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Antarctic Challenge - Project Planning

Duration: 3-4 hours + debrief
Participants: 4-24 (up to four teams of 3-6 per team)
Who: Staff at any level
PC required: None
Price: £495.00
Factsheet: Antarctic Challenge  (click to download)
Antarctic Challenge - Project Planning

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A demanding, realistic activity in complex project planning – nothing less than getting to the South Pole and back. Culminates in persuasive presentations to the sponsors. A great challenge based on a real expedition which lends great credibility and excitement to the exercise.

Teams start with just a letter congratulating them on mounting an expedition to the South Pole. The next step is brainstorming to draw up a shortlist of data required and to submit it as written requests to the Databank (controlled by the Trainer). The Databank opens only at intervals - which helps to focus team thinking. Requests at further openings are always more fruitful as teams gain more understanding of what the expedition entails.

Gradually plans are fleshed out: weather windows, dates, distances, speeds, getting to Antarctica, base camp, skidoos, sledges, food, kit lists, back-up plane, fuel dumps, etc … through to a completion date!

Finally, with the full plan and full costs in place, teams, in competition with each other, prepare persuasive presentations to deliver to their ‘potential sponsors’.

Despite the rigorousness of the challenge this exercise is smartly designed to make it easy to facilitate and easy to check on team project planning progress.
  • to brainstorm in order to decide what information is required
  • to break a project into bite-sized chunks
  • to establish the key factors around which to base plans
  • to plan within given limits such as cost, weight and weather
  • to manage time and resources (especially fuel)
  • to co-operate with others and work as a team (and maintain morale)
  • to collect and interpret data and information
  • to review progress regularly
  • to make a persuasive presentation for funds
  1. Explain what the activity is all about.
  2. Divide the group into teams of 3-6. As there is a lot to do, you can have bigger teams than usual.
  3. Issue the initial Letter to each team together with a data request slip.  Explain that teams can have six questions and that the Databank opens in 20 minutes.
  4. Stand by to receive data requests and issue those datacards that cover information teams have asked for.
  5. Continue with at least three more data sessions where teams can collect information.
  6. When teams are ready, ask them to prepare presentations to the sponsors.
  7. Listen to presentations (sometimes senior managers play the part of the sponsors).  Decide who to give the money to.
  8. Conduct a Debrief on the activity and stress all the key learning points.

    Trainer’s Notes give full guidance as well as the solution and all the costings plus additional notes.

Sonja McCoy, Method & Training Team, John Lewis
Used on an “Introduction to Project Management Course” as a case study over three days with individuals with a mixed group of job roles and levels from Corporate Offices.  The best learning points included: do not assume anything, plan carefully, promote and market your project to gain buy-in. 

We love running this exercise because, as Trainers, as it’s the sort of expedition we’d love to do!  Appreciate the level of detail and research behind the game.

Stephanie Oerton, Soul PartnershipUsed on a Team Development Day with IT teams.  The best learning points were planning, information-gathering and not giving up.  Fun, challenging and interesting. It was run competitively which made it quite exciting.  We interspersed data card allocation with tasks which had to be completed in order to earn the info they required.

I. Sasse, EmPower Training, PowerGen UK
We use Antarctic Challenge to allow course members to experience real issues of strategic planning in some depth, with little prior knowledge of the “environment”. For the Trainer, the format is flexible and the powerful image of Antarctica creates a memorable connection to the learning.
  • AXA Sun Life
  • BBC
  • Future Publishing
  • GKN Westland Helicopters
  • Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Marie Curie Cancer Care
  • NHS Staff College
  • Thames Water
  • The Science Museum
  • Yorkshire Co-operative
  • Trainer’s Notes
  • CD-ROM containing PowerPoint Presentation
  • Trainer’s Datacard Reference Sheet
  • Sponsors’ Questions
  • Team Briefs
  • Antarctic Maps
  • Rulers
  • Data Request Forms
  • Sets of Datacards
  • Equipment Brochures
  • Fuel Dump Planning Kits
  • Handout – Decisions Reached
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