caves?

Carla: There are no bats and I know even if it’s called Rat’s Nest Cave, there are no rats either. There are some old fossils but when you are actually in the cave, you don’t really come into contact with any type of wild animals. But that being said, the cave is completely wild and undeveloped – there’s no electricity, there’s no boardwalk, there’s no handrails, there’s no bathrooms, it really is a completely wild world.

Shannen: Do you have to have a certain physical fitness in order to do this adventure and or are kids allowed to experience this tour?

Carla: Good question! The tour itself, there is obviously the 30 minute walk first to get to the entrance and then once you are inside, there is quite a bit of climbing and crawling and some squeezing so we do suggest that everybody have a base level of physicality. Anybody who’s fairly adventurous, who snow shoes, skis or climbs and hikes, bikes, these are all people that caving would definitely be accessible for. So we just say you should have a bit of base physicality, in terms of the minimum age, it does vary. We offer 2 different tours: the explorer tour is our basic introduction to caving and it’s about 4 and a half hours roundtrip and that is great for anybody who might be a bit hesitant as well as children as young as 10 years old. Next up we have the Adventure Tour, this one is very similar, it’s a longer tour though, its 6 hours roundtrip, and it also includes a 60 foot rappel. Obviously you’re rappelling in the dark which is a really exciting experience to just descent to a dark abyss. For that one, we do suggest that kids do need to be 12 years or older but you don’t need to have any prior experience or rappelling experience, our trained guides will go over everything on how to work that and operate it with you.

Shannen: Do you need to have any special equipment when you go on a tour like this?

Carla: Good question! No, we provide you with everything you need so in terms of what you need to do, you just need to show up. We actually ask that everybody meet at Soby’s in the heart of Canmore, that’s one of the grocery store chains. While we get you to meet there, we will suggest: even if you brought your camera, go in and buy yourself a disposable camera with a flash, because it is going to be muddy in the cave and you are going to be in tight squeezes. Definitely you don’t want to hurt your own camera. In terms of what to wear, just your basic outdoor clothing even as if you’re out gardening for the day. You might get a little bit of mud soak through but we do actually provide all participants with coveralls which are going to cover your arms and legs, your whole body, so that’s going to protect your clothing from the mud and silt. We are also going to provide everybody with a harness, a helmet, a headlamp, kneepads, gloves and backpack.

Shannen: That sounds pretty amazing! How would somebody go about booking one of these tours or getting more information from you about it?

Carla: Yes, we’re always happy to speak with guests about the experiences; we have done them first hand so it’s always good to ask if any questions. In terms of getting a hold of us, our phone number is 1-800-565-8735 Extension 2. You can also e-mail us as well at reservations@candianoutback.com

Shannen: Sounds great! Looking forward to another conversation with you, talk to you again.

Carla: Sounds good!

Corporate Castaways: Games for Staff Unity

With the hectic schedule at work, how can someone go on an adventure, visit an island, and try to survive there at least for a day or two and then get back to the office by Monday? With Corporate Castaways, yes you can!

Invite your colleagues or suggest it to your supervisor to have a company outing or team building - castaway style. With almost the same concept as the famous show, work challenges with your team or co-workers to complete the task and survive (at least for the 3 to 4 hours). Compete with other teams or departments to be the fastest or with the most points and completed challenges. Work in harmony and succeed or face the penalties (pink slip is at the sole discretion of the employer).

For those who are afraid of going far from their city or beloved families, this can be done in a local park, beach or a nearby lake. Teams or tribes will be formed prior or during the start of the event and ceremoniously presented to each other. Wear your best team outfit that would best represent your tribe and accessorize with a common totem to symbolize the unity and pride of your team.

Enjoy games for staff unity and create a unique and memorable day for all of you. This will not only impact your relationship with each other but drive each other towards working excellence.

For more custom team building events, watch a video of a great testimonial of one of the clients how well organized, exciting and great it was. Learn more about it at www.americanoutback.net

This is the transcript from our YouTube video featuring the Corporate Castaways in Costa Rica that can be found at http://youtu.be/q3F0_OkrEy4.

