Remote events that actually bring your team together!
The fact of the matter is, if given the opportunity nearly 99% of all employees would chose to work from home at least some of the time. With stats like this, it’s fair to say the remote and hybrid work environments are here to stay. However, with this shift in dynamic, other information has also come to light. Tesearch is also showing us that employees who work at home typically have weaker relationships with their colleagues than in-house employees do. So we need to make sure that we are able to bring our team together effectively and give them opportunities to continue to connect whilst working remotely.
We’ve spoken previously about how to engage with a remote workforce in our previous article, and one of the most effective ways of engaging with your staff is to get your team involved in virtual/remote events. These events have the power to increase staff retention, improve productivity and increase overall employee happiness and job satisfaction.
In order to truly be of benefit to your team, there are a few things to consider when planning a remote or virtual event.
What You Can Do
Create a Clear Plan:
What is the purpose of the event, who is attending the event and what is the overall agenda going to look like. When creating an agenda it is a good idea to develop this with the input from your team or the people in attendance. Keeping this agenda front of mind will allow the meeting to continue in the desired direction and prevent any unnecessary tangents.
Stick to Timeframes:
Scheduling each agenda point, time for discussions, questions and transitions between activities are crucial. This will help to keep the event on track, and keep the segments concise. Keeping segments short and sweet is key, particularly when everyone is tuning in remotely, we’ve all experienced ‘Zoom fatigue’ and we don’t want uninterested and disengaged attendees.
Test out Your Tech:
The advancement of technology is a great thing, however with it can come additional challenge at times. You want to ensure any programs, apps or platforms that you are using are up and running and you are clear on how to use them effectively. Like-wise you want to ensure that your team will have access to the event and be able to engage with all the components. Providing additional tech support for those new to certain platforms may be required int he lead up to the event.
Make it Interactive:
Encourage questions, utilise polling and survey software and be sure to include virtual networking opportunties. Polling can even be done ahead of time to the attendees, and any specific questions that arose can be discussed during the meeting. This enables the event to really be tailored to the specific points and the relevant information the team are looking to get out of it. Utilising breakout rooms, and brining people together in a more intimate setting with cameras and microphones on will allow everyone the chance to speak up and be heard. This is a great way of ensuring everyone is participating in the activities. Lastly, while a pre-recorded training or information session may seem easier, having the event live and involving the participants as much as possible will keep it engaging and ensure the outcomes you set out to achieve are met.
Incorporate Offline Aspects:
Intergrating an offline component to an event can really add to the participant experience. If we think about what we would usually find at a face to face event, this can range from a catered lunch, refreshments, branded merchandise (pen, pad, usbs etc.), or even a goodie bag to go home with. Now, of course not every event will warrant these kinds of add-ons but there are ways to incorporate some of these into a virtual event. This could be a catered lunch-box delivered to the homes of the attendees. It could be a ‘get-started’ pack delivered which includes, branded pens, any specific resources for the event, some water and snacks etc. Or you could even end the event with an email out to all guests thanking them for their participation and linking a voucher for them to use, eg. Uber Eats voucher to treat themselves to a dinner in after the event, or a voucher for a bottle of wine etc. Particularly for a larger compulsory training sessions, or end of quarter/EOFY events, this can be a great reward to make your staff feel like they were truly involved.
Encourage Social Interaction:
This can be done throughout a conference by splitting off into breakout rooms to discuss topics or brainstorm ideas. This can also be achieved by promoting the use of the chat function in the video conferencing software or a socials channel you may already utilise. However, one of the best ways to break the ice and get people to connect during an event is team bonding experiences.
Virtual Team Bonding Experiences
With a vast array of various team building and team bonding experiences to participate in virtually, let’s take a look at a few examples and how they can tie in to key goals or skills you want to focus on.
The ultimate who-dunnit, can you team solve the mystery? You’ll be racing against the clock to find the killer before they strike again. You’ll need to communicate effectively and work collaboratively to identify the killer, weapon and the motive for the murder. Things may not be as they seem, so you’ll need to put your heads together to solve the case.
Focusses on: Teamwork, collaboration, problem-solving, leadership, time-management, organistion.
Transform your space from home office to arts studio with this virtual event! You’ll be provided all the equipment you need and will be taken through a live class with an expert art coach. The 2 hour session is a fun and relaxed class allowing everyone to interact and bond over their artistic skills, or maybe lack their of! Either way, this is a great way to break the ice and allow individuals creativity to shine through.
Focusses on: Creativity, lateral thinking
An event that really will put a team to the test, a Virtual Escape Room will require all hands on deck! With time running out, your team will have to communicate effectively, problem solve and work together to solve the puzzles and escape the game! With lots of twists and turns and challenges in there for everyone, this is a great way to foster collaboration.
Focusses on: Problem Solving, outside the box-thinking, teamwork, collaboration, communication, patience, time-management.
Just like the TV show, the Virtual Amazing Race will throw all sorts of challenges at you and your team, and we can promise that you’ll have a whole lot of fun doing them! Compete as individuals or teams from the comfort of your own home, it’s like a scavenger hunt on steroids as you race to complete all the tasks. The challenges range from taking photos or filming short videos to brain-teasers and riddles. This one is a crowd pleaser and can be played from anywhere, no passport needed!
Focusses on: Creativity, Innovation, Teamwork, Communication.
A short and sweet 30 minute session designed to give you and your team health and wellness information that they can utilise and implement into their own lives. Each 30 minute event will have 20 minutes of content followed by a 10 minute question time at the end. The themes can be tailored to suit your groups needs and be executed as one off session or delivered as an entire series.
Focusses on: Overall health and wellness, mental health, nutrition, mindfullness.
With a mirriad of different team-building events to choose from they are the perfect add-on or stand along experience to utilise when planning a virtual event. They increase socialisation and improve engagement levels of team members working remotely, and have been shown to be valuable at increasing staff satisfaction.
As you can see, in order to run an effective virtual event for your team there are a few factors to consider. However, the rewards and outcomes for you and your staff are endless. The benefits of social interaction between colleagues has been shown to positively impact each individual in a number of ways. So it is well worth taking the time to plan a tailored event that you and your team can participate in and enjoy some quality time together, albeit virtually.
Emily has a background in corporate sales and recruitment. Experience, that allows her to understand businesses and people, and to create compelling copy and content that showcases just that.
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