I have been fascinated with time capsules for years - - and I make no apologies for it. I think that preparing a time capsule is one way that we can really "touch the future," and it also gives us a lot to think about right now when we assemble one.
Except for a few burials of things as a young guy - - I forget where I put them - - my first time capsules go back to the mid-1990s, when I organized time capsule efforts on a volunteer basis.
On June 29, 1995, working with Raymond Will, we buried a time capsule to be opened in June of 2020 in front of the Portsmouth Senior High School. At the ceremony, reported by local newspapers, Rev. Robert E. Stiefel "blessed" the time capsule on its journey, watched over by some high school students who had letters to the future in the capsule, and an assorted group of city officials.
Another time capsule I did the next year was for the Portsmouth-Severodvinsk Connection, containing items brought home from a visit I and others took to Severodvinsk, Russia, in 1995, and messages and items brought to the United States by visitors from that city. That time capsule commemorated the submarine heritage of both Portsmouth and Severodvinsk - - which is a large nuclear navy base on the White Sea.
From all this has come an interest in encouraging businesses and organizations to create time capsules - - buried or not - - and to use the effort as an invaluable visioning and team-building exercise.
Take a look at the suggestions to the right, and get some of your own creative out-of-the-box in-the-capsule thoughts going. You can take my ideas for preparing a time capsule and do it on your own - - or contact me to help and assist. I have experience that will make your time capsuling something that will indeed be memorable for years to come, and will be an excellent in-house team-building exercise or customer promotion for you now.
My Time Capsules, Etc., and The 2050 Vision Project consulting is on a fully volunteer basis at no cost for any city or town.
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Your Business Time Capsule:
A Time Capsule is an excellent team-building exercise, a fantastic customer promotion event, and can also be good publicity for your business.
I am able to work with you and your business or organization right from scratch at building your time capsule in-house, either in preparation for proper burial, or storage in another location. Time capsules not buried but sealed and put on display or hung in a location at a business place make for excellent conversation pieces, as well as contribute to a visionary focus in your workplace.
I am also in touch with companies that sell professionally designed time capsules, and can obtain those at cost. My work with you would then involve organizing your time capsule visioning plans, giving you ideas and helping you coordinate the collection of items or "letters to the future" for your time capsule, and helping to develop plans for your sealing or burying ceremony.
This is a team-building and visioning exercise that is unique, unusual, and truly "visionary." There are also so many ways that it can be used in your workplace - - as part of a special dinner, to mark a holiday or some special day in the growth of your business, to mark a change in leadership, or to commemorate some very special employee (although keep in mind that ALL of your employees are "stars").
A time capsule team-building exercise is a great way anytime to get the focus of your business, your employees, your organization, or your board of directors on the future. Doing an annual time capsule with plans, say, to begin opening one a year after the first one has been sealed for ten years can give your business or organization some long-term thinking and visionary objectives.
The options are varied and endless. Take a look at the thoughts for the exercise on the right. Give it a try, with me or not!
*Registered NH Tradename is: Jim Splaine's Time Capsules, Etc.
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Business/Organization Planning: Write a "strategic vision" for your business, and put it into your time capsule. You'll know someone will read it later and see how you did - - challenging you to exceed expectations.
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Letters To YOUR Future: Each of your employees can be invited to send letters to themselves or their families or children for 10 or 25 years, or whatever.
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Invite your customers, clients, or business partners to put items or letters of their own in your time capsule. Make it a fun and interactive event.
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Do a Visioning Exercise Workshop in your business or organization, and put a video or audio recording and notes in your time capsule.
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If you're planning a new building or addition to your workplace, make a time capsule and exercise part of your "opening" or "dedication" ceremony.
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Welcome new employees to contribute an item, a picture, or a letter to your company time capsule.
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Undertake a year-long effort, starting early in the year with the plan being that on December 31st, or some other notable date, it will be "sealed," and involve all your employees and customers throughout the year.
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Sponsor a community-wide or neighborhood time capsule, getting you valuable PR while doing something good for the community as a whole.
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If you have a trade conference or meeting, make a time capsule visioning exercise part of it.
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Involve EVERYONE in your workplace in your time capsule experience. The team-building that this activity can generate is impressive. Start with the idea, then a committee, then the hands-on planning, the visioning, the thinking, the public involvement, get some publicy, then have a ceremony. Get the families involved too - - and the children of your employees. Seal it well! Make it fun!
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