Tiff: You have provided us with some really great feedback about your experience with that event and just with us, American Outback Adventures and Events in general, so you could tell me what it was that made it such a success?

Tracy: Well, I think that the coordination that you guys brought to the table, just in terms of, you know, as an event planner, it’s such a beautiful thing when there’s an event that you can rely on, that has all their experts in line, and you guys got everything so well orchestrated and thought out every little detail so that it made my worrying factor next to nothing. I mean, I had complete confidence that you guys have thought about every little thing and did your homework enough, it’s important to know the nuances of the property and what you weren’t going to have because we were in an international country, just what resources you have to pull up and stuff.   It was so nice to just show up and I just had to focus on everything but that for a change. Knowing that you guys had that detail done was just, that was a relief for me and a big piece of the worrying out of my day to day experience on site. Because that is usually, it is a huge focal point, the team building is always a huge focal point of the week for the company and while we’ve had some great vendors come to the table in the past, none of them are a professional team building company, so you all knew exactly what you’re doing, you knew what staff it took, you knew what resources that you need to pull locally from both the hotel and from a staffing perspective and just even from the props and the organization of it and things you would need each station to make everything flow, and it just all did so well. So, you know it just made us look good, it made my client look good and you know  they just thought you guys are great, so which is why we want to use you guys again.

Tiff: That’s great, I mean Tracy, we really do appreciate your business and working with Helms Briscoe is a pleasure, so I’m glad that it was such a success and I’m glad you’re going to work with us for next year’s program as well.

Can Humans Fly?

Since the dawn of time and when humans started walking the earth, we have tried several times to fly onto the air like the birds in the sky without the aid of any contraption or machines. But alas, we cannot do it, unless we suit up a jet pack or ride an airplane or a helicopter. We have always wanted to have that feeling of the wind on our face, soaring in 3 dimensional spaces and see the earth around us from a different point of view.We have created "Superman" and several super heroes to animate that feeling and want - to soar through the clouds and travel from places to places without touching the ground.

Even if we cannot fly, we can create the experience of that wind on your face, soaring through mid-air and span the scenery and safely go back to the ground through the use of an equipment called - Zip line. The history on how the zip line came about is not well documented but the principles behind its pulley mechanism can be dated since the invention of the wheel. Originally, it was made to transfer supplies to and from elevated places like mountains and cliffs. It is still being used the same way today, only in addition, humans traverse the Zip line for transportation and recreation.

Now that we have a contraption that could give us the experience of flying even for a short while, several places all over the globe has setup this thrilling ride, from mountain tops to cliffs and even when there are no natural elevations available, platforms are made and still give that same feel. The criteria that would spell how enjoyable and how exciting the ride would be are the distance between platforms, the height from which platform you will go to and come from, and the scenery that can be found while soaring through the sky. Nothing can be compared with the beautiful and majestic Canadian parks and mountains, most especially in Banff. Located at the outskirts of Yoho National Park, you can see the scenic Canadian Rockies and the Horse Shoe River while soaring through this outdoor activity.

Watch this video to know more about the tour or visit http://www.canadianoutback.com for more information:

This is the transcript from our YouTube video featuring the Banff Zipline Sightseeing Tours that can also be found at http://youtu.be/R9hoPooiMpk.

Shannen: This is Shannen with Canadian Outback Adventures & Events and today I’m talking with Carla, our Alberta Adventure expert. Now Carla, when I was younger I always had a big dream about flying. I thought it was going to be a super cool adventure, is there anything that we offer or any activities that would recreate this feeling of flying?

Carla: Ziplining over the past 3 years has really increased in popularity and I think a lot of that does have to do with exactly that feeling you just described - that want and desire to fly. We can’t flap our arms, we’re not there yet but we do have a great alternative and that is ziplining - being suspended from a cable and getting to really soar over beautiful landscapes just as if you’re flying.

Shannen: Where can somebody go and try this ziplining experience? It sounds pretty amazing!

Carla: We’ve got a few different zipline courses, we’ve got one in Whistler and one in Banff as well and today I’m going to speak a little bit more about our Banff Zipline course.

