#event activities

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Looking for events and activities near you? Find all the events happening near you. like Music, sport, business networking, nightlife, culture, food, and more.

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Firewalking--an event good for your sole, er soul

When I recently noticed someone new following me on Twitter—a rep from a United Kingdom firewalking company—I laughed out loud.  Cliched scenes of firewalking from the movies raced through my mind but then I thought, hmm, sounds kind of cool.

Well, turns out I'm not the only who finds this ancient spiritual act intriguing. 

Firewalking, the act of walking over a bed of hot coals or embers barefoot, has been practiced in cultures throughout the world and dates back to Iron Age India, 1200 BC. The phenomenon has been used as a test of courage, strength or faith. 

Today, there is a hot bed (couldn't resist) of firewalking instructors guiding corporate clients through team-building and self-confidence building firewalking events for their employees.

Greg Peterson, an executive instructor for Dallas-based Firewalking Institute of Research and Education, said firewalking is an effective metaphor for reaching beyond a goal. The event can last from two to four hours and is ideal for sales teams, he said. It takes that long to get participants in the right state of mind.

Tolly Burkan, a self-proclaimed founding father of the modern day global firewalking movement and author of "Extreme Spirituality: Radical Approaches to Awakening," touts firewalking can allow people to break through their self-limitations. When people are in intimidating situations, Burkan said in an interview with Michael Shermer of "Skeptic Magazine," they will remember that they walked on fire, an experience giving people a sense of what is possible and the courage to attempt things they have not attempted before.

That feeling is exactly what corporations are attempting to nurture from their employees at team-building events. However, setting up an event is not cheap. Peterson said the average cost of a firewalking event for up to 100 participants through his company is $10,000.

I won't delve into the arguments of why most people don't get burned when walking on fire. Physicists say it is not "mind over matter," but simply that the amount of time feet are in contact with the embers is not enough time to induce a burn combined with the belief that coal is not a good conductor of heat.

You can watch the debate play out with Shermer in his You Tube video on firewalking.

Meanwhile, I think we all have been tested in our own ways, large and small. A recent trip my family took to Six Flags Great America was grounds for two modest monumental triumphs. Kevin, my husband and partner here at EventWax, focused sharply for perhaps 30 minutes on how he was going to climb a rope ladder to win a prize (or, more accurately, beat the game designed to make you fail). For two tries for $5, he wiped out on the first attempt, but then conquered on the second. This, at a carnival attraction where we hadn't seen a single success all day. Nonetheless, this was his small, big victory.

My small, big win? On that same day, I strapped myself in next to my daughter for a ride on the wooden roller coaster American Eagle--backwards. Yea, careening backwards down that 147-foot drop. I can't say I completely enjoyed it, but I can say I did it.   

If you want to raise some eyebrows and build triumphs at your next seminar, meeting or party consider these sources for firewalking:

Firewalking Institute of Research and Education

Toltec Center of Creative Intent

BLAZE Firewalking

Fire Spirit

O2 Action

[eventwax-blog]

Fun event ice breakers and games

You've got the venue. You've got the accommodations. You've got the speakers.

Now you're racking your brain for the fun. You want your attendees leaving your conference or meeting becoming a little more knowledgeable, but also believing they had a really good time.

Kevin, my husband, EventWax partner and technologist, is planning the Software Craftsmanship North America conference in the Chicago area taking place next month. He knows his audience and has honed in on conference activities that gets everyone involved.

"If you don't know your audience, your turnout for social events [during the conference] is not going to be where you want it to be," Kevin said.

This year, Kevin is purposefully scheduling longer breaks between sessions. He dubbed this infusion of time "hallway networking time."

"The main idea is networking and making connections with people who may have said something insightful during a session. With the longer breaks, people have time to go track others down. It is as valuable as the session," he said.

He also is aware that he has a good number of musicians and gamers attending. Some ideas he is considering for an evening after the conference sessions is setting up instruments for impromptu jam sessions or a game night with board games and Wii consoles.

