Amazon Team Building Adventure Houston, TX

#1: The Astros are World Champions and this city is rockin’ with pride for their team! To help celebrate their win, find a logo of the Houston Astros anywhere around the area being proudly displayed, worn, flown, etc. Then take a fun video of your group pretending to hit a walk-off homerun that wins the World Series. Have one team member pitch an imaginary ball to a batter, and they smash one out of the park. Then have everyone do their own unique celebration/handshake with the batter, or just all swarm them, jumping and celebrating as if they just crossed home plate. If you need a little inspiration click HERE to watch the Astros celebrate. Just make sure the Astros logo is visible at some point in the video.

#2: Although the network of Amazon Hub Lockers offers customers a “contact-less” experience, it takes employees like you all working closely together every day to make that system work. Find any locker located around the area, except for the one named “Veterinarian” located in the Understory building (that would be too easy). Once there, take a fun picture with the locker while everyone on the team is jumping in the air at the same time and high-fiving each other, to represent the teamwork needed to make Amazon thrive.

#3: Get every team member a large (16 ounces or so) open-top paper, plastic, or foam cup and fill it with water. Then somewhere outdoors, line up shoulder to shoulder and balance a full cup on each team member’s head. Once everyone’s cups are balanced, hold hands with the team members on either side of you and take a video of your team working together to all take 10 steps forward without anyone touching their cup or having it spill. If someone’s cup spills make sure to encourage them and then refill any spilled cups and start again as a team. After your team successfully travels 10 steps together dump the cups to prove they were full, and celebrate!

#4: This past week we honored Veterans Day and Texas is proud to have one of the strongest and largest military presence in the country. Anywhere around the area find an active military person or a veteran. They could be wearing some form of military or veteran attire, have a military ID, or they could simply describe their military background while you’re completing your challenge. Once you’ve found someone, take a video of them watching your entire team doing 10 push-ups or sit-ups at their feet to honor their strength and courage. After you’ve finished recording, spend a few minutes learning more about their time in the service before you depart, as a small gesture of appreciation.

#5: The heat in Houston can sometimes feel unbearable. The only thing hotter might be what you’ll experience if you complete this challenge! Get to Bird Haus, located in the Underground Hall (1010 Prairie Street). Once there get an order of their “Reaper” chicken tender. Then take a video of your team members, at the same time, all consuming a separate bite-sized piece of this extremely spicy food. Just before your bite try to show that it's actually the reaper flavor on the packaging or receipt and then film for at least 30 seconds after the bite to document your reactions. Disclaimer, this will likely not be pleasant, which is exactly the point. Because a team that suffers together, grows together.

#6: The first documented flight of a heavier-than-air flying machine in Texas occurred here in Houston nearly 113 years ago. Thousands of spectators turned out to see the event after headlines in the newspaper proclaimed, "This is the first opportunity for Texans to see a real demonstration of man's ability to fly. Don't fail to come and see demonstrated the greatest invention of the present era." To honor this area’s role in advancing human flight, take a video of your team completing the "Paper Airplane Challenge". Basically send some team members to the 2nd level of any building or parking garage and have them toss paper airplanes out into the air in front of them (not just dropping it straight downward). The rest of your team should be on the sidewalk or grass below. Any of your team members at ground level need to catch just one plane before it hits the ground. All team members at ground level can be attempting to catch planes, but only one plane needs to be caught. To watch a team complete this mission successfully click HERE.

#7: To raise awareness, and support the extraordinary men and women firefighters who protect this city, take a video of your team completing "Stop, Drop, and Roll" while any regulation/operable fire extinguisher is visible in the background. Be sure to yell each step of the fire safety technique as you all do it together and make sure the fire extinguisher is clearly visible at some point in your video.

#8: As Amazon employees you all have likely used Scotch Tape for just about everything. Well, except this. To honor this incredibly versatile American-made product take a fun team picture after everyone uses Scotch tape to dramatically stretch and distort their faces. To create the proper distortion you’ll need at least 5 pieces of tape per face, although the more the better! For some inspiration click HERE.

