Whether your team is fully remote or working hybrid-style, spending time together in a non-work context is crucial. It helps members connect to one another better, improves collaboration and productivity, and it’s a good way to get to know one another better.
Virtual team events might seem difficult or challenging to coordinate, but it’s still essential to organize some form of team-building. The key is to first have your core members because there are plenty of examples of team building gone wrong without these core individuals. We’ll explore virtual team events in more detail for this article and provide some inspiration for your next event.
What are Virtual Team Events?
Virtual team events are fun office events that are held over video conferencing software such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, or any other video software that your company uses. Like an in-person event, virtual team building exercises or events are all about team-building, learning more about one another, and creating a friendly atmosphere so that everyone can feel more comfortable with other team members.
What Team Activity Can be Done Virtually?
There are many virtual team building activities that you can do online. In addition, many types of events that were generally done in person, such as escape rooms and happy hours, have now migrated over to be virtual. Activities can include virtual team building challenges, a virtual game, activities, casual happy hours, and more.
Why Your Business Should Host Virtual Events for Team Members
For remote employees and remote workers, a virtual team building activity can effectively boost morale, cut down some of the virtual meetings, and help team members connect better with each other. What makes virtual team building important is that it has many benefits for companies and remote employees.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider a team building activity:
- Makes employees happy: Remote team building is a great way to let everyone relax, and it shows you appreciate their hard work
- Improves collaboration: Working together can be difficult for remote employees – especially new team members, but a virtual team event helps them get to know other team members and improve how they work together.
- Understand working styles: Depending on the virtual team building games, employees can also get to know each other’s working styles and thought processes, so it’s a form of virtual team bonding.
- It’s fun! A team-building game or challenge is a fun way to break the monotony of team meetings. It’s a different kind of virtual conference call, so it gives them something to look forward to.
- Boosts company culture: Virtual or hybrid teams that have fun and work well together make for great work, and it also helps with recruiting new employees when it’s a good work environment.
Tools for Virtual Team Building Activities
The main tool you will need for virtual team building activities is a video conferencing software such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, or any other video conference software. Encourage remote teams to sit in a quiet room with a good internet connection to make the most of the events.
Team members will also need a webcam or camera to ensure they can be seen. Depending on the activity, team members can also dial in to the video call through their phone if they would prefer to not use their computer.
8 Virtual Team Event Ideas
1. Virtual Team Trivia
Team building games like virtual team trivia are a great way to engage the entire team and are super fun! You can encourage team members to create their own themed trivia based on their interests. Or you can use trivia templates online to make your own version. Plus, you can choose one team member to be the quizmaster and host the event to make the virtual format more engaging.
2. Virtual Dance Party
Another fun virtual team building event is to host an online dance party for remote team members. Blast some fun music over a virtual call, and let everyone get loose. You can host dance-offs on the video call for employees to participate in or let everyone freestyle for a good time.
3. Virtual Happy Hours
Virtual happy hours can be a good way to make a virtual meeting fun and a little more casual. You can have drinks delivered to remote team members if possible. Or you can ask them to bring a drink of choice to the team meeting and host your own happy hour.
4. Virtual Escape Room
Virtual Escape Room – The Escape Game Remote Adventures
An escape room is one of the best virtual team building exercises since it combines fun and critical thinking. You can work with an external vendor to create a virtual escape room or make your own. Split your remote team into smaller teams, and encourage collaboration and innovative thinking to make their escape.
5. ‘Read my Lips’
Fun virtual games like Read My Lips are one of the best ways to engage a team remotely since it’s a stress reliever but also has an element of critical thinking. Ask one person to mute their microphone to play the game, but have their camera on and say something. Other members post their guesses in the Zoom chat or say them out loud within a minute.
6. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Games like virtual scavenger hunts are virtual team builders since it provides an opportunity for teams to bond. Teams can solve puzzles or riddles to get ahead and/or track down items in their home. It’s a great way for online teams to get moving while still having fun.
7. Virtual Murder Mystery
A virtual murder mystery is one of the best ways to get teams to be creative and think out of the box! You can provide members with their roles and characters before the meeting and then get the team together to start the mystery. Teams must work together to identify the murderer in their midst, making it an interesting game for everyone.
8. Virtual City Tour
Many remote team building activities are gaining popularity, but one of the best ones is a virtual city tour. Whisk your team away to exotic locations and cities, all from the comfort of their home. You can create an itinerary and have a tour guide take the team to famous landmarks and sites with virtual activities to keep everyone excited and engaged.
How do You Make a Team Event Virtually?
You can plan a virtual activity for teams in many different ways. For example, you can use video conferencing software to get remote teams together and plan out activities beforehand.
You can email your remote team beforehand, letting them know what’s to come, or keep it more of a surprise. Make sure that remote teams have the video conference details ahead of time, and don’t have other meetings or conflicts during the time.
What are the best virtual team building events?
There are many options for team building activities that team members can be excited about. Some of the best virtual team building events for remote teams include:
- Virtual happy hours
- Virtual murder mystery
- Virtual dance party
- Virtual games such as a scavenger hunt or Read My Lips
- A virtual city tour
How do you boost team morale virtually?
You can boost team morale virtually through online team games, or another online team building activity such as online office games. It can make virtual meetings fun, and activities for remote teams are a great opportunity for team bonding.
How do you engage virtual teams?
As a team leader, it can be difficult to keep virtual teams engaged and interested. Some of the best activities to engage virtual teams and remote workers include:
- Virtual team games
- Team happy hours
- Virtual trivia games
- Host casual meetings and virtual hangouts regularly
How do you celebrate team events virtually?
You can celebrate team events virtually, even with distributed teams thanks to video conferencing software. You can play fun online games, or host a casual hangout with a spotlight on the team event. Virtual celebrations can be a great way to recognize a remote team online and show that virtual team building matters to your company.
Are virtual events hosted live or pre-recorded?
Generally, virtual events are hosted live, but it can depend on the activity. Virtual games, such as where team members solve puzzles or a scavenger hunt are live. If the virtual event features speeches and talks, they can be pre-recorded so that team members can watch on their own time.
Image: Depositphotos
This article, "Virtual Team Events Ideas for Team Building" was first published on Small Business Trends
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Myra Nizami, Khareem Sudlow
