Venues Provide Place for Firms to Meet, Play

By LINDA COBURN Contributing Reporter What’s a company to do when you’ve got the sales department and the accounting department at each others’ throats or, worse yet, not even talking to each other? How do you get the creative juices flowing when your research and development department seem to be blocked? Shake things up a little bit, that’s what. How about having a friendly competition on the go-kart track, a war on the paintball field, or a Survivor-like challenge where cooperation is the key to success? Although this may just sound like an excuse to have a good time, events like these, “are going to have a profound and positive impact,” on a businesses’ bottom line, said Lauren Pelissier, director of fun for Agoura Hills-based Team Play Events. There are basically two types of clients who seek out their team-building services, she said. The first are companies in creative fields, like marketing, public relations and research. “They’ve tried everything to pull ideas out of their people and they’re frustrated,” said Pelissier. The others are companies where departments just aren’t working well together. “We’ve worked with companies where people just aren’t getting along, or medical groups where the front office isn’t getting along with the back office,” she said. The answer for both groups is the same. “Put them in an environment where they’re competing or working on a task together,” said Pelissier. Here are several venues in the San Fernando, Conejo and Santa Clarita valleys that offer area businesses a place to do just that. Pedal to the Metal Newcomer MB2 Raceway is off to a roaring good start. Located in a 60,000 square foot industrial building in the Cascades Business Park in Sylmar, just off the I-5 and 210 freeways, MB2R is Los Angeles County’s only indoor electric-kart racing facility. The black, red and chrome color scheme makes this place any racing fan’s idea of heaven. Pool tables, air hockey and leather couches make waiting for your next race a comfortable experience. Since its grand opening in January, MB2R has hosted several memorable corporate events for companies like Frito-Lay, Vons, Napa Auto Parts and Honda Performance Development. Sean Quinn, Marketing Promotions director for MB2 said of the Vons event: “We had store managers and store employees racing against the regional guys. It’s not like golf, where you have to let the boss win. They were serious.” It’s not just about racing, either. Quinn said that Frito-Lay, MB2’s neighbor in the business park, had a corporate meeting that they characterized as the best meeting they’ve had. First they utilized MB2’s corporate meeting room, which includes a digital projector for showing Powerpoint presentations, and then they raced. “We try to be really flexible with businesses,” said Quinn. For big private events, MB2 works with local catering companies including many that provide craft services to the entertainment industry. Duck and Cover Out near Castaic, Warped Paintball Park covers 40 acres off the I-5. The park was built from scratch two years ago and, according to owner Glenn Forster, does a bang-up business with corporate clients. “We’re big in corporate outings, team building events, inter-office competitions, stuff like that,” Forster said. “It’s a big part of our business.” When asked about his corporate clients, Forster said that local radio station KLSX 97.1 FM recently had an event at the park. He also said that Disney’s full accounting department comes out on a regular basis. The cost is about $40 per person for an afternoon of playing paintball. That includes all rental equipment, paintballs and the game itself. Catering or team building event coordination is not handled by the venue. Oh, and yes, goggles and head protection are also included. “We have liability insurance,” said Forster. “It’s very safe. We’ve never had a claim in two years.” The park is open to the public on the weekends, but Forster says they do private and corporate events by appointment anytime. Warped competes with two other paintball venues, both also located in the Santa Clarita Valley. California Paintball Park is on the other side of the I-5 just below Castaic while the smaller Field of Fire is closer to the San Fernando Valley, in the pass near the Hwy. 14 split. Slip ‘n Slide Thirty acres of Agoura are home to Vasa Park, home base for Team Play Events. “We’ve been in business about 12 years now,” said owner Larry Kline. “We recently added a 274-foot water slide, which is pretty extreme, and we just added three zip lines, including two that are 500 feet long. We also have rock climbing walls and big giant inflatables.” The park has hosted groups as large as 1,000 and in addition to team building has produced many company picnics. Satisfied clients include Home Depot, Aames Home Loans, Suncoast Insurance and Valley Seal Company. “We’ve done multi-day programming but most events are half-day,” said Pelissier. “If you tell an adult, ‘you’re going to go play,’ they will say, ‘I’m not going to do that,’ Pelissier said, “But if you tell an adult ‘you’re going to do a high-level challenge that’s going to take you outside of your limits,’ they’ll do that.”