If I had to describe this session to a colleague, the three words I would use are:

Comments                             Number of Responses

—         Challenging …                                61 

—         Fun/Fun-filled …                              59 

—         Team building/teamwork …            51 

—         Creative …                                      26 

—         Communication …                          7 

—         Unifying/unity …                            8 

—         Exciting …                                     5 

—         Motivating …                                  5 

—         Trust …                                           4 

—         Intense …                                       4 

—         Inspiring …                                     4 

—         Thought provoking …                      4 

—         Enlightening …                                3  

—         Innovative …                                    3 

—         Interesting …                                    3 

—         Successful …                                   2 

—         Educational …                                  2 

—         New …                                              2 

—         Fulfilling …                                    2 

—         Passion …                                       2 

—         Interactive …                                     2 

—         Entertaining …                                  2 

—         Intuitive …                                      2 

—         Meaningful  

—         Better than average 

—         Stretching 

—         Intriguing 

—         Togetherness 

—         Growing 

—         Equality 

—         Great 

—         Decision making 

—         Intellectually stimulating 

—         Intelligent 

—         Management  

—         Rewarding 

—         Prioritizing  

—         Groovy 

—         Camaraderie 

—         Patience 

—         Fresh 

—         Difficult  

—         Pride 

—         Strategic 

—         Group oriented 

—         Mind-challenging 

—         Stimulating 

—         Wet 

—         Competitive 

—         Eye opening 

—         Empowering 

—         Energy 

—         Competition 

—         Positive reinforcement 

—         Time management 

—         Organized 

—         Insightful 

—         Honest 

—         Building of relationships 

—         Fun – we were able to do a lot of things we never get to do 

—         Exciting – the challenge of competition is a personal motivator that makes any experience exciting 

—         Learning Experience – learned more about how to work with people and build a land raft 

—         Enjoyable – the Apprentice setup was a great theme 

—         Inspiring – working together in an environment with great people, great outdoors and great resources 

—         Creative – brainstorming, props, “auction” 

—         Motivational – learning from mistakes and being flexible with our teams 

—         Constructive – we all were able to use our strengths and talents 

—         Insightful – how we work as a team 

—         Creative – coming up with ideas to sell a product that was not very exciting 

—         Great team building activity 

—         Gave us a chance to be really creative and think outside the box 

—         Challenging – trying to create and manage a product we knew very little about, but had a lot of fun along the way 

—         Team building – spending time thinking and having fun with other team members 

—         Challenging – lots of thinking activities 

—         Teamwork; had no choice but to work together 

—         Creativity; really had to think outside the box 

—         Cooperation; Planning; Execution – 3 elements that went into making it a success 

—         Cohesion – brought together a diverse/strong-minded group of people 

—         Listening to others 

—         Thoughtful – everything we did 

—         Teamwork – everyone came together as a team 

—         Utilization – of people’s talents 

—         Respect for each other’s ideas 

—         Extreme use of intelligence and feedback as a group 

—         Teamwork – in order to complete our tasks within the constraints, we had to communicate and work together as much as possible 

—         Working together as a team – all members needed to be on the same page for us to be successful 

—         Trust – trusting one another’s ideas 

—         Anticipation – seeing how successful we worked together 

—         Constructive – a great way to make people come together as a team to resolve a challenge 

—         Creative – had to think outside of the box 

—         Challenging – time constraints and working with different personalities 

—         Fun – fun to interact and work as a team to reach a common goal 

—         Fulfilling – it was fun to come together and work on a project that produced a tangible result 

—         Teamwork – we quickly realized that only as a team would we be successful 

—         Relationships – we were able to interact with each other in new ways 

—         Challenging – it was mentally challenging 

—         Leadership; roles had to be defined & people had to take charge 

—         Interesting; made everyone really work as team 

—         Awareness; Informative; Increased Sensitivity 

—         Teamwork – we had to come together & work as a solid team 

—         Leadership – it was nice to see people break out and lead in certain activities 

—         Fun – working together & challenging each other while competing with others 

—         Fun – sporting event was fun 

—         Interactive – the event plus the planning 

—         Educational – learning through dividing roles 

—         Challenging – made you think outside the box 

—         Team building – made us work in groups and come closer together 

—         Intense – the time constraint added a stress that mimics real life 

—         Fun – everybody had great ideas, bringing in a lot of creativity 

—         Motivating – working as a team 

—         Eye opening – seeing everyone work together 

—         Challenging – going thru each requirement thoroughly 

—         Realistic – we don’t make production design decisions every day, but we do work with many people with different issues every day. 

—         Creative – what choices do you make with limited resources 

My comments on this session overall:  

—         Fun & very challenging – great team building. 

—         Good. You were right – it was frustrating not knowing what to do – but in the end, that was the biggest thing I took away from today. Learning what it takes to complete a task like that. 

—         It was a very positive experience for myself and the entire team. The future looks bright. I feel that we can overcome challenges in the future. 

—         Really made you have to think and realize all the work, time, creativity and committees that are involved in a company. So much goes into one simple product that you see why everyone must work together to be successful. 

—         I had a great day and bonded with my team. 

—         I think it was very well planned out, and gave this company an opportunity to challenge ourselves and still have fun doing it. 

—         It was a fun team building exercise. 

—         Awesome! 

