As workplace norms continue to change and shift, we are finding ourselves changing the way that we approach various scenarios in the workplace such as meetings, ice breakers, and corporate team-building events.
In light of corporate life’s quick shift to virtual and work-from-home settings in 2020, we all realized we must adjust the way that we come together as a team. This first started with the immediate switch over to virtual Zoom meetings. However, as things have progressed over the last couple of years, the corporate world is beginning to realize that the world of virtual events goes much further than simple meetings.
With more and more corporations realizing just how much more efficient it can be to have remote teams working from all across the world, or creating hybrid schedules to cut down on in-office costs, we are seeing a shift to a completely new workforce.
Virtual team building is becoming more popular than ever before, and even as teams begin to shift back to a “new normal”, hosting events virtually appears to be the way of the future. One great way to encourage collaboration and team spirit for your team in this “new normal” is through fun virtual team building activities.
Benefits of Hosting Virtual Team Building Events
There are many benefits to hosting virtual team-building events. For one, they allow for more people to participate, regardless of their location. They also can be scheduled at a time that works best for everyone involved and doesn’t require everyone to take time away from work.
Additionally, virtual team-building events can be more engaging and fun than traditional in-person events. They can be tailored to the specific needs of your team and can include activities that are difficult, if not impossible, to do in person.
Fun virtual team building activities help to exercise and improve the problem-solving skills of participants. By having the chance to work together towards a common goal during the event, they will have the opportunity to use critical thinking skills!
Creativity is also a huge factor in virtual team-building events. When asked to complete these fun tasks with their coworkers, participants have to use the creative part of their brain to come up with answers. This increase in creativity is also likely to carry over into the workplace as well.
Lastly, virtual team-building events help to keep teams connected even when they’re not all in the same room. As with any normal in-person team building event, virtual events help to increase communication and collaboration between team members. This is important for all corporate teams but especially for remote teams that may not have the opportunity to interact with one another on a day-to-day basis. Strengthening relationships among team members has amazing benefits in terms of productivity, employee satisfaction, and quality of work.
Things to Keep in Mind When Hosting a Virtual Event
That said, there are a few things to keep in mind when hosting a virtual team-building event. First, make sure that everyone has the necessary tools and resources to participate in the event (e.g., computer, microphone, webcam). This includes everything from software to a comfortable work environment.
Second, be sure to create a clear agenda and goals for the event. This will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and knows what they’re working towards.
And lastly, be sure to test all of the technology ahead of time. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to troubleshoot technical difficulties during an event.
28 Fun Virtual Team Building Event Ideas
When it comes to hosting virtual team-building events, the sky is the limit. These fun and engaging activities will help keep your remote team connected and engaged. And, best of all, most of them can be done from the comfort of your own home.
1. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
This is a fun and challenging activity that will get everyone working together. Split your team into smaller groups and send them on a virtual scavenger hunt. They’ll have to find specific items or answer questions based on the clues you provide. Our Level-Up Scavenger Hunt is one of our more popular virtual events offered. Teams earn points for finding items within their home.
2. Group Discussion
This is a great way to get everyone talking and working together. Have your team discuss a specific topic or question, then compile the results into a report or presentation. This is also a great way to brainstorm for upcoming projects while simultaneously performing a team-building event!
3. Virtual Game Show
Hosting a virtual game show is a fun way to facilitate team building in a way that makes your colleagues feel like a TV star! Team Building Unlimited’s The Q Challenge event includes 6-8 games and challenges that have been designed to unite teams in friendly competition and fun! The games are an exciting mixture of both classic and original challenges.
4. Play a Real Game Show
Take the virtual game show to the next level by modeling your event after one of the most famous REAL game shows! We offer an event called The Big 4 Game Show that involves participants virtually playing one of the most popular game shows out there: Name a Tune, Card Sharks, Price it Right, or Wheel of Fortune. Who will be the winner of these competitive games?!
5. Host a Workshop Focused on Growth
Hosting a workshop that is meant to inspire and realign the focus of your group can really go a long way. Our Dreams & Gratitude Workshop allows team members to come together virtually to focus on goals, gratitude, and growth. They will walk away with a better understanding of manifestation and, more importantly, how to utilize it within the workplace and their own lives.
6. Virtual Comedy Roast
Let’s be honest… there is no event out there that will have everyone erupting in laughter quite like a comedy roast! We can help you to plan this event, as we offer an extremely hilarious comedy event called The Roast. We will roast the guest of honor or encourage teams to roast each other!
