With the starts of the real Olympics hours away, some of my friends have started their own version of the Olympics at work.  Maybe they got the idea from the TV show, “The Office,” or maybe all the talk about the actual competition fueled the fire.  Either way these ideas should help for spicing up the work place, especially on a Friday.

1. First, you need to make it known you want to hold an Office Olympics.  Round up your friends, then the people who are sleeping on their desks, and then hang up fliers (if you have permission from the big guys...or take the rogue route!).

2. Set the patriotic mood.  Make fake torches, get the Olympic rings going, and make sure to define your Olympics.  Will it be by department (Accounting vs. Marketing), each person for their own, or some other boundary?

3. Pick your events.  This is where it can get phenomenal, depending on your level of boredom.  Here are some ideas to get your Office Olympics started:

* Chair races: Mark a starting and ending point (the shorter the distance, the fewer lawsuits) and bring two-wheeled chairs.

* Flonkerton races:  Thanks to “The Office”, this game was created for their Office Olympics.  They strapped full paper boxes to their feet and  raced...finally, a good use for those paper boxes.
    
* Musical chairs:  This is just plain fun no matter what.  Put as many wheeled chairs as possible in a circle, turn on the national anthem, and go to town.  It  becomes every man and woman for them self and you get to know the  competitive side of people very quickly.
   
* Relay race around the building:  Time for a team-building exercise.  Use the fake torches you made earlier as the pass to the next team member.

4.   Finally, make sure to have gold, silver and bronze medals for each event.  If you want to follow in Pam’s footsteps, use yogurt lids for the medals, or find some other creative way to reward all the winners.

While the “The Office” has shown us ways to alleviate boredom from the workplace, it’s up to you and your coworkers to put it to the test.  It’s time to get patriotic!
 
What other creative ideas do you have (or already done) to add to the excitement of Office Olympics 2008?

This is a guest post by Lauren Kleinman.