10 eventprofs around the world share their best team building activities

What do the best team building activities look like? How do these affect participants? We decided to ask this from corporate events professionals, many of whom have been in the business more than 10 years. This is what they thought:

Most respondents were actually racking their brain to find the activity, not because there aren’t any great ones, but because every activity has its own charm! Take Ed, from Corporate Events Interactive, or Austin, from Travel Out There, for example.  Both mentioned that it is quite challenging to choose one particular activity as a ‘champion’ experience because they always aim to tailor events and activities to the client’s specifications. Nevertheless, we received a plethora of really good team building activities from around the world.

Lets get started!

Ed Graziano, Corporate Event Interactive

Our “One Team: USO Care Packages” CSR team event is not only one of our most popular programs, but it is also one we are most proud of. Participants have a blast competing in challenges such as Emergency Translation (translating a message spelled out by Navy signal flags.) or Target Practice (taking aim at enemy targets using a cork gun rifle). However what is truly inspiring is the gratification they gain through supporting others by packaging the items they collected from each of these challenges to assemble a care package for military personal who are so far away from their family and loved ones.

Ed is the founder and inspiration behind Corporate Event Interactive. Directly after completing his undergraduate degree in 1987, he started CEI with a focus on providing the highest quality corporate event services.

Valters Slišāns, Eži

Eži event agency has always been keen on outdoor events, inviting people to enjoy outdoor life and nature. This fresh and unsophisticated environment mostly recharges and brings harmony to those involved. It is a great pleasure to see participants enjoying themselves, becoming ingenuous and open-minded. That is why we are proud to work with the largest Latvian companies who entrust us their employees to provide them with genuine emotions in an unpretentious manner. These events proudly include several Adventure races ’STAR’ for corporate clients, Winter skiing competition ‘Baiļu apļi’ near Valmiera, Boat carnival ‘Laivu maršs’ in spring, Courage Tower ‘Vells’ in Sigulda and many more. As long as there is something to explore and show others, we will do it.

Valters is team building project manager in Eži helping companies to plan fun physical outdoor activities to bring out genuine emotions.

Kaarina Konsap, Adventure Company 360 Degrees

All our activities are carried out with the purpose of entertaining and connecting participants at the same time, to make them work as a team. So, we have lot of activities to be proud of ; )) To point out only one, I would choose Filmfestival.
Within 2 hours groups will get a task to record 5 video clips in 5 different categories. The videos have to be short and as funny as possible. As in every Filmfestival, we also award the best movies at the end. This game is amusing and brings out the hidden creativity also from very shy and reserved people. It doesn’t really matter if you know your team members before or you start to work together with total strangers… the game will join the group and the results are invariably amazing.

Kaarina is 360 degrees game instructor. She has long-term experience with youth groups as well as creating different fun and creative team games for corporate events.

Mindaugas Grajauskas, Story Games

The power of team building activities is in the reflection of the team’s process. This journey of getting insights and better understanding of how to become a better team has to be properly designed. So we design the experience as well as the reflection process. We believe that the complex, simulation based games and activities with variety of players’ possible actions and behaviors allow to get an immediate feedback and consequences of players decisions and actions. If it is recorded we can give it back to the players to reflect after game or activity is over. And then, during the relevant reflection process, the magic happens: players find significant insights and come up with important arrangements among themselves in order to become a better team.

Mindaugas is the CEO of “Story-Games” He has experience in giving lectures and trainings on personal effectiveness, team-building and communication topics. He creates and applies gamification systems for organizations to support key processes and motivate people to participate.

Austin Nicholas, Travel Out There

One was a culinary team building experience in Warsaw for Google.  The theme of the event was a ‘Recipe for Success’. We created a city code game (on Loquiz) where teams had to complete tasks – points awarded during this challenge were then converted in to ‘luxury ingredients’ for the latter culinary team build. The event itself was held in an industrial venue, hence, there was quite a contrast to your standard restaurant
dining experience.
Teams worked collaboratively to create their 3 course culinary delight. The expert panel judged each course on different categories from presentation, taste, teamwork and uniqueness – providing feedback and valuable lessons.
There is no doubt food preparation and enjoyment unites people from all cultures and backgrounds. It is one of life’s simple pleasures. Like any good recipe the product totally depends on the ingredients. The tasty ingredients of a novel venue, interesting local food, attentive facilitators, fun gameplay and engaged participants made it a recipe for success and memorable experience for all those involved.