7. Virtual Art Mural
Work together with your team in a way that is super unique and more creative than the average work project. Team Building Unlimited offers a fun Art Mural Project event, which involves a muralist creating a design that is original for your group. Each team member will complete assigned individual canvases in order to create one inspirational piece of art. Then, you can display the art in your business or donate to a local charity!
8. “Get to Know Each other Better” Meeting
Set up a virtual meeting that involves a compilation of fun ice breaker activities. Our In the Know event is specifically excellent when it comes time to onboard new employees. The event involves team members sharing polls, photos, and more with their colleagues meant to tell a little bit more of their story!
9. Trivia Night
Host a virtual trivia night and see who can answer the most questions correctly. You can either use pre-made questions or come up with your own. Team Building Unlimited’s Ultimate Trivia Challenge is hosted virtually by our entertaining hosts. We can even work with you to customize questions based on your group!
10. Music Trivia
Give your trivia night a theme by focusing the entire game on naming music that everyone has heard before! Modeled after the popular Name that Tune game show, Team Building Unlimited’s Ultimate Tune Name Game involves participants working together to name the song titles and artists of well-known songs, as well as finish the lyrics! Want to take this event to the next level? Add on our hilarious live piano hosts for additional fun!
11. Movie Trivia
Have a group that seems to be particularly interested in film? Just like music trivia, you can also theme a trivia night around movies. Create a list of trivia questions revolving around well-known movies and see what your team is able to guess! You can make the questions about the movie plot, naming movie titles, iconic one-liners, soundtracks, or naming the actors/actresses!
12. Movie Night
Watch a movie together as a team and discuss it afterward. You can either choose a movie that everyone has seen or select one that is available to watch online. You can also take the extra step of having microwavable popcorn and other fun movie snacks delivered to your team ahead of time. Then, you can all hop on a Zoom call to discuss the plot!
13. Virtual Talent Show
Show off those talents to your team! One awesome virtual event idea is to host a virtual talent show. Every team (and every team member!) has hidden talents just waiting to be discovered. Team Building Unlimited’s You’ve Got Talent event offers participants a fun way to volunteer to show off their hidden talents to the group. You’ll see another side of your team as they compete to win bragging rights!
14. Virtual Karaoke
Who in the team has got it in them to sing their hearts out? Host a virtual karaoke night that allows participants to sing and dance the night away together to popular songs. You can find lyric videos online to play along with as you host the event to make it feel even more realistic!
15. Juggling Event
What cooler way to bring your virtual team together than by learning a new skill?! Grab a few household items and see who’s the best juggler of the group. Team Building Unlimited’s Juggling Life event brings in a silly host that will not only put on an awesome juggling show for everyone to watch but will also teach the group how to juggle!
16. Musical Entertainment Night
For a night of laid-back fun and laughs, consider having an entertainer join your team-building meeting. This is a great way to amp up the daily norm and really bring energy levels up! Our Dueling Pianos event is always a hit! The pianists are excellent at getting participants singing along, laughing, and dancing as they play.
17. Mind Reader Event
Another really cool idea is to hire a mind reader, magician, or even a hypnotist to entertain your group virtually. Team Building Unlimited offers a really exciting Predictions-Mentalist Show that can be done virtually. Our mentalist will come prepared to read minds and certainly boggle the minds of the entire group!
18. Board Game Night
Break out the board games and have some fun. This is a great way to get everyone talking and working together. Board Game Night can easily be adjusted so that it is a virtual activity. There are plenty of online board game chat rooms and apps out there to choose from.
19. Virtual Improv Session
Improv is such a fun way to bond with others, and it also really works different parts of the brain! Our event called Team Improv really takes business comedy and teamwork to the next level. This Improv class was designed to focus on business training, empower collaboration among team members, cultivate emotional intelligence, and simply just generate excitement!
20. Virtual Camping Trip
Take your team on a virtual camping trip. You can set up a fun itinerary and send it out so that they know what the game plan is. They’ll need to complete a series of challenges or tasks in order to “earn” their camping badges.
21. Handwriting Analysis
Do you know what your handwriting says about you? It’s pretty well-known that a lot can be said about someone’s personality traits from their handwriting, but have you ever had yours analyzed? Turns out that the same can be said about your lip print! The Lipology and Handwriting Analysis event we offer will help give awesome insight into your team members using their handwriting and lip print as a guide.
22. Personality Guessing Game
“Two Truths and a Lie” is a fun personality game to play at your next meeting. Players take turns announcing two true statements and one made-up lie about themselves. The rest of the group has to guess which of the three statements is the lie. This works as an awesome ice breaker idea!
