PlayTime Inc. Team Building & Leadership News

January 2005 Newsletter

The news from PLAYTIME Inc. January 2005 Friends, From our staff to yours, we wish you a very successful and prosperous 2005! New Year, New Team! -- A Insider’s View of The Business of Team Building -- by John Chen, The Big Kid, PLAYTIME Inc. As I reflect on 2004, I’m excited at how far we’ve come. In 2004, we ran 63 events in awesome locations such as Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, Washington DC’s National Mall, Barcelona, Shanghai and Taiwan!!! During those 63 events, we worked with 2,500+ clients in sharing our team building, team-to-team building and leadership insights in one of the most popular and dynamic team building events, geoteaming, GPS Powered Team Building! And for those who like to track the bottom line, we increased revenue by 117%! Wow, what a year! Normally when I start off the year, I like to inspire people to set big, hairy audacious goals (BHAG). This year, I’d like to give you an insider’s view of my BHAG known as PLAYTIME Inc. It’s been quite a ride and I’ve learned a lot about the business of Team Building and I’d like to share what I know with you. There will be a few small snippets in this newsletter, if you’d like to know more, I invite you to subscribe to my blog at http://playtimeinc.typepad.com. I quite often post new observations there first before they hit my newsletter. Check out what’s in this month’s issue! * TEAM TIP: Planning your next team building event by Andrew Gustafson, PLAYTIME Inc.’s latest GeoRep! * LEADERSHIP LESSON: Sherpas as Servant Leaders * HELP PLAYTIME Inc. Make The Fast Company Fast 50! * New Courses, New Clients! Barcelona, Miami, Napa and more!!! * 1/27, 2/24, 3/24, 4/28, 5/19, 6/23 geoteaming Open Programs, All New for 2005 * 2/10 AM & PM: NEW! NW Tactical Team Training, Are You Ready? * 2/25 CARE invites you to PhotoSensitive’s "HIVPositive, AIDS through a new lens" * 3/11 PLAYTIME Inc. to host a Table at the Passages Northwest Fundraiser, WIN a geoteaming event! * 4/10 Turn $5 Into $1 MILLION by participating in the world’s largest online game! TEAM TIP: PLANNING YOUR NEXT TEAM BUILDING EVENT! -- by Andrew Gustafson, PLAYTIME Inc.’s latest GeoRep! Happy 2005 everyone! My name is Andrew, and I am the new GepRep here at PLAYTIME Inc. I come to PLAYTIME with a background in pro sports game operations, major market radio station promotions, and corporate event planning. In other words, 6 months ago I was in your shoes, planning the functional and social events for a 4,000 person company. I remember my biggest struggle when planning a team building event for a department was always finding something that no one had done before. And with a diverse workplace and various individual ability levels, it had to be an event that everyone could participate in. Most importantly, it had to deliver on its primary goals, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of a department. I was judged after the event by my boss on whether the return was worth the investment. A year ago I heard the buzz in the industry about geoteaming, a hot new high tech treasure hunt. After attending an open session to check it out, I contracted John and his PLAYTIME team to deliver a geoteaming program to one of my company’s more dysfunctional departments. Not only did the event meet my goals of improved networking and communication, and enhanced collaboration and cooperation, but it was talked about for months after! They met and interacted with coworkers they had never really seen before that day, they carried those relationships back to the office, they shared pictures and stories, they started working together, and they liked it! Needless to say it made an impact on me as well, and I am grateful to now have the opportunity to present Life Changing Adventures to companies all over the world! So here we are in January, and it is the planning month for your company, and if you are reading this it is probably because you are the go-getter who suggested your company put together a kick butt team building activity in 2005. Everyone agreed it was needed, but no one else volunteered to put it together, leaving it squarely on your shoulders! Congrats! Now you get to take input from a few know-it-alls, hear criticisms from all, and hold your breathe thru the entire event, hoping the team building activity you chose was the right one. Did you know that 90% of the team building events are booked either more than 6 months or less than 6 weeks in advance? Why is that? Well, while everyone agrees that team building is important, making a decision usually gets pushed to the bottom of the meeting agenda each week, and then tabled. There just always seems to be something else that comes up! Until two months out from a conference or retreat! That’s when panic decisions get made! Its quite ironic actually, when everyone ends up arguing over