Shannen: yeah, tell me all about it, you said in a harness suspended from a cable but tell me how it all works?

Carla: Our Banff zipline takes place outside of the national park, unfortunately, you can’t have a structure like that within the national park according to the bylaws, but just outside the Yoho national park near field BC we’ve got our zipline course. The course itself consist of 3 ziplines and they range in height so we actually start you off on lower, shorter zips which really just help build the confidence, getting you ready for the longest line of the course. The last line is actually 40 meters high and you’re actually going to reach speeds of 70 Kms per hour. So that’s going to be that experience like you say just completely soaring over a landscape, wind on your face, wind in your hair, really feeling like you’re flying.

Shannen: It sounds really amazing! What kind of people can go and do the zipline? How old do you have to be? Could kids go and do it or do you have to have a certain level of fitness to try it out?

Carla: Definitely beginner accessible so you don’t need any prior experience, you don’t need any special equipment, we handle all that on our end. So you will be led with a guide and we will provide you with helmets and harnesses, and our fully trained guides are actually going to be the ones to connect and un-connect you at each launch platform. In terms of the age, we do request that kids be at least 6 years and everybody needs to weight a minimum of 66 pounds. Other than that, you don’t need to have any special skill or physicality to be able to participate.

Shannen: Excellent! How long will this tour take?

Carla: The tour itself, I mentioned, is 3 lines and overall it takes about 45 minutes in duration. Between each of the zipline there is a short interpretive locks on trails and ramps so you do get that entertaining combination of a little bit of education as well as the adventure.

Shannen: I think we’ve got some other adventures up in that area so if you wanted to make your day even more filled with adventure, what else can somebody do up there?

Carla: Yeah you got it! We got our adventure base just outside of Field, BC. We also offer ATVing in the summer and snow mobiling in the winter. The zipline itself does run year round, on a hot sunny day or beautiful snow covered landscape, we’ll take tours out. If you have the time, it’s definitely in your best interest to come out visit us for an afternoon or a day. With your ziplinning you actually have an option of doing a 3 hour or a 5 hours of riding time as well so we do combos with both the ziplines and snow mobiles, and ziplines and ATVing. 

Shannen: Sounds like a pretty excellent way to get your fill of adventure and have an amazing time just outside of Banff and see the beautiful landscape that Banff has to offer. So how would somebody go about booking either the zipline tour or one of these awesome combo tours?

Carla: If anybody has any interest in these tours or would like to ask some more questions or just book, we’ve got our phone number which is 1-800-565-8735 Extension 2 and we’re also accessible by e-mail as well at reservations@canadianoutback.com

Shannen: Sounds great! Thanks a lot!

Carla: You’re welcome.

Great Event and Team Building Venues in Toronto

Looking for venues for your company outing or team building doesn't have to be far, and doesn't have to be the same each year. Lure your employees in joining your company event by holding them in these wonderful spots in Toronto that you might have not heard before, and this is just the venue. We haven't talked about the things we could do on these places!

Sunnyside Pavilion
Water, Beach, fantastic scenery, and more water. Everybody loves holding events near a body of water. Grill and barbecue anytime of the year, hold parties and Picnic, and the atmosphere: Perfect! Any kind of outdoor event works great here, but of course, "Party in the Park" is always top of the list.

Polson Pier
Turn your team building into a concert or a mini-show here and make it a never-to-forget event. It has a big stage with great sound and AV hook ups, great for dancing or singing events. It has great breakout rooms where your group could split into teams and work with "Boat Building Regatta" and see if those boats you've made could float on the Lake Ontario or sink become one of the artifacts underwater.

Mariposa Cruises
It's in everyone's bucket list to join a cruise at least once in their lifetime, and Mariposa Cruise lines is here to make that dream come true. They are very accommodating with the options on what entertainment you can do on board. You can do a "Vegas Casino Night" like what every luxury cruise liners have or turn the evening ball room dance into a challenging "So You Think You Can Dance" event.

