Virtual Team Building Success “Who Stole Anti-Matter?”
A Virtual Team Building success was had with two teams 3,000 miles apart trying to save the planet by solving the case of: Who Stole Anti Matter . TeamWorx launched a successful beta test of our newest virtual team building by connecting our offices in Boston and here in Sacramento – creating an East Coast Team and a West Coast Team.
Having said that, Jeff – our CHIEF (Chief Harbinger in Everything Fun) at our Boston office – had his parents join the East Coast team from San Diego CA, and I had my brother and his son join from Perth Australia – so the true geographic loyalties were “virtualized” to a small degree as well.
People connected to the game with desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones, and in one case, both a phone and a laptop simultaneously.
We hosted a web of personal contacts – many currently with loads of free time – from our families and neighborhoods in Boston and here in California. In total we had about 18 people – one team of 10 people and one team of 8 people. My brother left for an actual work video conference and our good friend left to “drink wine” – leaving even teams of 8 each.
The teams each took different approaches to solving the crime and communicating remotely.
The East Coast team used video conference almost exclusively, whereas the West Coast team used their team thread extensively to document evidence and keep a running record of their results, questions asked, sub threads with answers and/or more questions, and overall used the video conferencing less.
As moderators, Jeff and I saw the merits in both approaches. In the end, I would suggest vigorous use of both communication styles, as – talking to each other using the video conferencing really brings back the part of group interaction we are all missing – AND – documenting the evidence on the thread makes for an excellent record of progress and allows the teams unique universal access to the data.
Combing both approaches to the use of the technology, teams are able to have exciting crime solving debates – just like many of us are watching for hours on our screens whilst sequestered in our homes – asking questions, proposing theories, checking the facts, just like movies and TV!
The East Coast and West Coast teams took advantage of both one-on-one live video interrogation of suspects and team interrogation of suspects. The team interrogations were fun and something new to the virtual space. It allowed all 6 expert groups to chime in and confront the suspect with evidence in real time and demand answers.
Playing the suspects, I really enjoyed the enhanced interaction with the teams because it really upped the interrogation process and yielded much better results for the teams.
We ironed out a few mistakes and glitches in our beta run and are ready to help clients reconnect and remember the joy of human interaction!
A huge thank you to all of our participants, and to WebEx for helping us create a solid virtual team building platform.
Who Stole Anti Matter
