NSU know how to have fun!

The gang from NSU certainly know how to have fun and make the most of their breakout time at their annual conference. At the end of their two day conference this group employed the services of Funatix to bring a little fun to their Friday afternoon and to work on ensuring they continued to have a cohesive team who were able to step outside their 'formal' roles and not take themselves too seriously. This is the second time we have worked with NSU and they certainly allow us to walk the talk and 'have fun at work'. I think we laugh as much as they do. The great thing about this group is the way they embrace the opportunity to have some fun and their willingness to have a go at anything in the pursuit of this. This general attitude seems to make it a good place to work. Just watching them engaged in the games with ease indicates that they have taken the time to do something different as a staff and are comfortable shedding the formal 'roles' from time to time - a key element in ensuring your team remains productive and cohesive.
With the 'Winter Wonderland' theme this group happily showed us their dance moves, designed and created some fabulous costumes for their team leaders (see Ben the new supermodel featured here on parade), got down on their knees to eat marshmallows blind, spun streamers, manipulated cardboard cross country skis and tossed 'snowballs' for the winter 'quadathlon'.
Following this they enjoyed a formal dinner dance and even roped partners into a team building activity which revealed a few people who definitely had the X factor!
A great advertisement to other companies about showing your employees you value them and rewarding them for hard work.

Thanks so much for coming down to run our activities on Friday – everyone had an absolute ball and loved the activities. I really think your style suits our company – relaxed and fun and facilitates involvement without being too confronting – although some of us now have partners who say we owe them big time for getting them involved at the dinner activity!

Rebecca Marketing & Community Profile Manager

I think the girls from Funatix are great. They are original and keep things going at a good pace. It can’t be easy keeping a room full of adults (and Ben) entertained for a few hours without the influence of alcohol…

Julie Site Coordinator

I thought the ladies were excellent and really made an effort for us, they had great attitudes and really motivated our group to have fun and participate.

Libby Sales and Marketing Rep

A successful race for Motor Neurone Disease funds

I'm delighted to report that the 'Gary McElroy Brisbane Amazing Race' that I spoke of in the last post was a great success and raised some much needed funds in support of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

The day of fun, challenge and entertainment was co-ordinated by Belinda McElroy in memory of her father and we had a great time organising and running the 'race' element of the day. Money raised came from entry fees for race teams, raffles, auctions and kind online donations from supporters who could not attend the event itself. Belinda can be very proud of the achievements by her and her team of supporters and helpers, raising in excess of $4000.

Nine enthusiastic teams of race participants arrived at the Colmslie Beach Reserve dressed in team colours and costumes ready to test out their skills. We had Superheroes, Hawaiian Singletons, Wheels on Fire, and Kiwi Rush just to name a few.



On the whistle runners headed off into the trees in search of their race kits and first set of clues. Teams had questions to answer in the park and decorations to attach to their cars before they were given directions to the next checkpoint. It was all action and I'm not sure what the families in the playground thought was going on when they saw 'Radioactive man' and 'Lara Croft' running towards them.

After some creative problem solving and a bit of back tracking, all teams had received their clues and were off on the next stage of the race, balloons bobbing behind them.

Matching up pictures of un-named buildings with the real thing at the next checkpoint proved easy for some teams and they were soon on their way to the seaside.

Down by the seaside we got to see some fabulous landscape/seascape paintings as people embraced the fun challenge of creating an orignal work of art. The pressure of judging was on Emma, our volunteer for the day who was so impressed by the efforts, enthusiasm and finished products that she awarded top marks to all teams.

At this checkpoint some teams also took this opportunity to score some extra points with the bonus challenges, so we saw much making of sand angels and convincing strangers to join them in conga lines. Kiwi Rush (orange team) even managed to use their charm to return with a bright orange rubber crab to show they could find a creative souvenir in their team colour!

Artists then farewelled the seaside and raced towards their next checkpoint - THE BIG RED AND GREEN SHED, and then back to the park for the tallying of scores. First team home were the girls from Wheels on Fire - a great effort considering they only had three team members!