Berkeley Church
This is an old church built in the year 1871 turned into a beautiful and versatile event venue. The best thing about this place aside from the spacious courtyard, is that they have an in-house catering service - making it a full service event venue. You can do a wide variety of activities here like "The Aprentice" or "Cake Creators" events inside or do Barbecue "Iron Chef Challenge" and "Party in the Park" outdoors.

Westin Harbour Castle
Very accessible and centrally located with lots of downtown attractions nearby, The Westin Harbour Castle hotel is the best for a starting and ending point when making an adventure race event for your group like "Wild Goose Chase", "Amazing Chase", or even the now popular "CI: Crime Investigators".

The Carlu
This is a very elegant place to do your events, with 4 distinct rooms, you will never run out of possible activities you could hold here. The Sky and Round Room is absolutely wonderful for Christmas Parties and the Clipper Room looks good for small group karaoke.

Event Venues in Toronto offers endless possibilities of activities, all you have to do is try one out.

Watch this video to know more about the best venues to hold events in Toronto or visit http://www.canadianoutback.com for more information:

This is the transcript from our YouTube video featuring the Corporate Event Venues in Toronto that can be found at http://youtu.be/zEd1qsqh1Po.

Shannen: Canadian Outback Group of companies and today I’m talking with Natania , our Operations Manager, and we’ve got a core operation center located in Toronto, and I know that we’ve established some really great relationship with a lot of venues out there. These venues are really great to provide unique location for a lot of our corporate team building event. Tell me about some of our favourites?

Natania: Thanks Shannen! Toronto has great unique opportunity for us to do a lot of different indoor/outdoor, off season activities for corporate clients. So to start off, Sunnyside Pavilion is one of our favourites for our summer Party in the Park event. We’ve run into a bit of a challenge with the city of Toronto when clients want alcohol at their events, and so, the Sunnyside Pavilion is a great private venue that allows us to have beachfront, water access as well as some great green park space for us to be able to do our Party in the Park event. We do a big barbecue and we can get their catering team to setup a bar, and we can setup some of our interactive summer picnic games. So the Pavilion is a really good location with beach access and it’s kind of got this rustic pavilion feel to it, and they do a really tasty barbecue menu, we even have an ice cream cart setup there so it’s a great venue for kind of indoor - outdoor location with alcohol, so that’s a bonus.

Shannen: You know, Party in the Parks are really great for social – corporate environment, aren’t they?

Natania: Yeah, it’s kind of taking the standard corporate barbecue and stepping it up a level where we get our host to really interact with the participants and get some competition going, we’ll setup beach volleyball and have bocce going and crocket, and we try really encourage “team competitive nature” with some of the games and interaction that our team brings to the event.

Shannen: Awesome! Alright, what’s another venue that we have out there?

Natania: Another venue where we’ve done some fun event is the Polson Pier. The Polson Pier is in a bit of a unique location so it’s unfortunately not transit accessible, butut they’ve got a very large parking lot right in front of the building. So for groups who are arranging their own transportation or carpooling and such, it’s really a neat location to get to. We’ve actually had a really fun experience there doing our “So You Think You Can Dance” event, the Polson Pier holds concert and private entertainment venue, so they got a big stage with great sound, an AV hooked up there and they’ve got lots of different breakout rooms where we can have our choreographers come and have the teams break up and practice their routines and then perform on the stage. They also have an upstairs space that has its own big private patio and bar as well, so it’s a versatile location for us to do large scale, more entertainment focused events as well as taking advantage of more summer time focused activities, especially our Iron Chef. They’ve got great big patio there where overlooks their playground. They also got a beach flared feeling to it in the summer time, so it’s a good winter and summer location for us to do all types of different interactive events. We’ve offered them The Apprentice there which is our Philanthropic bike build event, so clients who wanted again just an indoor activity with a lot of place, it poses to be a good location for that.

Shannen: Yeah, sounds like a great venue, definitely a really versatile for a lot of the different events that we can run there. What’s the next one on your list?

