Happy Holidays from Outback Team Building & Training

The team at Outback Team Building & Training wishes you a very happy holiday season. As the year draws to a close, our team reflects on 2016, and looks ahead to 2017.

We hope that you’ve had an enjoyable year, filled with lots of opportunities to bond, grow, and learn with your colleagues.

As 2016 comes to an end, our team has taken a look back on the events of the past year. Below, a few of our employee engagement consultants share their most memorable customer moments and top team building picks from 2016.

2016 YEAR IN REVIEW WITH OUR EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT CONSULTANTS

Bryan McWilliams, Employee Engagement Consultant

• Top Team Building Activity: Wheelchairs for Charity
• Category: Charity & Philanthropic Activities
• Most Memorable Moment: Building a one-of-a-kind program with Microsoft
• Biggest Take-Away: Customers are looking for new ways to give back

To Bryan, 2016 was all about philanthropic activities and events. Throughout the year, he noticed that more customers were asking for charitable team building activities. In fact, 14% of all events that our customers booked in 2016 had a charity component. Bryan’s thrilled that our team is able to meet that need with unique and impactful solutions.

Not surprisingly, Bryan’s top pick when it comes to team building activities is Wheelchairs for Charity because of the huge, positive impact that it can have on those in need.

Bryan’s most memorable customer experience during 2016 was partnering with Microsoft. Together, they worked closely with our Innate Leaders team to build a unique, two-day employee onboarding program from the ground up. Having worked with Microsoft for many years as their dedicated event solutions expert, Bryan was very excited to be able to help them create a truly special solution for their employees.

Looking ahead to 2017, Bryan loves that customers will continue to be able to rely on us for their team building and learning and development needs, almost anywhere in the world.

LEARN ABOUT WHEELCHAIRS FOR CHARITY 

Jordan Menu, Employee Engagement Consultant

• Top Team Building Activity: Domino Effect Challenge
• Category: Indoor Team Building Activities
• Most Memorable Moment: Helping Epicor give back in a big way
• Biggest Take-Away: Common goals make for great team building experiences

Throughout 2016, Jordan supported many different customers in delivering collaborative, community-driven team building experiences – and he had a blast doing it.

He kick-started the year off by partnering with Epicor in Hawaii to produce an epic End-Hunger Games, which resulted in the company donating more than 6,500 pounds of food to the Maui Food Bank.

Jordan’s top activity is Domino Effect Challenge because he believes that it’s one of the best truly collaborative events. He loves that it unites teams as they build on each other’s efforts to achieve a common goal – with their success depending on their collaboration.

Moving into 2017, Jordan is excited about the happy customers that we continue to partner with, and the great people that he works with at our head office. With some of the technology systems that American Outback Adventures & Events put into place in 2016, Jordan is also looking forward to serving our customers even better with new efficiencies.

LEARN ABOUT DOMINO EFFECT CHALLENGE 

Michael Holler, Employee Engagement Consultant

• Top Team Building Activity: Custom Lip Sync Battle
• Most Memorable Moment: Discussing team building – and flying – with Alaska Airlines
• Biggest Take-Away: Custom solutions and solid customer connections can create magical results

For Michael, 2016 was a year that revolved around working with repeat customers and further developing customer relationships.

The activity that Michael enjoyed the most in 2016 was a one-of-a-kind, custom Lip Sync Battle that he helped develop for Coca-Cola. Michael loved how fun the activity was, and was thrilled to support such a unique, Coca-Cola-specific event.

A customer experience that stands out to Michael in 2016 was with Alaska Airlines. This customer took the time to check out his bio on our website and noticed that Michael has his pilot’s license and enjoys flying in his spare time. This led to a particularly special customer connection which Michael has said was really meaningful to him.

Over the next year, Michael is very excited to help our customers discover the variety of fresh and improved activities and training solutions that we offer. He loves that we are a resource for our customers’ large-scale events, and that we can say “yes” to almost anything.

LEARN ABOUT CUSTOM ACTIVITIES 

Michael Culp, Employee Engagement Consultant

• Top Team Building Activity: Charity Bike Buildathon
• Most Memorable Moment: Connecting in a meaningful way with the Colorado Bar Association
• Biggest Take-Away: Quality customer service can go a long way

In 2016, Michael consistently witnessed just how powerful outstanding customer service can be. In fact, his most memorable moment was partnering with the Colorado Bar Association because it gave him the opportunity to truly embody American Outback Adventures & Events’ core value of putting customers first. Michael built a great relationship with the company, exchanging emails about life, football, and the weather, and he is really looking forward to reconnecting with the the organization in 2017.

Special customer connections are also what makes Charity Bike Buildathon Michael’s top pick for team building activities this year. Throughout 2016, he loved getting out to Charity Bike Buildathon activities whenever he could to witness the teams in action, negotiating and being creative.

Michael is very excited about all the ways that American Outback Adventures & Events is growing as a company, and can’t wait to see where we’ll be one year from now. In 2017, he is particularly looking forward to supporting his customers’ efforts to keep employees engaged and happy all over North America.

LEARN ABOUT CHARITY BIKE BUILDATHON 

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2017!

2016 was an exciting year, filled with great partnerships, energizing team building experiences, and successful employee training programs. Our team looks forward to continuing to collaborate with organizations we’ve worked with in the past, and building new partnerships with companies we have yet to work with in 2017. Happy holidays!