Motivating Your Team

One of the ways of making sure your team shows up engaged and prepared for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® is by keeping them motivated. Here are a few suggestions to successfully build your team and have fun at the same time.

Keep It Together
Theme Your Team
Get Back on Track

Keep It Together

Play. When you get together with your team members for training walks or team meetings, have fun with it.

  • Encourage team members who have participated in the Komen 3-Day in the past to wear their old 3-Day® credential to any team function and have nametags available for new team members so they don’t feel left out.
  • Don’t assume that other teammates have met everyone or remember their names. Make sure to introduce everyone each and every time you meet.
  • Create fun challenges for your team to motivate training or fundraising. Give prizes to the person who attends 10 training walks first, the person who raises $500 first, or the person who recruits a new member to the team. Ask each team member to pitch into a team fund (maybe $5 each) and use this money for your team awards.
  • Spice up your team training walks. Choose a special destination as the halfway point of your walk. Create a scavenger hunt, play a game, wear a team T-shirt or sing a song along the way.
  • If you’re on an official 3-Day training walk with your team, be friendly, be creative, and show your 3-Day sprit. Your infectious energy will make other walkers want to join your team.

More Team Training Ideas

Buddy up. Create a buddy system within your team so that team members are checking up on each other. This will also help lessen the load on the team captain.

Play some more. Get together just for fun. (OK, you can call it a party!) Create an activity other than walking that brings your team together to bond. Throw a team potluck or a family picnic. Have a bowling competition, wine tasting or bike ride. The possibilities are endless.

Bond. The more cohesive your team is, the more likely your team members will help each other along the way with fundraising, training and motivation to show up for the event. If you have good memories before the 3-Day you’re sure to have even better memories after the event.

Theme Your Team

It’s all in the name. Come up with a name your entire team is excited about.

  • Name your team in honor of someone currently battling breast cancer.
  • Name your team in memory of someone who has lost the battle with breast cancer.
  • Get clever with wordplay.
  • Make your team name meaningful so that your team members can talk passionately about it to donors.
  • Pick something easy for your team members and donors to remember.
  • Check the list of existing 3-Day team names before choosing yours so that you are unique.
  • The team captain can change your team name by clicking on the “Update team information” link on your Participant Center homepage. Note: It’s important to make any changes to your team name (or team URL) before anyone on your team has sent out donation letters. It will confuse donors if the team name has changed or the link no longer exists.

Dress to impress. Show your team unity with your fashion.

  • Create your own team T-shirts, tank tops, fanny packs, etc.
  • Tell a corporation you will wear its logo on the event in exchange for a large donation.
  • Plan to all wear the same color shirts for each day of the event.
  • Wear funny hats or goofy sunglasses. Not only will this be a conversation starter along the route, but also you’ll be able to find your teammates in a crowd.
  • Whatever you wear, make sure it’s comfortable enough for you to keep with you for all 20 miles each day.

Get creative at camp (for the San Diego 3-Day only). Let your tents do the talking!

  • Continue your team’s theme by decorating your tents back at camp.
  • We supply you with a two-person pink tent and you bring the creative decorations. Maybe you’ll even win the tent-decorating contest!
  • Whatever you come up with will need to be packed inside your gear bag and must stay within the 35 lb. weight limit.

Get Back on Track

  • If you hear discouragement in your teammates’ voices, remind them why they are participating.
  • If you see that a teammate isn’t fundraising as you monitor your team’s fundraising progress, offer help, support and guidance.
  • If your teammates feel lackluster in their training remind them of the support they will receive along the route and that they’ve already succeeded and made the greatest impact by completing their fundraising and showing up on the event.
  • If teammates are running out of ideas or motivation to continue with their fundraising, plan a team event to benefit everyone. Or sit down with this team member to see if they have any holes in their fundraising plan.
  • Be there for your teammates with advice, support, understanding and information.