As we began to check answers and photographic evidence, the creativity of the teams was even further revealed. We were entertained with videos of conga lines and photographs of people pretending to do all sorts of jobs - policewoman, barista, barmaid, snowcone maker to name a few. Fantastic! Teams also eagerly took up the challenge to bring back something fabulous and creative in their team colour - we were ceremoniously handed items such as a bag of red capsicums, a blue Bacardi Cruiser, silver thank you notes, and a purple silk banner that looked suspiciously like it used to belong on a shop front (All in the name of charity remember).

In the end it was the girls from Wheels on Fire - looking red and thinking blue, who took out first place (a $200 dinner voucher from Sienna restaurant). We hope everyone enjoyed the race and it was great fun for us to see it all come together.

The day continued with that great Aussie classic of sausages in bread, accompanied by the beautiful sounds of Pepperazzi - definitely Google their details if you are looking for a fantastic band! All this and then the raffling and auctioning of some very generous prize donations made for a great atmosphere.

It was a great pleasure for us to be included in this event and feel that we could in some way contribute to this very worthwhile cause. From us also, a huge thank you to those family members and friends we called in as volunteer pink helpers for the day - great job!




Wheels on Fire

Be great in act as you have been in thought William Shakespeare

Amazing Fund Raiser

This Saturday (Oct 3) Funatix will be hard at work helping to raise much needed funds for the NSW Motor Neurone Disease Association. We were approached by Belinda McElroy who is organising the day in honour of her father to help out with some fun team challenges. This is a cause close to our hearts and as such we were eager to do what we could.
So Saturday will mark the inauguration of the Gary McElroy Brisbane Amazing Race - a day of fun, and funds! The Funatix team (along with some willing volunteer honarary Funatix) will be co-ordinating a mini Amazing Race in which participating teams will need to solve clues, find checkpoints, demonstrate some unexpected skills and arrive back at the finishing point inside the allocated time. Following the race and presentation of prizes there will be food and music, raffles and fun for everyone.
You can find a downloadable flyer with informaton about the event on our home page - it's not too late to enter a team or make a donation.
We are very glad to be asked to contribute to the event and are looking forward to a great day.
So if you see groups of people driving or running around on Saturday clad in balloons and team colours, they may not be football fans. Give them a wave, help them out with their challenges or pass on some funds for the Moror Nuerone Disease Association.

Dig inside. Inside is the fountain of good, and it will forever flow, if you will forever dig.
Marcus Aurelius

Keep watching this space - for a report and photos from the event.

Engineering some new ways

'It was great to be out of my comfort zone and feel challenged but in an interesting and enjoyable way'

We recently had the pleasure of facilitating a day of creative arts inquiry workshops with a group consisting of mostly engineers. They wanted their team building day to be one of challenge and difference and to provide them with opportunities to 'think outside the box' and to step outside of their usual way of working.

Because of the nature of their work I guess Engineers are usually considered to be analytical, procedural, problem solving type personalities, so setting out on a creative arts activity that was emergent, free of interpretation and analysis and non linear may have seemed like a different way to spend a day. To add to this, the participants were given very little information about what they would be doing or what to expect. But the results and the feedback spoke volumes for the value of using the creative arts as an alternative way of considering how you are in your workplace and the way you experience things.
Despite the 'difference' of the day's activities, this group willingly played, built, drew and shared with honesty and respect. It was such a buzz for us to see the engagement of this particular group and their interest in gaining all that they could from the activities.
I think what also really struck me as a facilitator was that they were such a nice bunch of people and it was yet another reminder of how rewarding this working with others is.

Judy

Team Funatix walks to supports Breast Cancer research

SEEING PINK?

On a beautiful Mothers Day morning we set out with thousands of other early risers on the 8km fund raising walk from Southbank for Breast Cancer research. Kelly and I have completed this walk for the past 5 years, but this year thanks to the support of keen family members we were able to make a 'team'. Yes, Team Funatix was born. And we weren't just chicks in pink, the boys were represented there as well. Husbands, sisters, children, we were all there.
It's a great event and fantastic to see so many people turn out for such a worthy cause. But this year it was even more than that for us because of the opportunity to do it as a group and enjoy this experience with our families as well. Team Funatix will definitely be back in the event next year and no doubt with a few more members.