Earlier in the year I was asked to organise a corporate event for some of our most valued clients. We'd been clay pigeon shooting as part of a team building event at the start of the year, and the company wanted to treat some of our clients to a similar clay pigeon shooting experience. After confirming numbers and finalising a date I booked the event for 35 people.

The group was a mix of men and women, and the majority of those taking part had never been clay pigeon shooting before. Myself and four other members of the team were taking part on the day too, and because we'd been on a clay pigeon shooting experience earlier in the year we were happy answering any questions the clients had.

On the day of the event we arrived at the site early and waited for our clients to arrive. The package we'd booked included complimentary tea and coffee on arrival, which kept everybody happy and gave us time to sign everybody in without any waiting around. Once we'd got everybody signed a couple of instructors ran through all the necessary safety requirements, and handed out shooting glasses and ear defenders.

With the briefing over we were split up into smaller groups of between 6-7 people, which meant we could work our way round the shooting stands without having to hang about for too long. The majority of the group I was with had never been shooting before and the instructor made sure she gave everyone some one-to-one tuition before they faced their first clays. The way they were smashing through clays though you'd never believe it was their first clay pigeon shooting experience.

After working our way round five different traps we all met back at the clubhouse to compare scores. The clients had all enjoyed the morning, and some had racked up some seriously impressive scores! It's easy to see why clay pigeon shooting is so popular because no matter how many clays you miss, you just can't beat the feeling of absolutely nailing one.

The feedback from the day was nothing but positive, and for a professional, well organised and entertaining corporate event a clay pigeon shooting experience was the perfect choice.

I’m incredibly fortunate to be the boss of a company where each team member is lively, outgoing and always prepared to go the extra mile for their job. But the only problem is nobody on the team ever gets the chance to socialise outside of work, which could have devastating consequences for our overall team morale. Everybody here gets along and there are no rifts in the team- but if we don’t get the chance to build the strength of our company outside of office hours, we might not be growing the company in the positive way we want to.

This is why I decided it was time for us all to get together and take part in a corporate team building event. Whenever you think of these training days, you tend to imagine cringe worthy group exercises that only make the team bond due to a shared hatred of everything they’re being put through in the name of getting to know each other. Having been to loads of these training days myself, I knew I never wanted to be part of something like that ever again.

When searching online for fun ideas for corporate events, I came across the website for The Big Shoot. I was trying to think outside the box as much as possible when it came to choosing a fun team building challenge and I definitely would have never considered clay pigeon shooting. I doubted anybody on the team had even held a gun before, let alone gone to shoot some clays, so this would be a completely new challenge we had never been a part of before. We would all be equal and cheering each other on as we learned a new skill- isn’t that exactly what team building is all about?

I called up The Big Shoot to inquire about their corporate events and they couldn’t have been friendlier or more helpful when it came to choosing the best package for a day of team building. I was told the best package was a “Premium Clay and Stay”, which has been chosen by many other companies as their corporate exercise. It included great rates on a stop-over at a nearby hotel too, so it would have been foolish to pass on this opportunity.

When the team found out about this exercise, they couldn’t wait to get involved; the initial groans when I mentioned we were going for a training day were replaced by cheers when they found out we were going shooting. When we got to the shooting range, the staff were incredibly helpful and great at training the employees. Those who still didn’t fully grasp the techniques were then helped by more skilled employees, which really helped build our teamwork and leadership skills. It was everything I could have possibly asked for in a corporate event and so much more.