There are many advantages to remote working, but there are also challenges. One of the most important ones is staying in touch with coworkers. Many organizations have set up periodic video call sessions, group chat services, and similar things. These social initiatives don’t always enjoy the employees’ interest. Slack groups may enjoy success for some time but then lose momentum.
Good interaction between employees is very important. It breaks the ice, brings them together, and stimulates problem solving. Colleagues that don’t interact well are not aware of the strong attributes their coworkers have.
How can you get your team excited about virtual events? This blog contains many virtual event ideas about how to organize them and what to include. These tips will make the entire process more enjoyable for everyone.
Start With Some Virtual Ice-Breaking Games
Ice-breaking is not a standalone event. But including it in your virtual event will make everyone feel welcome and more relaxed. Here are three icebreaker activities that you can use in your next online event:
- Emoji Check-Ins. Ask all attendees to describe their day and how they feel. They can only use emojis.
- Bucket List. Let people tell what their big dream is. What do they want to achieve? What places do they want to visit? What books are on their to-be-read lists? It will give everyone an insight into their hobbies and personality.
- Two Truths and a Lie. Before starting the main activities, let people share two truths and one lie about themselves. Others guess which statement is the lie.
Live Remote Coworking
For many modern teams, it is very difficult to work together in one place. That is most complicated for teams with members scattered around the globe. This way of working has several advantages, but it also has many challenges.
Teams that are not in one place sometimes face difficulties. These include a lack of accountability and low motivation levels.
With new virtual event ideas, remote coworking has come within reach. It might also help your organization to be more productive. One way to facilitate this is by starting a #coworking Slack channel. The first to join for the day can open a video call that anyone can join. Of course, everyone needs to understand that the purpose of the channel is to get the work done.
So, if you are a marketing agency and have employees doing remote marketing jobs in your company, using Slack as a collaboration tool would be the best decision.
Learn Skills Together
Virtual events do not only need to revolve around work, but they can also center around having fun together. Learning together is a fun way of spending time together. You can make the best of social time by taking an online course together.
Here are a couple of suggestions for courses you can do as a team:
- Coding course
- Cooking sessions
- Creative writing workshop
- Guided meditation
- Leadership course
- Photography workshop
- Self-defense class
You can follow an organized course on websites such as EdX, MasterClass, or Udemy. You can also organize something yourself. Create a course by compiling a list of interesting YouTube instructional videos.
Mister Rogers Calls
Mister Rogers Calls is a fun team-building exercise. Start by making a list of all the people that will take part in the virtual event. Then assign all participants a partner.
The pairs should call each other every week. The need to take a certain amount of time to discuss a topic, which cannot be about work or related to work. You can change the pairings every few weeks. You will notice how the interaction between colleagues improves and how confidence grows.
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Expert Talk Series
The TEDTalks series is very popular, because people always want to learn more. You can set up your own expert talk series by asking your employees what they find interesting.
You can choose topics that more or less relate to work. Here are some examples:
- How to live the most satisfying life
- Time management
- How to balance work and family
- How to increase productivity
Pick some subjects and see which ones your coworkers like the most. After the talk, you can divide the audience into breakout sessions so they can discuss the topic further.
How can you get your team excited about virtual events? This blog contains many virtual event ideas about how to organize them and what to include.
Organize a virtual campfire. Even online, you can have a great time and engage in campfire activities. Think of games, ghost stories, and even making smores. You will notice how fun and creative it is. It might be the best camping experience people will ever have. And no mosquitoes.
Before the event, you can send all participants marshmallows and a tealight to make the experience as real as possible. The results are good memories together, and stronger team engagement.
Guess the Desk
Guess the Desk is a fun guessing game for team building. Remote employees do not see each other’s desks. So, each member can take a picture of their desk. They have to send in their picture to one person ahead of time. Then everyone needs to guess whose desks are in the pictures. The one that gets the most desks right wins a prize.
The game is a lot of fun and is great from a team-building point of view. It gives an idea of each team member’s personality.