Natania: The next one is a little bit more unique, it’s actually is on the water, so we’ve talked about some of these venues that overlook the water but the next one would be Mariposa Cruises. They have a fleet of private charter boats where we can do events on board. We’ve hosted Casino Party nights there, James Bond Theme 007 nights there and they are really good partners to work with. They take off right from Queens Quey right downtown, and they work with us on menu selection, bar selection, they’re open to all sorts of different entertainment that we can bring onboard whether it be bands, magicians, casino like I said, so it’s kind of a fun, unique, different version of a venue for an event. We could definitely be really creative and do our other teambuilding focus interactive activities. We could do a crime investigator on board as well and setup our crime scene around the vessel so it’s just a bit of unique option, if clients are looking to get away from the city, and of you have fantastic views, looking back on the city from the boat itself.

Shannen: That sounds awesome! Now I know last we ran a couple of familiarization events and we used the Berkeley church, is that one on your list as well?

Natania: Oh yes, the Berkeley church, we have done a few really successful familiarization events. Our Cake Decoration Competition at the Berkeley Church and they’ve been wonderful partners. The Berkeley church is, I think prior, hidden gem in Toronto that a lot of people don’t know about. It’s a old church converted into a venue, so it’s got this real, rustic feel to it and there’s two main areas: their main old setting and then they have a courtyard area that has a covered patio and some greenery which is really pretty. The venue itself can accommodate closer to about 200 people and their courtyard lower level area is about a hundred people. They have their own in-house catering team as well and they produce tasty culinary treats for us and can customize any type of menu for the group and have two versatile spaces. So if it’s a group who is a little bit smaller we can use their downstairs room with their courtyard. They also have access to the outdoor space so if we want to setup a barbecue or do our Iron Chef competition there, we could do so. But is just a unique beautiful brick building right on Queen street, so again very accessible to the city and just a versatile space for any of our indoor program and they’re very flexible and easy to work with.

Shannen: Yeah, I like the idea that a lot of these venues that you mentioned really provide multiple options so that they can usually provide something that would work with one of our indoor events or one of our outdoor events. That make them great partners to have, sounds good! Alright, what’s next up on your list?

Natania: So also on our top venue list is the Westin Harbour Castle. The Westin is a really popular chain of hotel and we’ve worked very closely with them across Canada but specifically in Toronto, they are always really open to having our groups on site. They started and finished a lot of our different events in the lobby or in the restaurant of the hotel, and they’ve got some great meeting room spaces as well. Your typical ballroom setting style hotel but they are very accommodating, and again, really great access to transit or just within walking distance to some major attractions downtown as well as being close to the waterfront, and having those great view of the city. This is a really great hotel partner we have with, lots of versatile space to view and many activities to do, whether we’re doing strictly indoor entertainment focus activity or wanting to do one of our amazing chase activities where the teams are meeting a start and a finish wrap up location.

Shannen: Yeah, hotels are always really so versatile for being able to provide either those starting or stopping points / finishing points or the great meeting place they offer there. Okay, what else we have on our list?

Natania: And last on our top list here is the Carlu. The Carlu is the unique venue with having multiple different spaces within it, so again, another one of those very versatile venue where we can partner with to accommodate lots of different groups sizes. Great again, downtown location, direct access to the subway. It’s a really beautiful multi-functional space, it has 4 distinct rooms, there’s a concert hall, and the round room, the sky room, and those rooms open up into the grand foyer. So the unique, sexy kind of romantic space they have access to different types of décor as well so if we wanted to create more of a theme for a type of activity that we are doing, we have access to all of that. It can accommodate smaller groups  but then also be a great location for the larger five hundred, eight hundred person activities, and where sometimes corporate clients need space accommodating those big, big groups.

Shannen: and of course. We always love working with great venues and hotel partners throughout all of our regions. So, thanks very much Natania and we will talk to you again.

Natania: Thanks for your time Shannen! Bye bye!

Icewalking: More than just an Icy Adventure

There is always something new to discover in every destination you go to, and every destination has a featured activity that it is famous for. So let us say you want to go to Jasper during winter, what activities can you do there? Answer: Icewalk

Icewalk Adventures is a great way to explore the surroundings, see the plants and animals in winter, appreciate nature more and feel the environment without the city lights and concrete buildings. It will make you realize that there is much more to see than all the ice around the mountains and that same ice is much different than  where you're at.


