How Augmented Reality can be used for team building

Speed boats, celebrities and selfies – employees can now bond in a very different way.

Last week Executive Grapevine experienced ClueGo’s new action-packed treasure hunting event where employees are giving GPS-enabled iPads and sent off to complete tasks in different locations.

The day began at a bar by the London Eye. Everyone was split into teams of four or five people and given iPads preloaded with a location-based app, similar to Pokémon Go.

The City then became a treasure map with historic locations used as ‘Hot Spots’. Teams had to collect points by visiting as many of these Hot Spots as possible where there would be a puzzle or quiz for the team to solve against the clock.

Some of the locations even challenged teams to take selfies or videos, resulting in fish-pout pictures, robot-dancing and even epic film re-enactments on the streets of London.

All this occurred while zombies and Pac-man-like ghosts worked their way around the map ready to deduct points from anyone they managed to get close enough to (sudden sprints, iPad in hand, weren’t uncommon).

Other tasks, that weren’t location-specific, were also put forward. Finding yesterday’s newspaper, discontinued sweets and even a wandering celebrity were all part of the ad-hoc tasks that would result in extra points.

The teams were then challenged to get back to South Bank in order to catch a Thames Rocket speed boat that would take them along the River Thames where other Hot Spots could be found.

Finally the day closed back at the bar where the day’s pictures and videos were shared with everyone. Awards were given out and winners were announced.

James Carruthers, Managing Director of ClueGo, says: “We are constantly improving our tablet treasure hunts to provide an extremely interactive, enjoyable event that is cutting edge and very different from other teambuilding days. The best part of the job is watching people get really involved with the activities, getting in touch with their creative sides and thinking outside the box.

“These challenges can include multiple choice questions related to landmarks, or photographic and video challenges that must be sent back to HQ for scoring. The whole concept is ideal not only for team building but experiential marketing and brand building too.”