A good way to find out more about your audience with EventWax is to ask relevant questions in the custom form fields section of the Web site when you use online registration. In the custom form fields you can collect information like job titles or interests, etc...

Event activities or games encourage networking, team building or simply breaking the ice.

United Kingdom-based Eventus outlines dozens of activities led by an event specialist suitable for groups small and large. Here's a few that caught my eye:

Called Creative Challenge, this activity is high tech. It revolves around smart phone technology and promotes prioritizing between missions, working creatively as a team, decision-making as a team and recognizing qualities in colleagues.

Here's how it works: Teams of four to five members compete against each other to solve missions in a game area of your choice (ie. a city center or grounds of the conference center). Teams are armed with smartphones and each mission is communicated through the mobile phones. Missions run in real time with time limits for completion. Players get instant feedback after responding to missions or questions. All responses on the phones are stored instantly at the control center allowing the game organizer to oversee gameplay, let everyone know which team is in the lead and so on.

Teams playing Eliminator receive a challenge and a deadline. One hundred gold nuggets will purchase a rusty key to open a treasure box, but only if the gold nuggets are obtained before the deadline. This activity encourages a "one team" approach; promotes leadership opportunities; decision-making as a team; and reviewing performance for improvement. 

There's not enough time and resources for all the challenges to be completed. Decisions need to be made about which challenges to take and eliminate.

If your setting is classroom-style, try Drumming. Attendees quickly pick up rhythm and beat as everyone joins in.

The Yarn Game I watched a class of fourth-graders once play, but it is quick and fun for adults too.

You will need a large ball of yarn and the group sitting in a circle. Hold onto the end of the yarn and throw the ball to a participant. Once caught, ask them a getting to know you question like; where do you live or what is your favorite color, animal, toy, movie etc.  They answer the question and then hold the yarn and then throw the ball to another participant and asks them a question. Make sure everyone holds onto the yarn and does not let go. At the end you will have a giant web of yarn that connects the whole group. Explain that we are all individuals, but are connected in some way to each other.

A great resource for more games and ideas to run yourself is Incredible Ice Breakers, Games and Ideas.

[eventwax-blog]

Plan your event around Yrwall

Wow your attendees with a new palette of interaction at your next event with the latest in digital technology -- United Kingdom-based Lumacoustic’s Yrwall.

YrWall, the creation of founders Tim Williams and Tom Hogan, is an interactive tool for creating digital, virtual graffiti on a large screen using a modified spray paint can. But instead of paint, when the cap is pressed the can ‘sprays’ infra red light, which is tracked by a computer as it moves across the screen, according to its website. The digital paint appears wherever the can is sprayed, just like spraying paint on a real wall.

The Yrwall, pronounced “your wall,” has been featured at prominent events last year such as the Chevrolet Spark Unscheduled Tour, Virgin London Marathon and Google Jam 2010.

"We supply the graffiti wall, two staff and a whole host of add on services such as live t-shirt printing to a huge array of events like product launches, conferences, exhibitions, trade shows and even bar mitzvahs and weddings," said Williams, who is looking to take the product global this year. Yrwall has a strong presence currently in the UK, Europe and the United States.

The tool boasts a wide variety of paint colors as well as animated stars, swirls, drip effect paint and stencils. Going further, the Yrwall can customize spray patterns and stencils to create the user’s name, picture or logo.

Designs are saved as a standard jpeg format so can be used to create all sorts of mementos such as stickers, t-shirts and photos. Lumacoustics can supply a separate kiosk PC and screen to enable a user to manipulate their image before emailing or printing.  The firm also can provide multiple YrWalls for an event for graffiti "battles" between artists. Designs can be shared around the world via email, Facebook or Twitter directly from the YrWall itself and using the spray can to enter details on an onscreen keyboard.

"The feedback we get from clients, from Google to private party planners, is fantastic and that they want us to come up with more and more ways to excite and engage guests at event - its an exciting place to be right now," Williams said.