Guild Night Events/Scavenger Hunts
From my brain
This was originally posted on the Guild Relations forums
-- Ashling of Greymane < Pay it Forward >
Introduction
The following is a guide to putting together a Scaventure Hunt Event. (work in progress). Thanks http://www.scaventures.com and rte's guide to fun guild events for much of this material.
About Scaventure Hunts
What is a Scaventure/ Treasure Hunt?
They are great team builders. Given a time frame, a mission, a set of tools and clues, and a playing field, teams communicate, strategize, negotiate, and bond as they compete with other teams. All this is disguised as fun. The main idea behind a scaventure hunt is a race to collect goodies and be the first to return to the race master with them.
Reasons why we should have a Scaventure Hunt?
Celebrate your success, organizational change, such as separate teams being merged or team with a new manager, building trust, team needing to develop new skills or improve existing ones, team needing a break between demanding periods of work, recover from a failure, Team 'stuck' and unable to resolve either work or relationship problems, reward for sustained periods of good work, Team seeking to mix business and pleasure, recruitment and selection
What will my team get out of a Scaventure hunt?
Success in building teams is affected by the group, the task, and the environment. What your team derives from the treasure hunt very much depends on them, but typically: Team work and co-operation are fostered through friendly competition, Decisions (and mistakes) are made in a safe environment, enabling participants to learn and build confidence, Trust is built through improved departmental, individual, or external relationships , Staff become more aware of themselves and others , Individual potential can be realized or discovered, Leadership, problem solving, planning, and communication skills are tested and developed, Participants are stimulated by experiencing unfamiliar situations and seeing cultural landmarks from a highly interactive perspective. The net result for the business and employees is that increased effectiveness, involvement, motivation, moral, and knowledge sharing are brought back to the workplace. This provides a good basis for discussion of problems, formulation of new ideas, and quicker implementation of improved work methods—giving your staff more responsibility and motivation, and making your business more adaptable and flexible.
Planning a Scaventure Hunt
Can we work with other guilds to put on the event?
Yes. Please make sure all efforts are equal, and receive permission from the guild master. If the event is co-sponsored, it will be acknowledged in the announcements as such. If they wish to be co-sponsors, they will also be given the opportunity to say a few words about their guild at the beginning of the event.
What kind of Player Power is needed to put on the event?
Here is a list of the possible manpower you would need to manage this event. Please publicly thank the volunteers that helped put on the event –in game, and on the website. Without them, it would not have been possible.
- Event Test Runner
- Need someone to run the event to get a time estimate on how long it will take. (This person would have knowledge of the event details and items to collect.
- Master of Ceremonies
- Host (in game raid leader)
- Manages Start & Finish, Rules, Thank-you’s & questions, and other race announcements.
- DJ
- Manages music, privileges, & room assignments for the event.
- Manages privileges if VOIP is available (i.e. the microphone)
- Have vent/ts info ready to post.
- Have planned activity and purpose for during the event.
- music list ready to go if it'll be like a radio station- one way communication w/ the option for "callers"
- If & How we are going to be set up in rooms- teams? One big room? etc.
- Can we listen to 2 rooms at the same time?
- Possibly offering a testing session a couple hours before the event to make sure the mic's are working.
- Caterer
- Plans and distributes party food & beverage.
- CT Mail mod is useful for distributing.
- This is used as an incentive to get people register for the event. Only those registered would receive goody bags.
- Goodie Bags should include- food, beverage, and party favors (ball, fireworks, etc.)
- Plans and distributes party food & beverage.
- Publicity/ Invitations/ Reminders
- In charge of reminding guilds to sign up, sending out invitations & confirmations.
- Feedback
- Want input and feedback to the event. Help me plan!
- Horde Involvement
- Want to get the horde involved.
- Manage horde relation and negotiations.
- Assistant to Master of Ceremonies
- Not a team player or just want to hang out? I can put you to work.
- Fields questions & comments relating to rules.
- Is point of contact to turn items into race.
- Assists hosts in distributing prizes and managing raid invites.
Can people give donations to the event?
Donations can be accepted for freebies or race prizes. Examples include - Drops, Craftables, Materials, enchants. Post on boards for specific requests! If people don’t know what or when to give, the probably won’t!
What would be a sample timeline to planning this event?
- 2 month prior- start date/time poll to decide when
- 1 month prior- Save the date
- 3 weeks prior- Volunteer (see section on manpower) deadline
- 2 weeks prior- Donations deadline
- 1 week prior – Registration reminder
- 2 days prior- Registration deadline
- 1 day prior- Send in game confirmation
- 1 hour prior- Late registration deadline
How do we pick a date and time?