team building activities. So you have a choice, join the ranks of proper planning, or join the panic crew! Trust me, prior planning and booking in advance will massively reduce your stress. I know, I’ve been there! Call us to book your company’s life changing adventure today! (877) 652-0875 To learn more about geoteaming and how it can impact your company in 2005, click here! LEADERSHIP LESSON FROM THE SUMMIT. We here at PLAYTIME Inc. all have a passion for the outdoors and especially for climbing. Indeed, one of our premiere team building events that we host is a 9 month prep course and summit of Mt Rainier in Washington. We have long thought of ourselves as Sherpas, helping our clients summit their team building challenges. This quote from the father of all Sherpas, sums it up profoundly: "You cannot be a good mountaineer, however great your ability, unless you are cheerful and have the spirit of comradeship. Friends are as important as achievement. Another is that teamwork is the one key to success and that selfishness only makes a man small. Still another is that no man, on a mountain or elsewhere, gets more out of anything than he puts into it." -- Tenzing Norgay To learn more about summiting with PLAYTIME Inc. in 2005, click here! GEOTEAMING OPEN SESSION DATE FOR JANUARY 2005! Search for a cache, inside you'll find a team! You’ll be introduced to 2005’s newest rank of geoteaming facilitators! These are facilitators who will travel the world delivering geoteaming to every nook and cranny that we can hide a cache in. Come experience each of their unique abilities as you get a chance to experience geoteaming for this unbelievable price. If you have a small team or if you’re just curious about what we do, this is the best way to check it out! Learn powerful team and leadership skills while experiencing our Geoteaming Course in Seattle's largest and most beautiful area, Discovery Park! With over 530 acres of prestine outdoors as your classroom and technology as your tool, you'll experience the most exciting and dynamic learning event of the year. Using GPS, PDAs, digital cameras and walkie talkies, your team will compete and collaborate with other teams as you discover your leadership and team behaviors. Learn: -How to effectively choose roles -How to create rapid consensus -How to create team-to-team building -How to effectively lead new teams Limited to the first 24 registered participants! A $125 value for this program! January 27th, Open geoteaming session. More details here! GEOTEAMING OPEN SESSION DATE FOR FEBRUARY 2005! Can't make our January Open? No problem! Save the date in February to join us! Look for these 2005 dates, coming soon! 3/24, 4/28, 5/19, 6/23 February 24th, Open geoteaming session. More details here! NEW FOR 2005! PLAYTIME Inc. PRESENTS TACTICAL TEAM TRAINING! The U.S. Military has been developing effective leaders for over 200 years. Now your company can benefit from the same proven team-building and communications training that the U.S. Military uses. PLAYTIME Inc. has teamed up with N.W. Tactical, a state-of-the-art, law enforcement and special forces training center and its staff of highly trained instructors, to provide limited opportunity for corporate and private organizations to experience the heart-pounding thrill of literally performing under fire. It has been proven time and again there are no better team-building methods than shared learning and the camaraderie of combat. Tactical Team Training is the closest your team will get to the actual experience. For those in the Greater Seattle Area, we invite you to join us in February for an introduction to Tactical Team Training! Limited to the first 30 registered participants per session! A $125 value for this program! February 10th, Intro to Tactical Team Training, AM Open Session SECOND SESSION FOR TACTICAL TEAM TRAINING ADDED! If you can't make the morning session, come experience the thrill in the afternoon! February 10th, Intro to Tactical Team Training, PM Open Session HELP PLAYTIME Inc. MAKE THE FAST COMPANY FAST 50! -- by John Chen A BIG Thank You to everybody who added their comments to last year’s entry! 2004 Entry: http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_04/profile/index.html?chen1837 We were on the hot list for over 4 weeks and I thought we had a real chance until the issue came out and I found out we didn’t make it. ;-( Well it’s submission time again, and I have entered and garnered another finalist status! So help us out, if you have good things to say why PLAYTIME Inc. deserves to be a Fast 50, then please click below and fill in a few good words! Support PLAYTIME Inc.'s 2005 bid for the Fast Company Fast 50, Click here! CARE invites you to PhotoSensitive’s "HIVPositive, AIDS through a new lens" -- by John Chen I'm an Ambassador of CARE, one of my good friends is a Director at CARE (which by the way is doing amazing work after the