Corporate games

Life in the multi national corporation can sometimes be a bit tedious, but there are games that can be played to liven things up and make it more entertaining. One of these is playing "meeting tag", this can be done both an international or national level and the more people that are involved the more fun it gets. To start a game of "meeting tag", a discussion topic is required, this must sound attractive enough to get the interest of the people you want to involve in the game.

The starting player throws out a question "in order to solve the urgent issue of (whatever you think will gather interest) I would like us to have a telecon, I propose (here you suggest one or two dates and times) to discuss this, please let me know your availability". Then the game starts for real and in most cases you will have one or more parties replying back “I cannot participate during that date, but if we can move it to (another date and time) it would work”. The game is in motion and the person who has to suggest alternative dates is the one who become “it”. In the most extreme cases, I've seen games going on for over a month without the meeting actually taking place and I've even seen meetings where the topic has mutated due to changing circumstances with some players giving up and new players coming in.

The most devious move you can do in a game of “meeting tag” is the “propose and decline”. It consists of the person sending out a suggested date and then, when everyone has replied back positively, to completely reverse the stance with a “I just realized that I have a scheduling conflict” and then either proposing another date or taking the cowardly way out with a “please go ahead without me”. I have even seen the latter move been done by the person who called the meeting in the first place. But it’s all in good fun, it's all a game in any case!