Bring back team morale with six conference team-building strategies that can help foster a productive and connected team.
Corporate employees are often drained of morale due to high expectations, fast-paced work environments, and tight deadlines. They may feel burnt out as they power through their busy days with little to no changes in their routine.
This is where team-building activities come in. Employees need a break from the daily routine and constant grind, and a team-building event is a good way to start. These events help employees engage with other team members, enhance their communication skills, and improve team dynamics for a more cohesive and efficient workplace.
Whether you want to hold problem-solving challenges or interactive games, conference team building events can ease workplace tensions and boost job satisfaction. Read this guide to learn more about these events.
Key Takeaways:
- Conference team building brings people from different departments together for a day of fun and learning.
- Conference team building activities help break the monotony of daily life for employees.
- These activities aim to sharpen the problem-solving skills and creativity of employees.
Help your team reach their best potential. Join our PLAYshops!
1. Set the Tone with a Strategic Workshop
A strategic team workshop focuses on teaching team members collaboration strategies, leadership development, and problem-solving techniques. These sessions ensure long-term improvements in workplace efficiency and team bonding.
- Leadership Training: This activity includes theoretical and practical elements of leadership, developing leaders with sound decision-making and excellent delegation skills. Part of being a leader is being empathetic, and our Empathy PLAYshop can train you to understand the different concerns of the people you work with, leading to effective communication and seamless teamwork.
- Trust-Building Exercises: These encourage team bonding through role-playing, group storytelling, and blindfolded challenges. Let our PLAYshops build trust in yourself and your team so you can survive the work challenges that come your way. Trust goes a long way if you want to build solid working relationships with your team.
- Brainstorming Sessions: These activities bring established and new teams together to brainstorm innovative ideas. Our Innovation PLAYshop can help you come up with original and valuable ideas for anything you and your team might want to work on later.
Try our TEAMWORK Playshops, especially if your team is still getting to know each other. We have activities to help you communicate effectively with your team through experiential learning.
2. Start with an Engaging Icebreaker
Icebreakers ease the new team members into the established teams in a relaxed setting. Introductions are smoother and more engaging, reducing tension and welcoming everyone to the team-building event.
Try these fun icebreaker games in your team building events:
- Human Bingo: This is a game where team members learn about each other by matching their colleagues with specific traits on a bingo card.
- Two Truths and a Lie: This classic, fun team-building game enables participants to tell two true things and one false statement, challenging everyone to guess the lie.
- Speed Networking: This fast-paced introduction exercise puts employees in quick one-on-one conversations to exchange personal and professional views.
- Authentic Networking: Creating real connections that would get you out of your comfort zone during conferences or team gatherings with our LevelUP Authentic Networking PLAYshop! Here, you can lead generously and genuinely support others, leading to stronger and lasting workplace relationships.
Icebreakers boost team collaboration since most of the exercises require you to trust and cooperate with your team members within a limited time. And our ultimate icebreaker: the Recess PLAYshop, puts you in a literal game show, complete with music, sound effects, and prizes! Our fun Recess workshop is perfect for large groups and will help teams connect and break down barriers between departments as you work on a common goal.
3. Encourage Teams with Interactive Problem-Solving Challenges
Problem-solving challenges encourage teams to band together, communicate with each other, delegate tasks, and make decisions under immense pressure. Team leaders can benefit from these activities by determining their leadership qualities, solving conflicts better, and innovating for the whole team.
Big and small teams should try any of these exercises:
- Escape Room: This team-building exercise allows teams to work against the clock to find clues and solve puzzles.
- Engineering Projects: To improve team collaboration and creativity, the team builds a model of a bridge or a tower with limited materials. Projects like these encourage employees to be innovative and smart with their limited resources.
- Business Simulations: Employees join and act in real-world business scenarios to hone their strategic thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
How Challenges Improve Team Performance
- Teaches Critical Thinking: Employees need to analyze situations and make creative solutions for the business.