Most groups have a standard night that is known where everyone is available. Our view on courtesy extended to planners would be to plan at least 2 weeks out in advanced. If members are active website users, you may post a poll, and have members select a range of dates and times, with the option to have them comment on specific days they cannot make it. When possible, please try to choose a time that will work for people in other time zones. It is also best to test run your event and not have the actual “hunt” time take more than 90 minutes. Pre and Post time is needed, and you want to be able to keep their attention. Inevitably, it will take about 2 and a half hours.
Real Life Planning influences: As the Host or Organizer, a word of advice, please don’t plan the event on the days occurring when you are at your most irritable time in the month. You will need the patience and humor to host the event. Other things to be careful when planning dates are: birthday’s, anniversary’s, holidays, vacations, movie premiers, and ball games. Of course there will always be people who cannot make it, cancel at the last minute for some more intriguing real life event, but the more you can trust people to commit the better.
Is there room for Inter-faction interaction?
There is always an open invitation for the horde to participate! They may have their own hunt side by side with us, party, drink up, and Duel! Communication can be done through /emotes and general gestures- as they normally would. A volunteer could also cross communicate with the other faction using instant messenger or a VOIP to relay words of “encouragement” to the other side.
How many people can go on a treasure hunt?
Somewhere in the range of 12-35 people (split into equal teams of 2-5 members per team) is typical. (This is so that everyone can fit in the max limite of a raid group)
How do we set up a registration for the event?
Create the event on the guild portal event page, and share it with our allies. It is advisable to keep all deadlines and event information here, and update it only here. Guild portal will update on the allied guild’s site, and you won’t be stuck site hoping to update forums each time you update the information.
Should registration be required?
Registration is very helpful in planning the event to know how many people are coming. The organizer will have to decide what to do with last minute adds, cancellations, & fees for those who show up unannounced, late, or not at all.
Participants should register on the events calendar, or mail the coordinator in game by deadline. Individual sign-ups will be assigned to a team. Team signups must mail the coordinator by the deadline w/ their teams member names & approximate levels. Please have people sign up (individual, or team) who you they want to play with. Before the event, adjust teams to make sure they are fair.
What to Collect for Hunt
Lists should be posted on the website with the link and level of area where they are to be found. Items found in multiple locations only need to have 1 listed. If you want, you can also put the skill level needed next to craftable items.
- Example 1:
- 1-10 Ironforge Skin of Dwarven Stout
- 10-20 L. Modan Stonesplinter Rags
- 20-30 Wetlands Small Flame Sac
- 10-20 Westfall Okra
- 15-25 Redridge Tough Condor Meat
- 18-30 Duskwood Pound of Flesh
- 10-20 Barrens Deviate Fish
- 10-20 Ashenvale Strider Meat
- 18-30 Cooking Lean Venison
- First Aid Anti-Venom
Other items to consider: Blood Sausage, Lock Frenzy, strider stew, cooked albacore tuna, bandages, clam meat, small lustrous pearl, tiger stew, troll sweat, large fangs, raptor eggs, whiskers, fire-fin, blackmouth, stonescales, cat paws, shellfish, vibrant plume, long elegant feathers.
- Theme Hunts
- Potion Materials- herbs and fish
- Engineering/ Blacksmithing- Gems & Rocks
- Leatherworking/ Tailoring- Leather & cloth, scales
- 60 hunt (20 dreamfoil , 10 mountain silversage, 10 golden sansam, 10 icecap, 20 thorium ore, 1 gem (anything found on a thorium vein), 2 essence of fire, 2 essence of wind, 20 rugged leather, bonus item: black lotus, bonus item: larval acid, bonus item: felcloth
- Warrior sponsorship for berserker weapon- charms
- Mage sponsorship- light feathers
- Cooking sponsorship- meat, organs, & fish
Sample Host Agenda (for 5-9 ST event)
- By 3pm
- Caterer
- Send out Goody Bags in mail- or plan on handing them out.
- Caterer
- 4:00
- Host
- Send Assistant current team info
- Assistant
- Contact VOIP volunteer
- Host
- 4:15
- All
- Login to VOIP if available
- All
- 4:15
- Assistant
- In ratchet, taking early people, if they’re ready
- Host
- In ratchet, Give Assistant race items.
- Assistant
- 4:40
- Assistant
- Start sending invites to raid Group
- Assistant
- 4:45
- Assistant
- Check off participants. If someone isn’t online yet, please ask someone in their guild if they have seen them or know if they plan on coming.
