Team Building in Second Life

Yesterday I attended a presentation on Second Life on team building. As someone who prides himself in being a part of and offering programs on the cutting edge, I was curious. Being on the forefront of trends has been integral to the success of TeamBonding in scavenger hunts, culinary team building and currently, philanthropic team building so it only made sense that I explored something that I considered, new.

I admit, it took me a while to create my avatar, learn how to make it move and fly and I was stuck for 2 days in Brazil but clicking on my invitation link took me to a virtual island and conference center. There I met my facilitator and 10 other people from all over the country who were also interested in online learning. After brief introductions, we all went up a ramp and did a typical team building exercise called “Whale Watch”. All of us, one at a time got on a flat board and had to balance the board as more people got on. There was some interesting communication, some weight issues (or lack thereof) but overall, it was a good experience where 10 people were actually in one place, at one time, interacting and working together. That was cool.

After the program I was taken on a tour of the island where I was shown the conference center, the exhibit space, and breakout rooms and when all was said and done, I had spent three hours in Second Life, talking and learning with colleagues.

I definitely see the potential of this for our client with virtual teams. Now I need to determine how and if TeamBonding will get involved as I tend to be and we as a company tend to be a company that leads in that saying, Lead, follow or get out of the way. I would love any comments and experiences you have had in Second Life and if you think team building would be valuable in that space.