Free Entry To Chocolate Week – Chocolate Unwrapped at Vinopolis

We invented the team building activity The Chocolate Challenge, so we are obviously fans of chocolate.  

Win free tickets to the Chocolate Unwrapped show

For anyone else who is also a fan complete the sentence below in the most inspiring and amusing way and you will win two tickets to the Chocolate Unwrapped show at Vinopolis in London on 15th and 16th October. We will also have gourmet chocolate bars for the runners up.

The Chocolate Challenge team building event by Fresh Tracks is….

Once you have come up with your inspiring or amusing sentence please email us at mail@varndev.co.uk.

For information about Chocolate Unwrapped read below:…

Chocolate – good for he heart, mind and business

Fifteen years ago we created an indoor team building exercise in based on chocolate. Our research at the time found that good quality chocolate contained vitamins, antioxidants and the only edible fat that doesn’t fur the arteries.

Chocolate – good for he heart, mind and business

This week the BMJ (British Medical Journal) published a comprehensive study (external link to BMJ) suggesting that eating chocolate (in moderation) can reduce the likelihood of heart disease by up to 37%.

So not only does chocolate make you feel good, it can help your heart and if eaten with your colleagues can build your team.

Find out more about our chocolate team building event.

It’s national Play Day on 3rd August and yes this affects your workplace!

Wednesday 3rd August is National Play Day, inspired in part by the fact that over 80% of adults feel that children should be encouraged to play more outdoors because it builds community spirit. Yet we live in a society where just 20% of children play outside their homes, whereas 30 years ago that figure was 70%.

“If you want your people to be more creative, give them more time to play” John Cleese

Play isn’t just diminishing in the lives of children. As workplaces become busier and leaner there is less time for informal conversations and light hearted activity. This drive for efficiency might not be quite as good for business as you’d think. Comedian, psychologist and successful businessman in his own right John Cleese said “If you want your people to be more creative, give them more time to play.”…

Team Building For A Good Cause

With the number of disgraced companies rising every month – starting with Enron, then BP last year and now News International – the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda shows little sign of diminishing.  Added to this is the fact that increasing numbers of employees are saying that they are keen to ‘give something back’ and ‘make a difference’ through their work.

In response to increased requests for team building activities that generate some community benefit, Fresh Tracks have created The Toy Factory

In response to increased requests for team building activities that generate some community benefit, Fresh Tracks have created  The Toy Factory. This is a half day event that can be run in any  meeting room  and  yet results in beautifully crafted, hand made, wooden toys.  Our connections with children’s hospitals and charities mean that the resulting toys from the exercise can be donated to children or sold, with money raised going to the host company’s  chosen good cause….

Free Team Building Activity: Spaghetti Tower

This team building task gets teams thinking creatively, communicating and planning.

Planning is important to the success of this team building task

Overview
Small teams are asked to build the tallest, most cost-effective, free-standing tower using a packet of dried spaghetti and a packet of jelly babies within the set time limit.  …

New Team Building Event

Way back in 1997 Fresh Tracks created the Chocolate Challenge it brought team building indoors and replaced military style tasks with a sensory experience that was both enormous fun and conveyed important messages about business and teamwork.

The Chocolate Challenge & Team Machine are events we have created in the past but what will this years be?

Every few years we develop more events, like The Team Machine, and we are currently creating another completely original team building exercise that responds to the needs of the present time….

New Year, New Job – 6 things to keep the right people in your team

Will your team be the same next year?

No. 2: Recognise and celebrate what has been achieved this past year.

If you are fortunate to be part of a stable and established team, don’t rest on your laurels. All that effort you’ve put in to team building could be lost within moments of the bells tolling the start of 2011. Here’s why:…

Want your staff to be happy? Here are the four components of happiness

There’s been a lot of talk about happiness and general well-being of late.  Here we explore the four components of happiness and ask if busy executives can ever achieve a happy state.

Unfortunately this is not an option in the real world

Since becoming the Conservative leader David Cameron has argued that we should be monitoring GWB (General Well Being) alongside GDP (Gross Domestic Product).  This is an idea possibly inspired by the Kingdom of Bhutan’s GNH measure (Gross National Happiness), but Bhutan isn’t facing huge state spending cuts and bailing out neighbouring countries….

5 More Tips for Instant Team Motivation

Our earlier blog “5 Tips for Instant Team Motivation” was so popular that we have put together another with details of 5 more ways to boost productivity and create a great working environment.

Someone send this manager the link to this blog!

So here are the 5 extra routes to raising team morale in an instant:…

New Resources: learn from over 19 years of experience

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC).

We have condensed over 19 years of experience into these books, exercises and DVD

In a world of iPods, iPads and 3D TV, it is perhaps surprising that technology has yet to find a more memorable and effective way to put across a message than the simple act of doing.

For over 19 years Fresh Tracks have been coming up with practical activities that improve understanding. We appreciate that it’s not always possible to take a team out for a day and so we’ve developed a selection of resources that can be used in team meetings and training sessions….