How to Plan a Team-Building Event

A team-building event is your chance to let loose and have fun with your coworkers. Whether it’s a fun reward for great performance, a department bonding event or a part of a day-long meeting, your team-building event is sure to excite.

If you’re tasked with planning the event, you’re in luck. You’ll get to pick from some of the best experiences and find one that will leave all your coworkers wanting more. Getting all the logistics right is a challenging and rewarding experience. At the end of the tunnel, you’ll pull off a great event that everyone will enjoy.

You might be looking for fantastic team-building ideas and advice for how to make them work. Or, maybe you need some reasons to incorporate team-building activities into your next meeting. Regardless, this guide will have you planning like a pro in no time.

How Team-Building in the Workplace Can Improve Your Business

A team-building event is more than your classic office party. A fantastic event gives your business some great benefits and feels like a vacation for the whole office. Team-building is a valuable addition to workplace culture. Your coworkers will be buzzing with anticipation as the date draws near, and your company might even see a boost to your bottom line.

Team-building events are crucial for so many reasons. Fun team-building events can help your business:

1. Recruit and Keep the Best Talent

A team-building event that goes beyond the tired-out trust fall is a major perk for your team. A paid one-day vacation that shakes up the nine-to-five is a big plus for most employees. Day trips, such as concerts or extreme sports, give people something they wouldn’t normally do.

One of the benefits of team-building activities is that they offer a unique experience. In a tight labor market, the chance to take part in fun, out of the ordinary events can be an attractive benefit. If you’re looking to attract fresh talent, consider that 72 percent of Millennials would rather spend their cash on experiences than products. As young people enter the workforce, companies should create great experiences to land the best talent.

The increased happiness that a little office fun will conjure up can attract top talent and keep them there. As regular corporate team-building events fill up the calendar, the chance to blow off steam and have fun can keep people satisfied at the office.

2. Break the Ice

Team-building events also give people the chance to get to know each other without the normal pressure of work life. Even people who work right across the desk-aisle from one another might barely know each other. An exciting team-building event can break down the usual barriers. As people get chatting, they become more comfortable and happy in the workplace. Breaking the ice can lay the groundwork for better collaboration, more productive meetings and increased communication.

3. Build Bridges

Fun team-building activities can put unfamiliar people in the same room. When marketing pairs up with finance or new hires play games with senior management, new ideas are born. A team-building event can make a company of any size feel more cohesive, and more like a unit with one common goal. Team-building can cut down on office politics and rivalries and build a culture where fun reigns supreme.

Statistics show that team-building designed to get people talking has powerful effects. Even in independent work settings, such as call centers, face-to-face interaction can account for 35 percent of the variation in team performance.

Team-building events can also help individuals beef up their professional network. A low-key office event is a perfect chance for a young employee to find a new mentor. As informal mentorships and partnerships arise, employees can achieve more personal growth.

4. Increase Employee Engagement

Engaged employees are excited to come to work each day. They get involved in company activities and commit to workplace excellence. If you offer a voluntary team-building activity, your most engaged team members are the first to sign up.

Engaged employees make for a successful company. A study by Gallop found that highly-engaged employees lead to 21 percent more profitability. A team-building event mixes work and play, and can show employees that getting involved leads to fun and happiness. Team-building refreshes minds and sends people back to work with new energy. It can also be a reward for a job well done. These benefits add up to more employee engagement, which shows the importance of team-building. 

5. Make Your Team Smile

Happy employees are more than a nice-to-have — they’re vital to success. Investing in team-building is an excellent opportunity to take care of your employees.

Employee satisfaction has a high correlation with both customer loyalty and employee productivity. Employee well-being and satisfaction also has a positive association with a firm’s profitability. There’s even better news for staff retention: as employee well-being increases, staff turnover decreases.

The key to smile-inducing team-building is to avoid overused office games and instead take your team out of their element. Great experiences that get people out of the office are the most valuable.

6. Foster Healthy Competition

One of the biggest challenges of the modern workplace is nourishing healthy competition. Many managers want to help boost productivity without creating a stressful work environment. Friendly competition activates our reward centers and puts people in the right frame of mind for success. 

Keep competitions lighthearted and non-work related. A fast-paced team-building event creates the best of both worlds. Your most ambitious competition-seekers get a chance to blow off steam without causing office friction.

How to Plan a Team-Building Event

When you’re tasked with planning an office get-together or team-building event, you may be wondering where to start. There’s a lot of details to keep track of. If you start early and get a team of planning superstars on your side, the whole process becomes as fun to prepare as it is to attend — almost.

