9 Virtual Team Building Ideas to Inspire You

It’s hard for companies that are remote to engage with teams and keep the same culture that maybe once had in an office. How do you make up for the in-person happy hours, the birthday cakes, or the company off-sites? This is the question every HR person and manager is asking themselves. How do we create team building activities in a virtual world? It might be already difficult to have everyone engage if they are in different times zones let alone not being in the same office together. So logically you embrace the fact that you have come up with something fun to do virtually, but how? 

The goal is to host a virtual event but you want everyone to have a good time and you want them to talk about it afterward. You want to recreate the essence of that real-life connection and team building. Every host dreads virtuals events being boring or no one engaging. Talking on zoom when you’re the only person with their camera on is not fun! 😱Look no further! We have come up with some really fun ideas for team building and corporate events that we promise everyone will love and talk about.

What is a virtual event? 

Virtual events are essentially events you host over the internet live. People can log in to the event and join to listen in. You can use tools like zoom, hopin.to, google hangouts, bizzabo, the list goes on! There are plenty of tools for you to use but it really depends on your goals of the events and how many people will participate.

How are virtual events effective? 

Hosting a virtual event can sometimes take just as much time as a real-life event. So it’s important you have a true goal in mind of what you want to achieve. For team building, you have to think, it is for a particular team or company-wide? Do you want people to get to know each other or work through some trusting skills for teams? In order to get the most out of it really think about what your main goal will be. If you don’t think this through your event might not be as effective or feel as put together for the audience participating.

Virtual events for team building can be super effective if well planned out. For example, planning a virtual event during the last week of the month when some teams are trying to close up the books might not make the best time to host the event. Or planning it at an hour that not everyone can partake in. If well throughout the event can be a total hit! Especially if you create some engaging ideas to have everyone participate. If you just create a virtual event and it’s just someone from your team talking the entire time, probably won’t get most out of it. The key for an effective team building or corporate event is to create ways that encourage people to take action. We highlight some fun team building activities you can use for your next virtual event and how to get the most out of them. 

Pizza Making Night 

Let’s bring the pizza party to zoom! Building things together is great for team building.  It’s a great way to bring people together and create a fun activity that anyone can participate in. It’s great because if you have any employees with kids it’s an activity they can come join in as well. Creating activities that can involve the family really helps create strong bonds with teams when they can invite their personal life into work activities. 

Suggested item: Pizza Making Kit ,  Outer Isle (Gluten-free/Vegan option) 

Best For:  Smaller Teams, Bonding Activities, Corporate Events 

Painting Party 

If you want people to bond, having them do something they are scared of is a great way to break the ice. The painting party is the perfect virtual event for team building to get over the fears and embarrassment of showing your work. Not everyone is an artist and most everyone will probably be scared to try, but that’s what makes this a good experience. Everyone can work together on painting something they haven’t painted before. What’s great about this too is that everyone will have a fun memory they can hang in their office afterward reminding them of the great experience. 

Suggested items: Painting Kit 

Best For: Small Teams, Breaking the ice, Company events, Rewards, 

Donut

When you work out of an office you can stop and talk to three people just on your way to the bathroom. It’s easier to get to know people and even people from other teams this way. How do you create this small talk getting to know you when you are remote? Donut is the perfect app for this that you can easily add on Slack. Donut randomly selects members from your slack channel to set time for a virtual meeting! It’s a fun way to get members from other teams to get to know each other and set time to network with each other.  

Suggested items: Donut App  

Best For: Setting one on ones with different teams, networking, getting employees to know each other 

Fitness plan   

When you work from home, it’s easy to sit all day. Some would say they forget to even eat lunch. 😱 You would think being home would allow for a better work-life balance, but for some setting, those boundaries can be hard. Being home all day without the need to leave the house can actually affect your overall wellness. Getting the entire company on a fitness plan is a great way to help encourage everyone to stay healthy and remind them to move around! We suggest even creating competition for exceeding the recommended daily steps or how many fitness classes they take. Fitplan is a great app to get something that can be company-wide. It’s a great tool to spark conversation and create a company culture where everyone cares about wellness just as much as metric goals. 

Suggested items: Fitplan App (Free the first month! Try it out!), Wellness Pack 

Best For: Company-wide team building, Building Culture, Values, Wellness

Quizzes & Trivia before a meeting 

Let’s be honest the first 10 minutes of a companywide meeting is a little awkward. Some people have their camera on, some don’t , almost everyone is on mute and just waiting for everyone else to log on. A fun way to get that same small talk before a meeting is to do some sort of quiz.  We do this at SwagUp and it's become something everyone looks forward to doing in the morning. It’s a short but fun way to get everyone working together on figuring out answers to questions or puzzles. It makes such a huge difference doing something interactive before a meeting than just the standard no video, muted team.  

Suggested items: Quizzes, Games & Trivia Vault of Ideas 

Best For: Company Meetings,  Company  Wide Involvement

P.S. Looking for ways to implement this with splash and aplomb? Check out the best virtual game show everfrom our friends at Onsite.fun!

Virtual Scavenger Hunt 

If you are looking for a creative way to have everyone on a  virtual event involved and laughing together, the virtual scavenger hunt is a  great way to go! It’s fun and you get to know people really well by the random items they find in their home. We promise this will lighten up the mood and get everyone laughing. You can separate everyone into teams or have them complete individually. We even sprinkled in specific items that members from the team should have like branded company swag! 😜

Suggested items: Scavenger Hunt 

Best For: Company Spirit, Team Building, Interactive, Company Meetings  

Host Trivia Event! 

Block off some time on everyone's calendar and have them enjoy a fun trivia hour! It’s a really interactive way to get everyone playing together and enjoying some laughs. You can even sprinkle in some prizes & rewards for the winning players!  We recommend even sending some props in advance like snacks or emoji sticks!

Suggestions for: Fun Team Events by Aj

Best For: Large Groups, Fun, Team Bonding, Competitive, Milestones 

Comedy or Concert Night 

Let’s bring the laughs and music to your team's living room! Nothing like working from home in your pj’s and being able to enjoy a live concert or comedy hour. Teams work harder when they are remote, so let’s give your team a break!  Events involving music or laughs is a great way to show employees you appreciate them! This is a fun corporate event idea that can include the entire company and their loved ones. 

Suggestion: Yay Maker 

Best For: Small to large teams, Corporate Virtual Events, Holiday Event, Company  Anniversary 

Magic Show 

Let’s bring some magic to your team! It doesn’t matter how old you get, everyone loves a good magic show! If you have co-workers that have kids, this is a really fun event that everyone can enjoy! Working from home can be super stressful on some families, so let’s invite for a magical night of fun! We love this team building idea since it can include everyone!  

Suggestion: Ryan Oaks

Best  for: Milestones, Corporate Events, Team Rewards, Company-Wide Virtual Event