However, you learn so much more and experience something much different when you do an Icewalk tour rather than watching it on television or visiting that place by yourself. Take a tour and step into the wilderness with a knowledgeable guide to learn about the history of the place, how the glaciers and canyons were formed, and see the Rockies like you've never seen it before.

Nothing spells winter wonderland like Jasper, and no other  canyon can be as comparably beautiful and magnificent as Maligne Canyon. The best way to explore it is doing a Maligne Canyon Jasper Icewalk tour.

Watch this video to know more about the tour or visit http://www.canadianoutback.com for more information:

This is the transcript from our YouTube video featuring the Jasper Maligne Canyon Ice Walk that can be found at http://youtu.be/qBlrpfDXj94.

Shannen: Canadian Outback Adventures and Events and I’m talking with Karla Haerthe our Alberta Adventure expert, Karla how are you?

Karla: Good, how about yourself?

Shannen: Good, I know you get lots of clients visiting us and Jasper up in the winter time, what type of activities do you have? What would you recommend for our clients up in Jasper?

Karla: For sure Jasper is definitely a beautiful place to visit in the winter time, and if clients are visiting in the winter time, I always say they can’t miss the Jasper Maligne Canyon Ice Walk Tour. This is easily Jasper’s most scenic and most popular winter activity.

Shannen: They said Maligne Canyon Ice Walk Tour, is that an extreme adventure? Or is it something that’s going to be accessible for all of our clients?

Karla: Definitely, it’s very accessible when you think about the Maligne Canyon Ice Walk, it really is that, it is a walk. So it is very accessible, this isn’t extreme Ice climbing, but there is definitely extreme beauty to be seen out there. The Canyon Ice walk tour runs daily throughout the winter time, November to April based on tradition and it’s accessible for participants 7 years and older. So it is actually quite family friendly. As a matter of fact, it is a guided ice walk so it is simply walking but we do provide you with warm waterproof boots and tread enhancing cleats so it will help everybody warm and feel secure on the ice. It is a really beautiful ice walk where you’ll have a guide that’s going to lead you safely through the canyon floor to look at all the fascinating mazes of natural ice sculptures, frozen waterfalls, you can see an entrance to a cave system and some fossils as well.

Shannen: That sounds pretty spectacular, I bet seeing some of those frozen waterfalls and just the natural winter beauty out there would be pretty incredible. How often does this tour run? Is it an all day thing? How does it work?

Karla: The tour actually runs 3 times a day and we run a departure in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening. It’s 3 hours in duration with 2 of those hours spent on the trail, so we do transport you to and from the Jasper Camp site to Maligne Canyon and that accounts for the little bit of extra driving time and we make sure that everybody is experiencing the tour in a very safe, and fun, educational manner. We really actually respect the natural surroundings that we’re in as well. For anybody who might be looking for a really unique experience, as I mentioned, we do have an evening tour and of course in the winter time its dark out in the evening, but we provide all guests with head lamps during that tour. It’s just a really neat atmosphere as you are walking through the canyon and you see all these light shadow dancing on the powering ice, it’s really beautiful and unique.

Shannen: I bet that would make it an extra special trip to add to the beauty of the surroundings for sure. If somebody’s staying in Jasper, how do they come out to this trip? What part? Do they book it with us and what’s the best course of action?

Karla: Well, definitely, if you’re staying in Jasper, if you’re within walking distance of our check in, we do have a check in right on Patricia Street, very accessible by most hotels. But not a problem, we’re more than happy to pick you up from your hotel as well and we do transport all guest from Jasper campsite to Maligne Canyon at no additional charge.

Shannen: And how do they book this trip with?

Karla: If anybody is interested and they like to learn more about it or if they have any questions, or simply just want to go ahead and book because it just sounds that amazing, they can definitely give us a call at 1-800-565-8735 Extension 2 or if e-mail’s best reservations@canadianoutback.com