The best part about planning a team-building event is that you get to design a fun-filled getaway you and your coworkers will remember for years to come. Follow this step-by-step guide for planning a team-building activity you’ve always dreamed of:

1. Track Your Timeline

Let’s face it — timing is everything. When it comes to event planning, you have a hard deadline. The second you send out invitations, there’s no turning back. So, it’s vital to give yourself adequate time to plan.

The timeline you need to get everything planned depends on the scale of your event. How complicated are the arrangements, and for how many people? For an event for less than 100 people, you can probably get away with one or two months of planning. As you get more complicated, you might need up to six months of planning time.

Set your deadlines as early as possible, so you can be sure you’re checking every box. If you work with a venue for your event, you’ll likely have a deadline to book the space. If you need transportation and catering, these vendors also require advance notice. Do some research before you set your deadlines to make sure you can book all the help you need in time.

2. Gather Your Crew

One of our best tips for planning a team-building event is to build a small team of your own to handle all the details. Whether your office has a designated party planning committee or not, you are bound to need some extra help. The more help you can get, the better and more fun your event will be. Three tasks that you’ll probably need the most help with are brainstorming fresh ideas, booking a venue and other vendors and setting an agenda.

There are lots of logistics that go into a great event, so make sure to grab enough people to divide the work.

3. Set Your Purpose

To get the most out of a team-building event, go in knowing what you want out of it. You or your company might set a goal such as “increase team morale” or “improve communication.” There’s a lot that goes beyond this. Here some things you’ll need to consider:

• Who is the event for? Is it just for the 20-person marketing team? Is this a 150-person company-wide gathering?
• What do you want the event to be? Is this a fun hour-long activity or an all-day structured event? You might want a hands-on experience or to break up a big meeting with some activities.
• Where will the event be held? Figure out if you’re staying local or taking a road trip to a nearby city.
• Why are you holding the event? Is this event voluntary or mandatory? It might be a reward for top performers or a celebration of a company milestone. You might have a regularly-scheduled leadership experience, or you might be starting a new professional development initiative. What do you and your company want the team to get out of this experience?
• When will the event take place? You probably have an idea of what month you’re planning for, or even a few options for potential dates already in mind. The exact date will depend on what you get approval for and the availability of your vendors.

4. Create Your Guest List

You might already have a set guest list in place. If this is an event for the whole company, your guest list is as simple as sending out a company-wide email. If it’s an event for one department, the guest list has a definitive number. If you don’t have a pre-determined guest list, you’ll have to decide who you can invite and how many you can afford to bring.

It’s best to involve key decision-makers as you develop your guest list. If this is an event to reward your team for a job well done, managers may have strong opinions about who their top talents are. For most occasions, the cost of food and transportation goes up the higher your guest list. Work with your group to determine how many people you can bring with the budget you have.

5. Budget the Event

Your company might have a strict line item for a team-building event. Or, they may wait to see how much the event will cost before they approve an overall budget. Either way, here are some expenses you might include in your budget, including:

• Transportation
• Venue rental
• Event facilitator/MC
• Food and beverage
• Other vendors

6. Set a Date

Pick a day and time that doesn’t conflict with major company deadlines. For example, if you have hard end-of-month sales goals, make sure not to book a date during the last week of the month. If you have VIP guests, such as a CEO or high-level managers, confirm their availability before setting an official date.

7. Brainstorm Your Event

Where you go for your team-building activity will be determined by the kind of exercise or game you want to have. A company field day might need a soccer field, while other activities might call for a specialized venue. Gather your event planning committee and come up with some great ideas. Look in your area to see which businesses offer team-building events.

Once you have a few great ideas, narrow them down to your top choice. You may want to meet with managers to see what aligns best with their goals. Or, put options to a vote among all your guests.

8. Divide and Conquer Your Checklist

After deciding on the purpose, budget and concept for your event, you’ll have a lot of nitty-gritty details to work through. To make sure all the logistical elements get done, assign every action item to someone on your planning team. Here are a few housekeeping items you’ll need to accomplish:

• If your company is providing transportation to the event, book a coach bus or sign up for a ride-share service.
• Make a shopping list for food and beverages or hire a catering service.
• Depending on the activities planned, guests might need to sign liability waivers. If so, get these from the vendor and distribute them to your guests.
• Invite the guests and send them all the necessary information. Do they need sneakers or swimsuits? What is the address of the venue?
• Create an agenda. A schedule for the day-of will ensure everyone knows what they’re supposed to do on the day of the event.