Virtual Murder Mystery
This is a time-tested activity that many enjoy. The idea is simple. Someone committed a crime and everyone needs to work together to find who did it. And everyone can do it from the comfort of their homes. No need to go out to dark and cold alleys to collect evidence.
Throw Holiday Parties
The next example on the list of virtual event ideas is throwing holiday parties. Now that Thanksgiving is approaching, it is good to think about how you can use these occasions to spice up your online events. You can include icebreakers, games, food and costume themes, and different types of quizzes.
You start a Thanksgiving virtual event with a bingo game. Based on their bingo card, team members can share stories and express their thanks. That strengthens team bonds. You can close the online event with a Thanksgiving dinner.
Play a Trivia Battle
A virtual trivia night is a great way to build your team. It is simple, and you can use it to reinforce networks. It is a beloved game because it lets you also learn something new. Divide your team into groups and start planning.
You can add different touches by assigning a theme to the virtual trivia night. You can choose movies, TV, music, geography, or something else. Give an incentive by offering a prize to the winners. Think of a gift card, a meal, or something similar.
Virtual Coffee Break
Schedule time each day for a coffee break. Invite your friends, bosses, and employees to join you. Everyone can bring their favorite beverage: coffee, tea, cappuccino, or whatever they like. It gives you a few minutes to catch up, gossip a little, and interact with others.
This kind of occasion can give you a feeling of having a coffee break, even though it is in a virtual breakout room. These sessions are necessary if you work from home.
Virtual Jam Sessions
Jam sessions are great virtual events if you have many musicians in your company. It follows the usual format, except that it is virtual, instead of in a bar, studio, or garage. This works great for bonding and people will have a great time.
Invite all employees to connect to a conference call and bring their musical instruments. Don’t forget to invite everyone else to enjoy the music.
Speed One-on-Ones
This is one of the virtual event ideas where you divide a large team into smaller groups. People will start talking about things that they would normally not talk about in the workplace.
As the organizer, you need to gather together some prompt questions. You separate people into groups and send them to breakout sessions. In the rooms, they can discuss the questions. After a few minutes you invite them back, and one person from each group can present what they talked about.
You can repeat the process a couple of times with different questions and different groups. It will bring people closer together and allow them to get to know their colleagues.
Open Mic Nights
Most people find standing up to perform nerve-racking. It is scary because you don’t know how the audience will receive your performance. In this setting, people will perform in front of people they already know. So, that is a little less scary.
Invite employees to sing, play music, do a stand-up comedy sketch, or show their talents in another way. Give them a specific amount of time, like five or ten minutes. As time goes by, you will notice that your coworkers become more confident and you can suggest more improvisation.
Show and Tell
Show and Tell is another activity suited for the virtual space. You can make it as informal or professional as you like. Everyone can make a presentation about an assigned subject. The subject could relate to the job or be something different altogether.
Here are some suggestions:
- Create a Show and Tell by asking for pictures that you can assemble into a free slideshow template.
- Send the request in advance. That gives people time to find their favorite holiday picture or worst birthday present.
- Show the images one at a time.
- Allow each participant to talk about their picture or item for a minute or so.
Virtual Happy Hours
Many include a happy hour in their virtual event. In the case of a virtual happy hour, you don’t need to stand in a noisy, overcrowded bar and pay way too much for your drink. You get to talk and enjoy a good conversation, even if the other person is in a different country.
No one needs to travel home after having a drink too many. You can include a specific theme, like 1970s disco, or the Roaring Twenties. You can adapt drinks and conversation subjects to the theme.
Wellness Event
For virtual events in this category, you can think of things such as:
- Inviting a wellness expert
- Learning mediation
- Doing yoga exercises
- Talking about mindfulness
- Discussing holistic health
Health and well-being activities help your team lower stress levels and relax. This is very important, as remote work often adds stress. Virtual wellness events help avoid burnout and keep people in good mental and physical shape.
Take a Virtual Museum Tour Together
The advantage of a virtual tour is there are no lines and no crowds. You can enjoy an artistic masterpiece in a quiet and relaxed environment. You will see art, artists, and exhibitions in a different light.