Austin is founder and director of Travel Out There, and has built businesses all his life. He believes that businesses are essentially formed when a solution meets a problem, producing results. Austin specializes in disruptive and meaningful innovation.

Talal Saiyer, Mercurial Minds

We develop a range of training games that are designed to help build various skills. One of our games is called Pave the Way. The objective is to get people to work together and solve problems. In order to play the game you need a large grid or mats placed in a 5×5 grid. (This was an outdoor activity and we ended up making a 10×10 Grid) Participants have to decide and shout out a path on the grid while the other member has to memorize the path dictated and try to retrace the steps. The objective is to improve your active listening skills and improve/test your ability to memorize pieces of information.

Talal is a Corporate Trainer and Consultant with substantial experience in developing Training Programs for Education Institutions and Corporate Customers. They specialize in conducting Business English training courses for IT professionals.

Miki Ionescu, Esophia

Our most complex teambuilding is “Inceptum Restitutio Nobilis”. A mix of outdoor and indoor activities projecting the Middle Age seven chivalry virtues in the contemporary business life, politics, sports, virtually in any environment where leadership and ethics are composing together the success key.

Today’s organizations are assiduously searching sources of modern courage and commitment to excellence in behavior and results. We provide a very challenging session where the participants should adhere, respect and practice in critical circumstances a code that can lead to excellence and change their lifestyle.

With more than 20+ years experience in management and 10+ years in training Miki creates fun and  out of box learning solutions for complex problems.

Arun Rao, Focus Adventure

The Wheels of Hope Challenge. Teams are equipped with tool kits to compete to build wheelchairs. Meanwhile, other teammates negotiate fun, innovative puzzles and challenges to earn enough ‘points’ for purchasing other crucial parts needed to complete the wheelchairs.
After the final bell, a video is watched of people who have experienced struggle with disabilities. Then real life meeting is held with handicapped people for whom taking every step is a remarkable challenge. This activity gives a new dimension and appreciation to overcoming obstacles.

Arun, having been a part of multiple teams, is a firm believer in the “team” being the competitive advantage between companies. An avowed “peoples person”, he brings in the much needed enthusiasm and passion that a new operation calls for, in delivering the same world class Focus experience to India.

Vincent Leclerc, Stardust Event

Our best product at this time is 60 Sec max. It’s a quiz game we have adapted from the tv show “Minute to win It.”All the participants are divided in teams that will play different challenges such as quiz, blind test, memory games, and more. Between those challenges we propose challenges from the “Minute to Win it” TV Show where 1 or 2 persons from each team will come on stage to “make the show” and win points for their team. This game last around an hour and it’s very dynamic and fun.

Stardust Events CEO Vincent supports and trains individuals and teams on the subjects of speaking in public, meeting management, business efficiency, creating cohesion between people.

Anand Upadhyay, Xperentia

In a simulated Aircrash! Search & Rescue© experiential exercise for corporate executives who are learning how to work as a cohesive team, in extreme conditions, 4 teams are scanning a 2.5 sq.km area. Their mission – to search & rescue injured passengers of an airpl
ane, which has crashed in this area. Each team has a “Mission Control” which communicates with them via hand held wireless radios, (walkie-talkies). The mission is complete when the teams locate the black box and ascertain the reason for the crash. Through this exercise, members of each team will explore their effectiveness in areas like – Inter-personal communication, creative problem solving, strategic planning, co-ordination & execution, team effectiveness & leadership.

In the last 13 years, Anand has facilitated workshops in areas like senior leadership alignment, cultural integration, cross functional synergies and productivity ect. He creates awarded simulations and has written the book “Right of Center – Experiential Initiatives in Action Learning”.

We hope you enjoyed the thoughts and examples of these amazing people. Thoughts about what topic you would love to hear next from other event professionals are welcome in the comments below.