Team Bonding Event Ideas

A great activity is the cornerstone of a successful team-building event. Not sure what to do? Check out these awesome team-building event ideas:

Go-Kart Racing

Get your team up-to-speed with a high-stakes racing challenge. One of the most creative team-building events you can run is a challenging competition in a cool venue. Go-karting is a one-of-a-kind experience that beats any corporate trust exercise out there. Your whole team will feel like pro racers, donning safety helmets and steering their way towards that famous checkered flag. You’ll get everyone out of the usual grind with an event that’s pure adrenaline-pumping fun.

With a live scoreboard and time-based trials, your office can split into teams or go head-to-head to see who’s the fastest driver in the group. Pro go-kart racing is the perfect excuse to put rubber on the road and pedal to the metal. You’ll ignite some friendly office rivalries and get the whole team ready to go for the gold.

Try racing department against department, employees versus management or anything in between. Like any kind of race, go-kart racing is as much about racing as part of a team as it is about racing against yourself. Everyone will have a blast trying to beat their speed-racing coworker’s best lap. Less-competitive team members can also challenge themselves to overcome their own best time, making this sport engaging for everyone.

Local Sporting Events or Concerts

Nothing brings people together like cheering on a beloved sports team or band. These events work great as a laid-back activity for the end of the week. They’re a fun reward that brings people together in a social atmosphere. If you take the team to a local sports stadium, consider treating the gang to a private viewing experience. Many sports stadiums offer glass viewing boxes that can fit a large corporate team. Once you work out the room rental details, it’s easy to add on a catering or drinks package to give your coworkers a world-class time.

If your group isn’t into sports, take a look at which artists are coming to some of the local music venues. You can plan a relaxed acoustic evening or get the whole team headbanging — whatever your group’s preferences are. You can turn up the volume by buying everyone backstage passes or drink vouchers.

The Egg Drop Challenge

Combine problem-solving and a competitive spirit with this fun physics-based corporate team-building challenge. The egg drop challenge is an excellent activity for a group of any size because you can have many teams of three to four people go head to head.

In this challenge, each team must protect a raw egg from breaking. Teams will have to build contraptions to keep their egg safe as they drop it from a high height. Everyone will get a combination of straws, duct tape, sponges, newspapers and a variety of other materials to build their egg-protecting device.

You can customize this event to a variety of needs. For a smaller group, you can hold the event in several rounds. In each round, the height gets a little bit higher, and teams can have the chance to adjust their design to meet the new challenge. For a big group, you can play sudden death — at the first sign of a crack, that team is out.

About Our Facilities and Options for Events

Take your next corporate event where future Formula 1 pros hone their skills. At our indoor track, our Pro-Karts zoom around at up to 50 mph. We offer two challenging courses: The Grand Prix track and the Speed track. On The Grand Prix, your group will use problem-solving and strategy to balance racing at max speed and braking around tight turns. The Speed track is more straight-forward, so your group will have a blast flooring it towards the finish line.

Plus, check out the many corporate event opportunities we offer:

The Grand Prix: Per-Person Options

Our per-person options are a fun deal for groups of any size. All our per-person event packages give your team a qualifying and a final round. Our most popular package offers teams a 12-lap practice round, a 14-lap qualifying round and 16-lap final round. Each round will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes, and the number of laps lets you experience the course like a professional racer, honing your speed and skills with each turn.

Rent Your Track

Spend your team-building event racing against coworkers in your private track. By renting the track, you don’t spend a minute of your getaway waiting in line, and every time-trial can be balanced with teams however you like. Your group can race again and again for the duration of your trip. Choose between our Grand Prix challenge course or our Speed track for daring roadsters. If you don’t want to choose, you can even rent out our whole facility by the hour.

Sneak in a Meeting

At Tampa Bay Grand Prix, we offer amenity-filled meeting spaces for our corporate groups. Break for lunch in a private room, or sneak in a few presentations before the fun begins. Our private rooms are spacious and comfortable, with free WiFi and plenty of hookups for any device you need.

Race the Day Away at Tampa Bay Grand Prix

A go-kart race is one of the most effective team-building activities out there. So, book your next event with Tampa Bay Grand Prix. Our challenging indoor racecourses in Tampa Bay and Clearwater let your team put their skills to the test. Try out new strategies to improve your scores and work together to beat each other’s times. Our go-kart racing facility offers some fantastic benefits your whole group will appreciate.

With an indoor course, you don’t have to worry about canceling due to bad weather. We always put safety first, with the best protective barriers in the business, tough helmets and remote controls to protect our racers. Our karts get up to 50 mph, so you’ll feel the wind in your face as you zip through our tracks.

Ready to start your engines? Check out our entire lineup of corporate event packages.