At the recent FHRD Annual HR Conference, Jo Caruana tried her hand at Quickfire – one of Outdoor Living’s brilliant energiser offerings… and she loved it!
The afternoon is facing a lull – it’s now just after lunch and those present could easily find themselves disinterested in the sessions that remain.
But there’s no time for that – as Outdoor Living is quickly rounding us up for the next part of the day and my eager fellow participants are trying to figure out what’s in store. An energiser has been set – and we’re clearly in need of it. I have high hopes that this is exactly what we need to get us in the mood for more brilliant sessions and activities as the afternoon wears on.
We’ve been divided into groups and assigned to a table, upon which sits a bag of secret items and an iPad – it all seems very mysterious, and exciting! Within seconds, Outdoor Living’s team leader Chris springs into action to talk us through the game. It turns out that it’s called Quickfire, and we’ve been given everything we need to work through as many challenges as we can within a 20-minute deadline.
The challenges are split into categories – mental, creative and physical – as well as difficultly levels. The harder the challenge, the more ‘currency’ you can win if you get it right; the more currency you win across all your challenges, and the more likely you are to go home victorious.
I find myself on an all-female team and we’re very eager to get going. As the whistle sounds, we jump into action and immediately try to figure out the best route forward. We settle on a creative challenge first, and a few of us get busy following instructions to turn a sheet of paper into an origami hat. Meanwhile, the rest of us get going on something completely different – we’ve been asked to spell out the title of the conference (FHRD) using our bodies, and we rush into the foyer to do so. The associated app is brilliant as it has an in-built camera, which means we can take snaps on-the-go and add them to our inventory.
Once that’s done, we rush back inside to join the rest of the team, who have been busy getting to grips with other tasks. As the time ticks on, we try to pack as much into the remaining minutes as we can, and opt for some mental challenges. They’re quick – but certainly not easy – and we find ourselves bumbling through some brilliant riddles. Eventually we get a couple right, just in time to hear the loud whistle shriek through the room, letting us all know that our 20 minutes are up.
As we look towards the leader board, we’re sad to see that we didn’t quite make the grade and that there are tens of teams well ahead of us when it comes to the amount of currency they’ve managed to secure in such a short time. But that doesn’t matter – it’s been brilliant, we’ve gotten to know one another and even have the photos to prove it.
There’s no doubt that Quickfire is the ultimate addition to any conference or event as it quickly builds relationships while ensuring everyone has the chance to get involved. We’re now well and truly energised, and keen to face the final part of the conference!