Online Team Bingo
Another engaging virtual event idea is online bingo. Anyone can do it, and most people enjoy it. You don’t need much to organize it. You pick random numbers from a wheel, hat, or another container. The players cross off the numbers you draw. The one that fills his bingo card first wins.
Virtual Karaoke
A virtual concert can take the form of a karaoke evening. It aids in team building and draws people out of their comfort zones.
Here are some tips on organizing a virtual karaoke party:
- Ask people for requests.
- Create a playlist of YouTube karaoke videos. You can show the videos during the evening so that everyone can see the lyrics on their screen and hear the music.
- Send an invitation. You can use apps like Watch2gether.
- Assign solos for each song, or make small groups.
Virtual Gaming Meets
You can find online board games. Board games stimulate creativity and help people bond. They improve brain function and reduce stress. There are so many options that you will find something that everybody enjoys.
Among Us is a very popular online game at the moment. But there are many others, such as:
- Codenames
- Monopoly
- Pictionary
- Reverse charades
- Uno
These are just a few suggestions to start with. As you progress, and depending on the team’s interests, you can introduce new games, such as:
- Catan
- Dixit
- Gloomhaven
- Lords of the Rings
- Lords of the Waterdeep
- Pandemic
- Risk
These strategy, storytelling, and cooperative games can make your events even more interesting.
Storytelling
You can make your next virtual event interesting by including storytelling. Choose a topic or use a line from a book as the starting point. Each person can add a few lines or a few minutes to the story. Then another person can continue the story where the other left off.
It is a very inclusive online event and it can encourage engagement, quick thinking, and creativity.
Online Speed Races
A bit of healthy competition is good for the ambiance of a team. Not everybody likes it though, so be careful when you organize this kind of virtual event.
You can have a competition for fast typers or for the team that posts a research task the fastest. This virtual event idea hones professional skills and can be fun and hilarious.
Online Team Building Bingo
You can include online team-building bingo to make a fun virtual event. It is fast, simple, and free. So it is ideal to get started with organizing online events. Here are some useful tips:
Make a bingo board with different actions or activities. You can make, for example, a box with “Sorry, I was muted.” You can cross it off when someone says that during the online event. You can also make one with “Wearing pajamas to a video conference.”
Pet Party
Your team members love their pets. You likely love them too. As long as they don’t interfere with your virtual meetings! But why not include them in a virtual social event? Have people talk about their pets and show them in front of the camera. For sure, you will see more than only cats and dogs.
Some of your colleagues’ pets can do tricks. You can do a contest for the best trick, or the cutest or fluffiest pet.
Virtual Escape Room
Fun virtual event ideas include escape rooms. These team-building activities have virtual counterparts. The Escape Game and other companies offer Zoom experiences for large and small groups.
It is a fun virtual event that asks for creativity and problem-solving skills and is a lot of fun.
Virtual Book Club
To organize a virtual book club you need people that like reading. The function of book clubs is to gather people together who read the same book, at the same pace, and then discuss their opinions about the books.
If you are starting a virtual book club, it is best to start with a short book, or even with an essay. It should be short enough to read in two or three sessions. That allows you to see the invitees’ commitment. After that, you can decide on something longer and more challenging.
Scavenger Hunt
A virtual scavenger hunt is a fun virtual event idea, and you can include a large group of people. Make a list of items that people might have in their homes but that they need to look for. It could be as simple as a mug, or something more specific, such as a red Christmas sock.
You can turn the virtual scavenger hunt into something that includes activities. You can ask people to make a TikTok movie, take a selfie with a pet, or do a handstand.
The Best Virtual Event Ideas Will Bring People Together
You can use the virtual event ideas in this blog as a starting point for a series of virtual get-togethers. Along the way, you will learn what your team likes or doesn’t like. They may give you suggestions or offer to help organize the events.
Try not to infringe too much on your employees’ personal time. That will create the opposite result.
At first, it will take some time and effort, but it will get easier. You can make it a recurring event, make small changes, and include new activities to keep the virtual event fun.
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