The elop*athlon

On the occasion of the elop*7 physical kickoff in Finhaut eight teams participated in the first ever elop*athlon. Over twenty-four hours teams were asked to complete a number of ever more challenging tasks culminating in an exciting final performance.

The elop*athlon is both an extremely challenging and exciting introduction to transdicplinary collaboration.

In the first phase participants were asked to create a physical icon of their chosen transdisciplinary hero and share their transdisciplinary story and talents with their team. Through the eyes of their transdiscplinary hero participants investigated and uncovered the unique qualities and challenges of Finhaut by placing their transdisiplinary hero icon on large map of the alpine region.

In this second phase participants needed to describe the experience of their hero in the region, what they saw, felt and smelled as well as the local inhabitants the hero encountered and the reason they found themselves in this area.

The third phase challenged participants to work together as a team. Participants needed to reconnect with their entire team by using a single continuous piece of string to trace a path across the alpine region joining all their team member`s heroes together and in so doing describe the obstacles and terrain that separated them.

Each teams was asked to work together to select a location for unique basecamp. In the selection of the location their camp needed to offer a new perspective on the future of the valley. Before they could establish their camp the teams needed to come together at their chosen location by making the journey through the region. Once joined together the teams created a unique physical model representing their camp.

As part of the final challenge of the elop*athlon using the special abilities of their transdisiplinary heroes teams were asked to solve a dramatic event that afflicted the Finhaut region. The teams each faced a unique catastrophic event that could include environmental disasters such as extreme climate change, natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, social upheavals brought about by population booms or aging inhabitants, as well as economic catastrophes like an energy crisis.

Each team developed a strategy that could address both the short term and long term consequences for Finhaut, and presented their teamwork in a final presentation to all participants.

You can view all the team`s great elop*athlon presentation by clicking on the Inputs and Reviews tag on the left sidebar on this blog.