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Thinking Creatively and Engaging Employees with a Poster-Size Puzzle

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 If you own a small business, you have probably put some thought into the different ways you can engage and motivate your employees. Many small businesses do this by hosting annual events like retreats, conferences or parties that boost employee morale and give the team time for socializing.
You can easily up the excitement factor for your company events by getting a little bit creative. Here’s one idea for how you can provide an incentive for your employees to attend an event while also creating a buzz that builds excitement in the weeks prior.
Take, for example, a consulting firm that’s holding an annual retreat for employees. During the retreat every year, one employee is randomly selected to win an all-expense-paid vacation. For a meeting planner looking to create a bit of suspense around the prize, why not create and print a posterannouncing the winner? Once it’s printed, cut the poster into puzzle pieces. Give each employee a piece of the puzzle and challenge them to assemble it during the retreat to reveal the winner.
This poster-sized puzzle idea could apply to rewards programs big and small, so if you want to give it a try with your business, here’s how:
How to Create a Poster-Size Puzzle
 
  1. Create the poster or have a graphic designer prepare it for you. As a final step in the design process, overlay an outline of the puzzle pieces right on the poster to make it easier to cut out when it’s printed. Export the graphic as a PDF and bring it to your local FedEx Office® (or upload online) for printing.
A few tips for this step:
    • The poster in this example measured 18″ x 24″. But other sizes (24″ x 36″ and 36″ x 48″) are available. They can also make a poster that’s custom-sized. Just be sure to pick the size that gets you enough “pieces” when you’re finished.
    • You will want to make sure the image is created in high-resolution so the printing is sharp and vibrant once it’s full-size.
    • Be sure to have the puzzle’s cutting lines run through the winner’s name in many places – that way no one gets a sneak peek of the winner before the puzzle is assembled.
    • Skip adding a foam board or lamination to your poster so it’s printed on heavy weight paper and easier to cut out.
  1. Once the poster is printed, follow the lines on the puzzle outline and cut out all of the pieces of the puzzle. In our example poster puzzle, each employee or team member would receive a piece of the puzzle that they would bring to the event or announcement.
  1. At the event, have employees place their puzzle pieces on a large, flat surface. You may want to select one or two employees to handle the reassembly of the puzzle.
  1. Now it’s time for the big reveal! Let everyone see the winner or the announcement being made on the poster once the puzzle is fully assembled.
You can follow this process for many different team building exercises and company announcements. You could even use it for personal parties and announcements you’d like to make to friends and family. Poster puzzles make it easy to add fun, excitement and uniqueness to any special event.
Related FedEx Office Solutions: FedEx Office Print Online, Posters
 
Alyssa Gregory is a small business collaborator and founder of Small Business Bonfire, a social, educational and collaborative community for small business owners. FedEx Office is compensating Alyssa to share her ideas for creative business-building projects on the Out of Office blog.

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