Have you volunteamed yet?

This past year was definitely a time when companies struggled through the rough economy and drastically reduced budgets which scaled back their meetings, incentives programs and corporate group travel options. During this time, many of these companies turned towards low-cost teambuilding ideas that also give back to their communities. A new term called "volunteaming" has been coined in the meetings industry which combines volunteerism with teambuilding activities. Its a powerful, break out of the box idea that gives the participant an ownership feeling of "look what our team did together" and a "sense of contribution, giving back" will make the meeting one they will remember forever. Activities range from building bikes for needy children, cleaning up a park and painting a playground, to creating teams that are given a budget and go out to find a project to work on in the city and then report back to the group. Programs can be as short as two hours or stretch over the length of the meeting. Used as an incentive, a volunteer option can be built into budget or sales program or even allow the winner to choose how they want to demonstrate their corporate citizenship.