—         Thank you for your service – this was different than any other retreat. Definitely more rewarding to our company. 

—         I always tell my friends that I work with a bright, dynamic group that has the potential to do amazing things regardless of their environment. *Today really drove that point home for me. 

—         The staff did an amazing job! 

—         I wanted to be on The Apprentice since the first episode. This was perfect! 

—         We are a stronger and smarter team because of the experience. It is inspiring to see the company moving in this direction. 

—         It brought out strengths that everyone on our team contributed what they excel in. It brought us closer as a group and we learned from one another how to be successful and accomplish a goal together. 

—         Brought the region together as a team – great morale building. Our region (new) was able to see strengths and weaknesses outside our norms. 

—         Had a great time really getting to know my region and making great relationships. 

—         I had a great time. It was neat to see how every team came together and came up with something great. I felt like I was in camp as a kid again and that is one thing from my childhood that I always enjoyed. 

—         I was glad I got to participate in this event. It really made our region a team and developed great working relationships. 

—         Great time. Thanks for the bonds that I made. 

—         Great time - learned about many different aspects of introducing a new product. 

—         Great Activity !! 

—         Organized - with great supplies to work with. 

—         It was a good activity to build our team in a working relationship. 

—         I had a really good time. I am really glad we did this. 

—         Good team building & team cohesion really showed. People stepped up really well today. 

—         Great building activities and very creative. 

—         Great exercise, it was a fun experience, and fun to see everybody’s talents. 

—         Really enjoyed the Consultants. Interesting and fun, both. 

—         Experience was great for team building. 

—         Fun and team building. 

—         Great time – good experience. 

—         Thank you for your work today. 

—         Fun, challenging and created a great team environment. It caused our teams to think outside the box, work together to create active choices. 

—         It made everyone work together and like many said, identify each person’s strengths so we could contribute with that portion of the product. 

—         It was great. 

—         Great team building experience. 

—         Very amazing experience. I learned a lot. 

—         The ambiguity definitely aided in making this a great experience. 

—         This was a great way to motivate a team to become closer as a group. To work together on a project that they are not usually working on. 

—         I thought it was great for team building and creating a stronger team. It made us think in many different areas. 

—         It makes you work with people within the company. A fun experience. 

—         A great team building experience. 

—         Great activity, very creative. 

—         Very fun! 

—         It was great to see everyone join together and use their individual talents to impact the entire group/project. 

—         It was a great time! 

—         Great team building experience. We got to see and utilize strengths in each other that we did not know we all had. 

—         Great team building experience.  

—         Great overall experience, finished the day exhausted but satisfied. 

—         It was great! So much fun! 

—         It has been a great experience. 

—         Great way to get to know my peers and wonderful way to bond. 

—         Entertaining! 

—         It gave us an opportunity to get to know each other as a team better. We had to communicate and work together in our specific roles to be successful. 

—         Fun, challenging and cool. 

—         It was a great experience. It pressed us to think big in small time frame. Come together as a team. 

—         It was extremely fun and I really like the fact that we worked as a team towards one goal. 

—         I think this was a great team building experience. 

—         Great experience! Very intellectually challenging. An opportunity to experience other attributes that colleagues have to offer. 

—         It was very challenging and innovative. Really brought out the creative spirit from everybody. 

—         Fun task that required a lot of thinking, planning, creativity and included some good laughs with the trial runs. 

—         An excellent team building experience !! 

—         Had a lot of fun, got to know everyone in my region more. Can take experience and bring it to my job. 

—         Great team building exercise which challenged everyone to identify their strengths. 

—         Taught us to work well with one another and how to come together with well thought out ideas. 

—         I had a very good time. 

—         Great team building experience. Challenging, a big frustrating, but still fun. 

—         I think that it was really good. 

—         This was a great team building experience, all separate teams worked together to accomplish the task and just have fun! 

—         Fun and made me think outside the box. I love hearing others’ ideas and how they would target their audiences. 

—         I had a lot of fun today. Thanks! 

—         Great team building – learned strengths of peers which is beneficial. 

—         I had been watching The Apprentice and wanted to participate in those types of challenges. I am happy that I did. 

—         Great job in tying in Apprentice. 

—         It was fun. I enjoyed it. 

—         Great team building activities. We were able to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and put them in the right position to make the team great. 

—         It was great for team building. 

—         I think it was great to plan something as a team and also reap the benefits of having fun. 

—         Fun ! 

—         Cool. 

—         Fun & creative. 

—         Great job! Thank you – it was a blast. 

—         It was a great experience. 

—         Fun, great activity. 

—         It was extremely fun and really unified our region. 

—         This activity made us stronger, understanding one another and working together as a team and in the end learn more about one another. 

—         Awesome! 

—         Great experience. 

—         Fun and learned to become more retrospective on what it takes to make a successful company. 

—         It was a great chance to get to know my region and learn their strengths and weaknesses. Today was amazing. 

—         It was fun to be put into a situation like this! 

—         I would like to see us as a company to continue to have days like this. As a DM group, I feel it made us so much stronger. 

—         I liked it, especially how we incorporated this into our jobs. 

—         The project was the most challenging and the funniest event. 

—         It was really fun and a great way for us to work together as a team. 

—         I thought it was awesome. I really liked the inclusion of the two professionals to pick their brains.