Team Building 2016: Scaling Heights & Freaky Frights

Getting to know each other

Once a year, the Verz family would gather for a company bonding event. Last year, the Singapore team flew down to Philippines for the annual team building, so this year, it was the Manila team’s turn to visit Singapore for a weekend of fun and exciting events.

The purpose for this gathering is for everyone to get to know each other, to meet the names behind the screens, and to unite the whole Verz Design team. As soon as the Manila team arrived, we started the whole event with a lunch buffet and introduced ourselves to each other.

We then donned our company shirts and made our way to Sentosa for more outdoor activities under the sun.

Sentosa Mega Adventure

Before we began, we were split into teams of 5 – Purple, Silver, Pink, Red, and Orange. We started with a simple, warm-up game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with a conga line element. After this, the Mega Adventure guide then explained to us the mechanics of the challenges. Each individual will be awarded “notes” (currency) according to the difficulty of the obstacle course they completed, and the group with the highest amount will be crowned the victor.

The first activity is called, ‘ClimbMax’ – a 36-stage obstacle course that challenged our fear of heights. There were 3 levels of difficulty, with 12 stages per tier. It was surprising to note that some of the most timid co-workers overcame the third level.

It was indeed terrifying, but through shouts of encouragement and helpful gestures, the Verz Family managed to overcome their fears and accomplish feats from great heights.

Next, we did ‘NorthFace’ (rock climbing) and ‘ParaJump’ – a 15m free fall descent stimulator. This was where the teams started to make a difference in their rankings.

And while born climbers took on the 15-metre wall with natural ease, others were thrilled at the adrenaline rush from the ParaJump.

Finally, everyone took the 75 metres high zip-line down to the beach across the sprawling sands of Siloso.

As we watched the sunset across the soft golden waves, it was the Silver team that won bragging rights as the bravest and fittest group.

But more importantly, the real victors were the whole Verz family as everyone cheered each other on to complete the obstacles, regardless of their team – all unified in one single spirit. Even the Mega Adventure guide commented that the Verz Design staff was one of the most supportive and cohesive team he had ever seen!

Universal Studios Singapore Day Tour

The next day, the Manila team went to Universal Studios for a day of fun and exhilarating rides.

Some of the amusement rides we tried included The Transformers, The Mummy and the Battlestar Galactica rollercoasters – Human and Cylon.

Later on, we explored other rides for ourselves and bought souvenirs for our friends and loved ones back home. We then grabbed dinner at Texas Chicken before we were joined by the rest of the Singapore team for the USS Halloween Horror Nights.

USS Halloween Horror Nights

The Horror Night event was marked with screams and plenty of shock factor – as we saw everyone’s true colours in terms of how brave they were. Some touted they were brave, yet cowered in fear in the face of adversity, while there were others who stepped up fearlessly and protected their herd of thrill-seekers.

With the many different haunted houses, each telling a story of an urban legend in Singapore’s culture and history, the Verz Manila and Singapore team had a great time scaring one another as they seized the night.

Dinner and Drinks 2016

On the last night of our annual gathering, our final stop was at the Chop House restaurant where everyone had to come in their wackiest movie character-themed costumes! Some of the get-ups included Despicable Me minions, Batman, Dracula, Princess Leia, Totoro, Little Red Riding Hood, Pikachu, Ace Ventura, while others came in full cosplay force in costumes like Harley Quinn and Angry Bird!

Served by the wonderful staff from The Chop House, our tables were filled with scrumptious and tantalizing appetizers, main courses, and desserts. We drank the night away with wine and beer, and bonded over jokes and laughter.

Later on, the award-giving ceremony started as we handed out awards for The Verve, a 5-years’ service appreciation award for one of our dedicated employees, and prizes for the good ol’ lucky draw. Raffle prizes in the lucky draw included an iPad, Bose earphones, and gift vouchers. And for the most anticipated announcement of the night, the Best Dressed awards were given to none other than Angry Bird, Harley Quinn and the Ghostbuster!

Despite our cultural differences and the distance separating us, this annual team building gathering helped us bond like we knew each other from very long ago. It helped us to establish a form of trust that transcends boundaries – a trust that has always been responsible for the unity of the Verz Design team from the beginning.