23. Virtual Bingo
Bingo is a game that everyone already knows how to play, which makes it awesome for team building! Our virtual Bingo Bongo event is made extra fun and exciting by our zany hosts. Every “bingo” win is treated as a huge celebration!
24. Virtual Debate
This one is a LOT of fun, especially if you can think of a prompt that will successfully get your group riled up with strong opinions. Start simple with a sort of This or That question like “vanilla or chocolate?”. The team will have to debate until they decide on which is the winner!
25. Virtual Texas Hold’Em
Is your group into casino-themed games? How about a night of Texas Hold’Em for a change! We offer a fun virtual Texas Hold’Em Tournament that allows participants to literally sit together around a virtual table, converse with one another, and place bids as they play the card game. The Team Building Unlimited hosts work to help everyone with rules and betting along the way!
26. Virtual Happy Hour
A fun and simple team-building idea is to host a virtual happy hour for your team! Send out an invite for everyone to gather together on a virtual meeting as you all sip on your favorite beverages. A great way to add to this event is to have team members compete to create the best-looking cocktail!
27. Virtual Cooking Class
A great way to get to know others, besides of course sitting down to eat a meal with them, is to cook a meal with them! Perhaps one member of the group (preferably one who is a better cook!) can lead the rest of the team on creating a recipe over a virtual meeting. One of our favorite virtual cooking classes is Make Some Salsa! This event is a virtual culinary experience that involves everyone on the team making up and creating their very own salsa recipe. The best part of all? Tasting what you’ve made!
28. Virtual Cook-Off
This is a fun way to test your team’s cooking skills. Have all of the participants create a dish together on a virtual call. Although you won’t get to taste the dishes made by the other contestants, you can still vote on which one looks the best!
The benefits of hosting virtual team-building events are clear. By using online tools and platforms, you can connect with your team in a fun and engaging way. And, best of all, these activities can be done from the comfort of your own home. So why not give them a try?
We Can Help You to Facilitate Virtual Team Building Events!
When you work with a remote team, it can be difficult to build and maintain strong relationships. However, by hosting virtual team-building events, you can help your team to connect and bond with each other. At Team Building Unlimited, we specialize in helping businesses to host virtual corporate events. We have a wide range of services that can help you to connect with your team, and we can help you to facilitate virtual team-building events that are both fun and engaging.
Check out all of the virtual events we offer and give us a call at 609-443-6550 to get started with planning your next event or meeting!
How to Keep a Remote Team Connected Beyond Team Building Events
In order for virtual team-building events to be effective, it is important that your remote team is already connected and feels like they are part of one cohesive unit. While virtual team-building events are a great way to strengthen existing relationships, help keep remote teams connected, and encourage collaboration, there are plenty of other things you can do to encourage collaboration and teamwork.
Remember that team-building events are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to keeping a remote team connected. Here are a few tips for keeping your remote team connected:
Communicate. One thing that’s essential for any remote team is communication. You should make sure you have a communication plan in place and also ensure your team has a way to easily communicate with one another (e.g., messaging app, video conferencing app). Create a plan that includes clear guidelines for how and when team members should communicate with one another.
Host team meetings. Another way to encourage collaboration is by setting up regular team meetings. These can be done in person or virtually. This will give everyone the opportunity to share updates, ask questions, and collaborate on projects. These check-ins will help ensure that everyone is staying on track and knows what’s going on with the rest of the team.
Encourage Video Chats. Encourage team members to video chat with each other as often as possible. This will help them get to know each other better and build relationships. Also, encourage team members to communicate regularly via email, chat, or other messaging platforms. This will help keep everyone in the loop and allow for quick and easy communication between team members.
Virtual social activities. Facilitate virtual social activities. Team members often feel more connected to one another when they have the opportunity to chat and get to know each other outside of work. Try hosting a virtual happy hour or coffee break once a week.
Celebrate successes! And lastly, make sure to celebrate successes together. Whether it’s a job well done or simply reaching a goal, taking the time to acknowledge your team’s accomplishments goes a long way in building team spirit.
Let Us Handle the Stress of Planning Your Event!
Virtual team-building events are a great way to encourage collaboration and team spirit for your team in this “new normal”. They allow for more people to participate, can be scheduled at a time that works best for everyone involved, and can be more engaging and fun than traditional in-person events.
To ensure a successful event, make sure you have a plan for communication and team meetings in place, and encourage team members to communicate with each other frequently. And lastly, make sure to celebrate successes together!
Team Building Unlimited can help to relieve the stress of planning and facilitating the perfect virtual team-building event. Contact Us to get started today!