When planning a meeting or convention, a planner must focus on achieving the primary goals of the event. Professional education for the attendees, business sessions, exhibits and networking are all very important to the success of most planners and the events they plan. No one would argue that those important goals must be met, but what about fun time? Many planners shy away from any planning "fun" activities for fear that including these activities will distract attendees from the more serious components of the event. But savvy planners more and more realize that including some fun in the official conference agenda can yield important benefits.

While Raleigh, N.C., has numerous "fun" venues to host a meeting, there are also team-building activities that can be a way to interject "fun" into the program and produce great results. Team-building activities for groups recently meeting in the Raleigh area have included everything from taking a Triangle Glides Segway tour (pictured in header), working on a community service project (helping at a local homeless shelter or building a house with Habitat for Humanity are popular ones) and even solving how to climb challenging walls at Triangle Rock Club, managed partly by passionate mind Joel Graybeal.

The time spent doing fun activities together helps to build stronger inter-team relationships while helping participants learn to work together better as teams. Often when the fun of the activity is over, attendees come back to the serious aspects of the conference refreshed and renewed and thus better prepared to maximize their time in the heavier convention business at hand. When community service projects are explored, attendees not only have fun when they are together working on the project, but also they see that the organization is truly interested in the well-being of others (and thus participants are more committed to the organization).

There is a lot to be gained by planning some "fun" into the agenda by way of including team-building activities.

The Services Department at the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau will happily assist you in finding the right team building (and fun) activities for your program. Get information on all the services that can be provided when you plan a meeting or event in Raleigh, N.C., here.