Adventure Travel
Section IV: Expedition Meetings Pre-Expedition Briefings There should be a minimum of three—and if needed—four briefing meetings before the expedition. Project teams will also need one or more preparation meetings to discuss their team assignments. All participants should attend these meetings if possible. For those who cannot or do not attend, it is critical that the Expedition Leader and appropriate Team Leader follow up so that the entire team is adequately informed. The EL needs to make certain non-attendees get a briefing manual and necessary forms. (If you need the manual e-mailed, ask Ascend staff.) The EL must follow-up with a call to non-attendees to encourage them to read the manual and make certain they understand their specific responsibilities i.e. the advance preparation checklist, payment schedule, team assignments, and completing required forms, including the 18 questions. Ideas for Effective Expedition Briefing Meetings Games: In the past, as an example of making meetings interactive, leaders have used a “Jeopardy” style game to review briefing manual information and discussion topics. The game can be laid out with various topics across the top with point values down the side. Topics may include “Language”, “Culture”, “Logistics”, and so forth, with questions such as the following: -“Buenas dias, me llamo Migel” What is the translation for this Spanish phrase? -Is it okay to address an individual who is older than you by their first name? -Where will we rendezvous upon arrival into the country, especially for those flying on their own? Try to make the questions as meaningful, intriguing, and entertaining as possible. Divide the group up into its leadership teams. Encourage participants to work with each other in finding the answers. You may want to have small prizes available to them, such as an item that may be useful to them on the expedition. Learn From Experience: Invite past team leaders to the expedition briefing meetings to provide their first hand experience to participants who may be doing this for the first time. For example, the technology and construction team should team up with a past team leader who has worked on a project they will be working on, such as building an adobe stove. If participant met with this team leader to actually build a stove before they left, they would not have to spend valuable time working out any potential problems they may face with the stove in country. This is also a great team building activity that is a fun and exciting way to spend a meeting time. Fun Competitions: Create competitions within the group. Encourage families or teams to compete against each other in raising additional project funds or collecting humanitarian supplies. These experiences need to be as inviting and exciting as possible to build the moral of the group and to
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