Large Group Team Building Activities

Organizing an event for a larger group often poses challenges not faced with smaller groups. It’s more likely that certain activities will not motivate segments within the group, venues need to be larger, and ensuring that the key objectives of the activity are achieved becomes more difficult to manage and monitor.

Luckily there are an increasing number of options for large groups being offered by team building companies, and the use of technology can create an immersive experience, while the team is simply taking part in activities throughout the city in which your company is based. The ‘Pokemon Go’ phenomenon is a clear indication that this kind of augmented reality event will become even more common as workers continue to expect a work team experience similar to activities they would enjoy at home.

It’s interesting to see so many events even become popular for bachelor and bachelorette parties, birthdays and reunions, even though they were designed originally for companies and corporate events. That’s a sure sign that your workers will have a great time, as well as learning something about themselves while taking part.

Choosing A Venue For A Large Team Event

While you can certainly ‘go wild’ with a smaller event and have it almost anywhere you like, it’s more likely that smaller events are more informal, and easier to organize. When you’re pushing out a larger event, you’ll want to make sure you get more out of it, otherwise you’re just reducing productivity without achieving the benefits of the event.

Make sure to consider:

• Indoor vs Outdoor: Indoor events are sometimes easier to organize, as in most cities you’ll have a long list of conference and events facilities able to host you. They’ll even usually take care of everything from food and even activities in many cases. Outdoor events can be more challenging, not least because of the weather in some States, however, the opportunity to have a great time, explore, and do something different can’t be missed. Make sure you consider vendors who are used to handling big numbers, though.
• Any disabilities, or special needs: When you’re organizing an event for a large group, it’s important that any venues or suppliers can cope with a wide range of demands and special requirements so that everyone can get the best out of the day. It’s easier with a small group as you’ll often know if the people you share a desk with are vegetarian or can’t run very far, but when you’re organizing for a large group and send out the enrollment form, you have to be prepared for a wide range of unexpected responses and requirements. Even some things human resources won’t be available as their requirements don’t come up in day to day work.
• Convenience: Parking, on-site amenities and location are more important than many people realize. Having your team be able to quickly get to the venue, park and enjoy the day without having to take additional time traveling home afterwards, will significantly improve the willingness to participate. Naturally if you’re organizing a flagship event with transport and a weekend away somewhere luxurious, you might get more forgiveness on the location. If not, focus on making things convenient, as well as fun.
• Insurance and other event-specific needs: Sometimes you’ll have a fantastic idea for an event, but the venue you’ve picked won’t necessarily be able to accommodate in a way that satisfies your corporate responsibility. Make sure that all the boxes are ticked, or you could come unstuck on the day as they turn your bungee jump truck back out of their facility!

Tips For Achieving Your Goals With A Large Team Building Event

One of the biggest challenges when organizing a larger event is keeping the outcomes in line with the challenges withing the business that you’re trying to solve. If the team doesn’t normally play as one giant orchestra, all working on one huge project together, then selecting that as an event might not be the ideal solution for you.

Instead if they typically have to work in small groups, delivering crucial projects on time to other groups in order to deliver the big picture, then splitting the team down and ensuring your large event is structured that way may make more sense.

There doesn’t have to be a broader goal at stake – you can just be looking to improve camaraderie, and encourage your departments to bond, so that they work together better, and have closer relationships when they return to the office. This is especially important when day to day work is very silo-based and the various teams don’t get much opportunity to interact and form bonds in their typical work environment.