- Assistant
- 4:55
- Assistant
- Give out VOIP Info (If available)
- Refer any questions to VOIP Volunteer (maybe make a macro- type /macro Pick macro icon, name macro type into box
- Assistant
- 5:00
- Assistant
- Quiet down the troops, Introduce Host
- Assistant
- 5:05
- Host
- Speech (Intro, rules, etc.)
- Post teams on website.
- Post List of items to get on website
- Host
- 5:10
- Assistant
- Hand out RACE ITEM to each participant. Host 5:15 Take last minute Raffle purchases
- Assistant
- 5:30
- Host
- Get this party started! Ready, Set, Go!
- Host
- 5:50
- Host
- Raffle 1
- Host
- 6:10
- Host
- Raffle 2
- Host
- 6:35
- Assistant
- Progress Check- Ask teams (individually) how many of the 10 items they have.
- Assistant
- 6:45
- Host
- Raffle 3
- Host
- 7:05
- Host
- Raffle 4
- Host
- 7:15
- Host
- Announcements, Give awards to Assistant, Team pictures when they come back
- Host
- 7:30
- Host/All
- Awards Ceremony
- Host/All
- 7:40
- Assistant
- Hand out /do enchant Awards
- Assistant
- 7:45
- Host
- Winner Pictures
- Host
- 8:00
- Host
- Raffle 5 & 6 ( 50/50)
- Host
- 8:10
- Host
- Closer
- Host
- 8:15
- Host
- Raffle off any freebies that are left.
- Host
- 8:15-9
- All
- Fair fun
- Duels
- cannon
- tonker tanks
- etc.
- Fair fun
- All
Hunt Details for Players
How long does a typical treasure hunt last?
Again it's up to you, but we find that 2-1/2 to 3 hours is about right for the hunt itself. Add on the time for any team building theory or team selection, rules, facilitation, score sheet marking, prize giving. An agenda should be provided for participants including a progress check to check in on the teams.
Where do the Scaventure hunts take place?
Almost anywhere you choose. This can range from collecting items in one territory, to one continent, or crossing the ocean to encompass the entire world environment.
Who can go on a Scaventure hunt?
Almost anyone that values and wants to invest in their own people and understands the worth of good relationships.
How are the teams decided?
The organizer will decide. You may wish to build your own team using the planning guidelines, and the organizer will take it into consideration and do the best to accommodate your request. The organizer will try to build teams of similar average levels, put people of similar types together, put people of conflicting types together, or do it at random. Your team Average Level Requirement must be ON LEVEL with other participants. Teams must represent more than 1 guild.
How much does it cost?
It is up to the planner to decide whether or not to charge for registration of the event. This would be a great fundraiser, or a way of getting prize money, but also adds one more thing on the “to do” list. If registration fees are being charged please describe what the money will be going to. Cost would be determined by the leader as well, giving the option for a discounted pre-registration ticket, or an increased fee for paying late. It would be requested that the registrations and payments be documented.
Sample Participant Agenda to Post (for 5-9 ST event)
- 4:15 Early Invites available
- 5:05 Speech (Intro, rules, etc.), update website
- 5:30 Get this party started! Ready, Set, Go!
- 6:35 Progress Check
- 7:15 Announcements
- 7:30 Awards Ceremony
- 8:10 Closer
- 8:15-9 Fair fun- Duels, cannon, tonker tanks, etc.
How does one prepare for the event?
Character preparation: Team members should be encouraged to be at least level 15 depending on the areas the hunt will take them. The groups need to be fair and equal. If flight paths will be allowed, please list the flight paths they should get. If any of the primary or secondary professions are required, list the skill needed to participate successfully. (Primary professions are not encouraged to be used, as only 2 are available) Everyone can skill in the 3 secondary professions.
Capturing the Event!
This is optional, but we’ll be requesting that teams take snapshots of their fun and progress along the way. Please take a minute to learn about WoW screenshots, Converting, and zipping - so that you can send them in to be posted on the website.
VOIP
TeamSpeak or Ventrillo login information will be posted for the event if it is available. Please be ready to install them and test them out if you want to partake in this aspect! Don’t have to talk, you can just listen! <VOIP is software (and server) allowing a “conference call” type atmosphere- with many more options!>
Time
The event will consume 3-4 hours of your time. If you cannot commit to this, please don’t sign up as a member of a team. As a team, people rely and trust that each member has the same commitment and interest in success as they do. It’s not fair for those who planned accordingly between real life engagements (including meals) to wait on those who don’t or be penalized because a groupie was inconsiderate. Understandably, real life will interrupt, and we will do our best to accommodate this.
