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How to Plan a Successful Team Building Event by answering 5 questions.
Planning a team building event can seem overwhelming, especially if you’ve never done it before. Here are 5 questions you can take to simplify your planning process and organize an awesome and fun event.
Whether you’ve been asked to organize a team building event for your group before or this is the first time, it can seem like there’s never enough time to plan everything and coordinate everyone!
Let’s face it, this is often an extra task that is put on you and trying to plan something awesome that will be successful and appealing to everyone may feel a little stressful on top of all your other things to do.
If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the details you’ve been asked to coordinate, you can always contact our team of experts to take the heavy lifting off you. All you will need to do is send the invites! We are experts in creating awesome and fun scavenger hunt and treasure hunt activities for in person, remote and hybrid teams. Just reach out today and let us take the strain!
Keen to tackle it on your own? We respect that! Read on to find out the questions that you will need to ask to make the planning process seem a lot more manageable.
The 5 W’s you Can Do to Make Planning Your In-Person Team Building Event Easier Than Ever
When planning your next team building activity, follow these 5 Ws will help to ensure your event is a success.
Having a clearly defined purpose for your team building activity can help ensure it’s a success. However, quite often if you have just been asked to arrange something for the team to do after some workshops, conference, end of the working week or end of the quarter it may not be clear what the purpose is.
When Cluego meets with prospective clients we always ask the following five “W” questions and we describe why pinning these things down are important for a successful team building event or work social!
Answering these questions will help you define your goal: Who? What? Where? Why? When? Try to be as specific and details as you can.
We will answer the 5 W’s using the example of a sales team of 45.
WHO
The very first question is important as who the team building or team social event is for impacts lots of decisions down the road. Who the event is for will have an impact:
- Budget you have for the team building event
- Location where you can have the team get together
- Activity that can accommodate you in terms of numbers
- Activity that will appeal to those personalities
So for example the sales team in the example above may be located remotely, in different offices or the same office. This will have an impact on the other “W” questions such as Where and When.
The number of people will automatically mean that some activities and venues may not be suitable. For example our local Escape room experience could be a great way to bond and even analyse how we work together as a team but only has two rooms limited to 8 in each and only a small social area. So we can now cross this off our list. Cluego team building events can be played anywhere and you can set the start and finish location therefore we can handle groups from 12-1200+.
Now we know the personalities of the people involved we can also select an activity that we think may appeal to most people. For example, maybe we strike off a museum tour because we know our sales teams are not into that – they want something a little more active and competitive! This is why at Cluego, we have a wide cross section of groups partake in one of our scavenger hunts because our team building events appeal to everyone and are low stakes fun that are active and social!
In our example of a sales team, there are 45 people partaking- a perfect number for Cluego’s Scavenger Hunts!
WHAT
This is important and is closely linked to “Why” and often overlap. What do you want to achieve and why is so important when deciding what activity you do for a team building event.
- Is it a time filler between the end of a days meeting and then going out for dinner
- Is it as part of a monthly team social and get together
- Is it something to connect the team
- Is it something to get the team active after sitting all morning or all day in meetings
- Is it something to explore a new city where the team has never been
- Is it just simply something fun to do altogether and have fun
- We find that it is normally a combination of these things (and more) that allow a client to understand the What. By asking these questions we are able to ensure that the clients wants and needs are met.
Luckily, our team building scavenger and treasure hunts are so flexible that they are fun, active and social and appeal to everyone and can tick off all these requirements. For example we can set up our experiences anywhere which means they are perfect to explore a new city or as a breakout activity from the office to break up the death by powerpoint!
In our example, the sales team would like a fun activity where the team can connect and build a stronger working relationship.
WHERE
This used to be quite a simple question but in our current times of in person, remote and hybrid working environments this is not always as straightforward.
The first part of this question is are people going to be in the same location or different locations?
- Will the event be in person in one location?
- Will the event be in person for most with some video conferencing from remote locations?
- Will everyone be remote?
- Will you be having the same get together in different locations, in different cities, state or even countries?
The answer to these questions automatically cross some options off your list and may create other more complex questions about what to do.
At Cluego we provide events that are in person, fully remote, hybrid and in multi locations at the same time. So whatever your WHAT is, we are confident we can provide a team building activity that will be a success.
The second part of this question is do we want to travel from one location to another location for the activity? So for example we meet lots of clients who struggle with the logistics of getting everyone from point A to point B. Will everyone get to the activity venue under their own steam? Will they share cars? Will you provide transport? What happens if you lose some of the team in the transition between venues?
Thankfully, with a ClueGo team building activity you would not need to worry about this as we can start and finish from any venue in the USA and beyond!
In our example, the sales team are based in Boston, MA and would like to have their scavenger hunt around that area.
WHY
As we said earlier this question is closely linked to “What”. Essentially, you answering what we want to achieve and the purpose. Sometimes we have clients who have some issues with team cohesion and want to use the activity as a hook to speak about how they performed as a team in a Cluego scavenger or treasure hunt and then link this back to the workplace.
Quite often clients just want a teambuilding activity to be more about team bonding and a reward for good work. We have also created custom experiences for clients with very specific learning objectives, such as exploring a new work campus or understanding about the importance of cyber security.
Whatever the Why is will help ensure you book the right kind of activity for your purpose.
Yes, you guessed it! Cluego is awesome whatever your “why” is. Our events can be tweaked or completely customised to your objectives.
In our example, the sales team want to bond and form relationships and create fun shared memories. The team wants to be able to have “Do you remember when…..” moments from the treasure hunt and make it a fun reward following a period of success
WHEN
When can count an activity out. Perhaps it may be too warm or too cold for some activities. This may mean you want something indoors or outdoors depending on the time of year. Maybe some activities are out of season or the activity is super popular so you need to book in advance at this particular time of the year.
The sooner you start to plan the more options that will be available for you. If you want to book a team building activity a few months in advance you will have lots of options. Leave it until a week before then these will drastically reduce in number.
We know this only too well at ClueGo. Although we try to accommodate all bookings, the clients who are successful are normally those who are able to provide a number of alternative dates or who book a few months in advance. However, if a client does come with a few days notice and we have capacity, we can create the same awesome event in a fast turnaround. Our expertise in creating scavenger hunts and treasure hunts for groups of 12-1200 can not be beaten! Take a look at our reviews!
In our example, we want to hold the scavenger hunt in September
Put that all together, and here’s a clearly defined objective for a team building event:
We want to reward our sales team of 45 people for an awesome quarter with a fun activity this September in Boston that will give them an opportunity to bond and develop relationships that will enhance the working environment back in the office.
Still Not Sure Where to Begin?
Alternatively, you can simply enlist the support of a partner like ClueGo who will handle everything for you and ensure you have a successful team building or team social event. That way, all you and your team need to do is be there on event day!
For additional support and expert advice, get in touch with our team for your free consultation.
- CALL US NOW – 857 3656300