Tsunami). If you RSVP for this event, just let them know I sent you! CARE invites you to PhotoSensitive’s "HIVPositive, AIDS through a new lens" An innovative exhibit that chronicles the individual acts of optimism and resistance amid the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Opening night features a presentation by Doras Chirwa. AIDS took her eldest sister, then two brothers and recently her 16 year-old niece. Despite the odds against her, Doras Chirwa, HIV/AIDS program specialist for CARE Zambia, is still optimistic and battling to minimize the spread of HIV/AIDS in her country, Zambia. Reception and Tour of Exhibit 6:00 to 8:00 pm Friday, February 25, 2005 Museum of History and Industry 2700 24th Avenue East Seattle, WA 98112-2099 Please RSVP by February 21, 2005 For more information, please call 206-464-0787 Click here to learn more about the PhotoSensitive exhibition! PLAYTIME Inc. to host a table at the Passages Northwest Fundraiser, WIN a geoteaming event! -- by John Chen Join us at the Passages Northwest Charity Auction to support cool outdoor programs for young women, March 11th, 2005! Passages Northwest is dedicated to educating and motivating girls and women to develop leadership and courage through the integrated exploration of the arts and the natural environment. Our programs present opportunities for healthy challenge -- from rock climbing and sea kayaking to nature based art projects and improvisational activities. Through these challenges Passages Northwest promotes caring, responsive and creative leaders. Board Member Rebecca Bear and myself will be your hosts as you learn about these inspiring programs and bid on cool outdoor items such as a ½ day geoteaming event for 12, valued at $1,500! Click here to find out more or register today! $1 MILLION prize in the world's largest online game! -- by John Chen On April 10th, you have a chance to turn $5 Into $1 MILLION by competing in the world’s largest online game! Yes, it’s true, I even talked to the owner of Urban Challenge Online, Kevin LaChapelle. Turns out, Urban Challenge is something akin to geoteaming, except only with camera phones. We talked recently about his latest idea and I decided that I wanted to compete. You can too! Read on and see how you can be part of history on your way to a MILLION dollars! This winter, my group is part of the team helping Urban Challenge Online (UCO) stage the biggest game in history and become enshrined in the famed Guinness book of world records. People from all over the world can enter UCO to turn five bucks into a million. Based on the nationally acclaimed adventure racing series Urban Challenge, UCO is played out completely online. You and a friend set out on a race across cyberspace seeking to identify 12 "checkpoints". Checkpoint identities can only be discovered by first solving – via your brains and the internet – 12 fun and clever clues. Be one of the first 10 teams to submit the correct answers to all 12 clues and you win an all-expense paid trip to NYC to compete in the event finals for ONE MILLION DOLLARS! In addition, one team drawn by special lottery will automatically win an all-expense paid trip to NYC to play in the final round- no matter how successful they are in the first round. The sooner you register, the more GOLDEN TICKET lottery chances you get to win the trip. IMPORTANT INFORMATION When you register, please be sure you enter our unique referral code word: “PLAYTIME” (no quotes, just playtime) Enter the code word and you will be entered into a separate drawing for a Special PLAYTIME Inc. Prize! Only those who enter the referral code word will be registered for the Special PLAYTIME Inc. drawing. So make sure you use the referral code word. Help us spread the word about Urban Challenge Online to family and friends so they to can be part of the largest game in history. Everyone wins. You have fun (and an opportunity to win $1,000,000) and together, we can make history. I need you to do two things for me right away: 1. Follow the link below to UCO right now and enter to play! Please do this right now so you don't forget. And use our code word, “PLAYTIME”!! (no quotes, just playtime) 2. Forward this email on to your friends and family and encourage them to play as well. Send it to everyone you know in your address book! Thank you for so much for your help and by the way, you’ll have to take out Kevin LaChapelle (aka The Master of Games) and myself on your way to the million! Good luck! Enter to compete for $1 Million in the world's largest online game at Urban Challenge Online by clicking here! The PLAYTIME Inc. Blog! Stay ahead of the curve, get the latest info before everyone else! Click here for the PLAYTIME Inc. Blog! ________________________________________ PLAYTIME Inc. PO Box 25022 Seattle, WA 98165-1922 Phone: 877.652.0875 Fax: 877.652.0875 Web site: http://www.playtimeinc.com E-mail: bigkid@playtimeinc.com