- Develops Leadership Abilities: These activities let team leaders guide and motivate their teams.
- Enhances Adaptability: Team members can handle unexpected challenges by making quick, effective decisions.
- Strengthens Teamwork: Other team members will learn how to delegate, coordinate, and use each of their strengths to accomplish a goal.
- Improves Communication: Team members must talk to each other to get ahead of their competing teams during challenges.
Immerse your team in fun games that bring out the best in them.
4. Plan Outdoor Team Building Activities
Team-building activities in outdoor conference locations can refresh employees from traditional office settings and change the pace of their lives, even for a short period of time. Being outside relaxes them, as they can break away from constant work stress.
Outdoor team building activities encourage physical movement, mental stimulation, and team bonding, which enhances overall team performance. Everyone steps out of their comfort zones, builds resilience, and trusts each other while putting their game face on.
Some examples include:
- Adventure Races: Put employees together in teams to complete tasks that develop endurance, collaboration, and strategic thinking.
- Obstacle Courses: Teams navigate challenges that prompt them to communicate with others to complete each level.
- Survival Skill Building: Employees will learn how to make fires and build shelters, sharpening their leadership and adaptability to new environments.
The natural environment has a calming effect on everyone. After the challenges, you can camp around the area and de-stress from the intense day.
5. Incorporate Indoor Team Building Activities
Indoor conferences are ideal for learning and team building in any weather. You don’t need to risk going outside for activities and instead do everything in your office.
Incorporate these indoor activities in your next team building event:
Cooking Competitions
When the whole team cooks a dish within a set time, it learns coordination, communication, and time management. Every team member has a task to accomplish, and everyone does their own thing while talking about making the dish as palatable as possible. It breaks the ice between people and builds camaraderie.
Improv Workshops
In improvisation exercises, participants need to think quickly and work in unpredictable scenarios. These workshops will boost the team’s active listening skills, confidence, and adaptability, which are all essential in daily workplace situations.
Scavenger Hunts
A scavenger hunt is a game in which the entire team solves puzzles and completes tasks together while navigating a themed venue within a limited time. The first team to finish the whole challenge wins.
If you need other ideas for indoor team-building activities that encourage team bonding, try our Live PLAYshops and see what works best for you and your team. We have programs for teamwork, emotional intelligence, empathy, and more.
6. Offer Virtual Team Building Activities for Remote Teams
Remote work has risen in the past few years, so traditional team-building activities are now reimagined to keep corporate workers connected from home. Virtual team-building events connect physical distance and collaboration to motivate employees while working away from the usual office.
Virtual escape rooms let teams solve puzzles and escape from a themed digital room. You can also try online trivia games to see team members bond over shared interests. Conduct these events on Zoom and Microsoft Teams so everyone can see each other virtually.
Why Experiential Learning Is Crucial for Corporate Teams
Learning by doing enables teams to:
- Learn Hands-On: People retain information better when doing activities rather than passively listening.
- Work with People: You need to work well with others in scavenger hunts, outdoor activities, or any other game that needs teamwork. You’ll learn from your teammates and discover more about yourself.
- Better Motivation: Engaging in team activities makes employees feel valued, which can build confidence in their skills and talents.
- Develop Leadership Skills: Employees take turns leading different activities, enhancing their strategic thinking skills in the process.
- Adapt to the Situation: Creative challenges help employees be flexible and think of solutions right off the bat.
Experiential learning prepares for real-world application, and FUNdamentals of Play is here to help! Our expertise in experiential learning translates into fun, impactful PLAYshops that teach innovation, storytelling, empathy, and resilience. Bringing our PLAYshops into your corporate team building activities can help your team become well-rounded.
Try our PLAYshops Today!
Employee morale is crucial to an organization’s well-being. When employees feel demotivated, it can affect their overall performance. Engaging exercises and interactive workshops can motivate employees to do better, work with others, and foster a positive work environment.
Prioritizing teamwork in your organization can bring long-term success to your business. Invest in team building activities with us today!
