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5 Innovative Team Building Events to Host for Clients

Have you been tasked with planning team building events this year? What are the criteria needed to make the activities truly impactful, not only in the moment but in the weeks and months that follow? Here we explore five team building events that you can plan for your clients.

Top Team-Building Events Clients Will Love

1. Scavenger Hunts

One of my favorite team building activities for a group are scavenger hunts. I recommend at least three hours be set aside for the game, getting the team moving out and about a city and its landmarks.

A couple of years ago, I organized a hunt in downtown Philadelphia, from the Art Museum to City Hall. You can hire a company to plan the adventures and serve as master of ceremonies/judges, you can do it yourself, or you can download an app. The best scavenger hunts I have run for groups combine challenging clues with a sense of silliness and fun. This type of activity really breaks down the barrier of the team members’ professional or office persona as they work together to solve clues, relax, and have fun.

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2. Escape Rooms

Escape rooms are a great alternative to a scavenger hunt, when there may be weather and time restrictions. Make sure to research the reviews on the escape room venue you choose since your team will be in a confined space for an extended time solving clues to escape the room. Escape rooms require a unique brand of teamwork so this is a fun team-building outing to get team members working together towards a common goal.

3. Day of Community Service

Looking for a way to give back and create an opportunity for team bonding? Hosting a day of community services is by far by my number one team building event.

I started planning community service events for Magazine in 2011 at an Inc. CEO Conference in which attendees mentored military entrepreneurs. This event is perfect for companies to do that doubles as an off-site, for example, working at a food pantry or doing community cleanup. Conference organizers can hold a Day of Service in lieu of a pre-conference activity like a golf tournament or city tour. My company advises our clients to use a service learning approach to volunteerism. This approach empowers the group to understand the impact of their service with an organized reflection on the day’s experience.

The participating teams truly bond and develop a lasting relationships from a powerful shared experience.

4. Marshmallow Challenge

For groups that have lots of restrictions on time, location, or budget, I highly recommend the Marshmallow Challenge. It involves only five inputs: spaghetti, string, marshmallows, tape, and participants. Teams are challenged to create the largest structure using only these four ingredients in 18 minutes or less.

This activity still meets the criteria I believe are best for team building: competition, challenges, problem solving, fun! Be sure to have an emcee who is fun, energetic and will provide a great ending to the fast activity.

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5. Hackathons

Hackathons have traditionally been 24-hour events at tech companies in which programmers create new code to solve a problem. Fun fact: the beloved Like button was created at a Facebook hackathon! But, this idea can be adapted for a tech and non-tech companies alike as great team building events.

Planners can present one challenge: it could be a company juggernaut or maybe a large social problem. He or she then breaks the group up into teams and lets the creativity flow! There are no wrong solutions. The key is to make the event fun, interactive, and engaging. And even if you don’t want to choose one overall winner, you can pick winners of various categories.

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No matter which of these team building events you choose for your client, company, association or conference, it is always important how you finish. Team building events can deepen the relationships and friendships of co-workers, association members, and conference attendees. Bring yours to life using easy corporate event software.

Up next, discover other top corporate event themes and tips for remarkable corporate event planning.

What kind of team building events have you hosted for clients? Give us a shout on Twitter and let us know what was effective!