#9: Anywhere around the area find a business with a Skee-Ball machine. Once there, take a video of anyone on your team rolling one ball into either of the top corner holes (usually labeled as 100 or 10,000 or 100,000 points depending on the machine), OR a video showing team members rolling any two balls into the top middle row hole (usually labeled as 50 or 5,000 or 50,000 points depending on the machine). For the option where you get two balls into the top middle row hole, the rolls do not need to be back to back so sending two separate videos is acceptable. All balls need to be rolled from the standard location at the end of the lane.

#10: To celebrate all of the Amazon employees that are based here in Texas and how important they are to the success of the company across the country, find any location around town where an American flag and a Texas flag are flying within 100 feet of each other. The flags should be authentic flags made of fabric, flying or displayed for the public to see, and not a miniature version found in a gift shop, image on a poster or shirt, etc. Once there, take a video of your team working together to complete the Group Sit & Stand Challenge. Basically, your team members will all be standing shoulder to shoulder in a tight clump/circle with your backs all facing in and your arms interlocked. Slowly lower the entire interlocked group to the ground until you are in a seated position with your butts on the ground, and then slowly stand all the way back up while remaining interlocked the entire time. At some point in your video be sure to show the two flags. To watch a video of a group successfully completing this challenge click HERE.

#11: The Houston/Galveston region is one of most haunted destinations in the U.S., where ghostly pirates still patrol the waters and heiresses don’t ever leave their mansions. Knowing how great this city is who can blame them for wanting to hang around a little longer? To pay homage to these spirited folks, wrap any one member of your team from head to toe in toilet paper (or multiple team members if they want to get in on the fun) leaving as few gaps as possible except around their nose/mouth so they can breathe easily. Then take a fun team picture with your new "mummy” co-worker!

#12: To build anything great, whether that’s a company like Amazon out of a garage, or a city like Houston, requires great leadership and people working together. Scattered around the city are a number of statues of humans, many of whom impacted this place in significant ways. Get your team to the one shown HERE, and take a memorable team picture interacting with the statue and his friends. Maybe rocking out with them, or reacting wildly as if you’ve just met your longtime icons, or any other creative scenario your team comes up with. Then after this event, live each day in a way that will make people want to build a statue of you in the future.

#13: Find any two strangers around the area wearing cowboy hats or cowboy boots. You could also find one wearing a hat and one wearing boots but both strangers would need to be wearing one of the required items. Once you’ve found them, take a video of your team all singing the first line of the classic 1941 song "Deep in the Heart of Texas", and then have the two strangers respond accordingly (with clapping and singing)! To see an example of this song being sung successfully click HERE. Sing it loud and proud and encourage your Texas loving strangers to do the same.

#14: Working for Amazon requires an incredible attention to detail and a fine tuned awareness of time. With nearly 100 packages being shipped every 5 seconds these skills are critical to the success of each employee and the company. To test your skills complete the “5 Second Challenge”. On a mobile device have any one team member successfully use the stopwatch function to get the timer to stop at exactly 5 seconds. Once they’ve got it, have someone take their picture as they proudly display their device with 5.00 seconds clearly visible. This should be done using the stopwatch function and not the countdown/timer clock. Everyone can be attempting the challenge but only one member needs to complete it successfully.

#15: Today is National Recycling Day (it’s true, look it up). In recent years Amazon has not only pushed to use more eco-friendly packaging, but the company has also implemented machine learning to create more efficient shipments. As a result, these algorithms have helped reduce the company’s use of corrugate boxes by over 35%. To honor Amazon’s commitment to the environment, anywhere around the area find a canister of some sort that has the triangular recycling symbol on it. You are looking for an actual recycling disposal can, where someone would get rid of recyclable materials, and not just any product that has the recycling symbol on it such as a plastic bottle. Once you’ve found one, take a picture of your entire team all completing any variation of the "Tree Pose" while the canister with the recycling symbol on it is clearly visible in the background. To view a picture of someone properly performing a variation of the Tree Pose click HERE.