January Newsletter

Happy New Year!

Thank you for your continued support of PlayTime Inc.’s Teams & Leaders Newsletter! What a 2003 we had! We flew to Virginia, Santa Monica, San Diego, Las Vegas, Florida, Canada (eh!), San Francisco and our lovely hometown of Seattle.

The response has been tremendous for our GeoTeaming program and we’re looking to grow 50% or more this year while providing even more people team and leadership skills through technology and adventure.

Meanwhile, as with all journeys, there were challenges. Intense flight schedules, time away from home, equipment failure and non-cooperative weather. It’s the true mark of our team that we provided such high customer service under challenging conditions.

In addition, I had a personal challenge with a family medical emergency. If it was not for my closest team, my family, my brothers and sisters, and my extended family, that I would not have survived 2003. This month, I write about how your family can be a great model of team and how Mom’s are the ultimate leaders in this month’s Team Tips and Leadership Lessons.

I wish you all the best in 2004, I hope you set outrageous goals, and most importantly, I hope you enjoy the journey along the way.

-John Chen
CEO & The Big Kid
PlayTime Inc. – Creating Life-Changing Adventures
http://www.playtimeinc.com
(877) 652-0875

Team Tip: It Takes A Family, Your Family As A Model For Team

The phone rings and you pick it up like every other call. There is a momentary pause...the kind of pause you know about...this is no ordinary phone call...something is about to happen...a big piece of news is about to hit you like a ton of bricks.

When was the last time you received one of these phone calls? Do you remember where you were? How you were breathing? What sounds were around? And did you remember that feeling as the news was delivered?

I received one of these phone calls last year. My mother was in the hospital after she was found by a neighbor, unable to get up. She had been to a doctor and was now being sent to a specialist. Nobody knew anything, just that it was serious.

A few days later, finally we had some news. My mom had been diagnosed with "Acoustic Neuroma", a benign brain tumor that starts in your ear cavity and in this case, grew so big to touch her brain stem and affect her motor skills.

We had seen some signs, some clues, but she was always too stubborn to go get it checked out. I am the last of 5 children and the communication chain was in full gear. Cell phones, emails, group aliases all gave daily reports on the status. It was amazing to see the teamwork of all the children plus extended family jump into action.

Once a foreign word in my dictionary, now I knew what "Acoustic Neuroma" was as we traded websites and researched all the information available. One took care of mail while another checked out finances. The oldest sister took care of doctor appointments while another took care of shopping for a walker on eBay. As a family, as a team, we pulled together with the common goal of getting mom better. It was and is a tough road, mom spent over 4 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit, is finally in a rehab facility where she is on the road to recovery. Our family continues to work together to give our mom the best chance possible.

The one belief I’ve grown up with about family is that they are there to stay. While my friends come and go, my family is always going to be here, whether I like it or not! ;-) I’ve had many managers who view their team as their family.

We all know there are challenges with family as a team model with all the “dysfunctional” families that exist, it’s a fascinating topic, but I think that’s a whole other newsletter and I’d like to keep this one upbeat.

Imagine if you had the confidence to know your teammates were as loyal as your family, that you know they would be there when you needed them most? Imagine if your team cared for each other like family? What rituals or practices do you have that makes your family strong? What can you do today to make your team more like family? What do you need to do today to make your family more like a team?

I’m going to visit my mom on Feb 14th (Valentine’s Day!) and I’d love to bring her letters of encouragement. If this story has moved you and you feel it in your heart to help support her and her team, please reply and share a few words of encouragement or perhaps a positive story of your family handling a medical emergency. I know the one thing that will help her most is to ensure she has HOPE that she will make a full recovery.

By the way, you too should learn about Acoustic Neuroma. If someone you know begins to lose their hearing, make sure to ask about Acoustic Neuroma. For more information, check out this link who provided excellent information for us when we knew nothing.

http://www.anausa.org/

Leadership Lesson - Mom’s Rock: Motherhood as Leadership
This Leadership Lesson is dedicated to my mom, Hannah Chen and of course, my lovely wife, Whittnee. Now, I’m no expert in this particular lesson except for what I can observe from the outside, yet I think from the outside I have some interesting observations.

Moms are incredible leaders for the following reasons:
* They are unbelievable multi-taskers
* They handle incredible work loads and constant demands
* They facilitate the most intense conflicts (ever see a 3 year want something?)
* They manage large budgets
* Quite often they do it themselves
* And most importantly, what leadership task is more loaded than your kids. Your flesh and blood, the future generation. Work pales in comparison to the responsibility of being a mom.

I think one of the moments I had the most appreciation for my mom was after the birth of my third child, Kelson. Now, the two parents can longer play 1-on-1, it’s about zone defense and staying just above the chaos that can ensure. I thought about it one day as I struggled to manage everything going on, when I suddenly realized, I’m the last of 5 kids. How did my mom do it? If fact, it was so important that I asked her the next time I saw her. She said, “I just did what was most important now and ignored many of the things that weren’t important. And look, you five all turned out fine.”

You know what, she’s right! What a simple but wonderful concept for leadership. What leadership qualities do you see in moms? What can you learn from them to improve your leadership qualities? What is something simple that your mom did that you can do today to help someone else?

So, the next time you hear someone say, “I’m just a mom”, sit up straight or stand up and tell them they are a leader. Remind them about how much they do, about how much they have on the line, and how much what they do matters to the world, not just now, but to all the future generations to come. Compliment them for all they do and hopefully you’ll leave a smile on their face, viewing their day-to-day life of carpools, laundry and soccer as a Leadership Academy.

Do yourself a favor, send your mom or your best friend who is a mom an award and remind them how much it means to be a mom by clicking on the link below. (We are not affiliated with this site and they do ask you for sign-ups, just click them off and send your award.)

http://www.send4fun.com/trophy/worldsbestmom.htm