First Light is a dramatic, team-based experience that plunges participants into a world of risks, potential rewards, challenges and time-driven tension. The mission is to explore the First Light universe and collect rare and valuable resources. At the same time, teams must conserve their limited resources and escape the universe before it collapses. One of the biggest challenges is that they don't know when this might happen. Participants are challenged to plan and execute strategy in an extremely ambiguous environment.

Participant Experience:
The action commences with participants entering the First Light universe and sitting in table team ‘Starships.’ The Commander provides an animated briefing before the teams plunge into mission planning. They measure risk and reward, plan strategy and are then immersed in the mission.

Each Starship team is made up of four to six alien life forms. Each life form has individual strengths as well as unique weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Their mission is to explore the First Light universe, collect more Ph.antoms (a rare and valuable resource) than any other team, conserve the team's scarce and limited resources, and escape through the Worm-Hole before the universe collapses. But when will the universe collapse? Should they risk staying to find more Ph.antoms? What if they run out of fuel cells? What information can they collect and leverage to make the best decisions? How can they minimize their risk and maximize their reward?

Team members struggle to plan and execute strategy in a very uncertain environment and walk a fine line between risk and reward. Anxiety mounts as teams are forced to repeatedly decide who should be part of the high-risk Landing Parties that beam down to the surface of the strange planets they encounter. Will the universe collapse before they reach the Worm-Hole? The mission concludes and the teams evaluate their level of success and celebrate the ‘best in class’ winning team.

The First Light debrief sets the stage for participants to reflect upon and share their experiences, to draw parallels to their real-life organizational experiences, and to make observations about risk and reward, strategy, and individual differences.
The discussion focuses on the learning outcomes as participants immediately apply their insights to the real world.

Duration of the Program:
3.5 hours.

Participant Numbers:
The recommended minimum number is 18.

The recommended maximum is 36.

How this Program is Used:
First Light is a powerful stand-alone learning program. It can be easily adapted to fit within a broader management and leadership development or team development program. First Light is also used as a powerful anchor event in a conference.

Learning Program Focus:

• Balancing risk and reward

• Maximizing individual strengths

• Valuing strategic learning and knowledge

• Reacting to the pressure of competition

• Collaboration and teamwork

Program Flow:

Confederacy of Stars
For a more complete look at the specific applications and learning outcomes of each individual simulation within Confederacy of Stars, launch yourself into one of the following worlds:

The Journey Home - First Light - The Aquanauts - Alien Contact
- World View