If you’re like most of the corporate work-from-home world, you’re looking for different ways you can spice up your next virtual conference – and there’s nothing better than some fun games to get your team energized and in the mood to be present in the meeting! Here’s some of the best online warmups and teambuilding game ideas that will always hit the mark.
Physical movement games
Games that involve physical action of your team on camera are the best way to get everyone over the “sorry, my camera isn’t working right now” mentality. Inventive games that will entice your team to switch on and participate will set the stage right for online teambuilding and collaboration. Simon Says using only the upper body can produce some funny results, but it doesn’t have to stop there. You can also pose problem-solving scenarios to your team using their visual placement in the gallery view of your conferencing platform – try having your team form giant shapes like a square or triangle using their arms and upper bodies across the gallery view, or perhaps “passing” an item between cameras in a long chain. This can be harder than it seems as everyone’s gallery view is different from the others; let your team figure out that they will need to elect a leader to direct the movements – see how long it takes them to work it out!
Trivia games
Everyone likes a good game show, as much as they love the chance to show off their useless knowledge! Try putting together a set of questions, from easy to difficult, and have your team try to answer them for points in randomly selected teams. This short competition is a great way to break up cliques and get your team communicating virtually. Of course, it will be a challenge to allocate points as all the teams will be shouting the answers simultaneously, so you will need to manage that somehow – try assigning “buzzer” words to each team that they must shout to give their answer, or perhaps using a random selection spinner (there are many available online). It will go even better if you attach a small prize to the winning score!
Drawing games
Who doesn’t like to doodle? Get your virtual teambuilding session off on a creative foot by getting your team to draw online! There are a few useful apps you can try, as well as built-in screen annotation in some platforms like Zoom that will work well for drawing games. Pictionary works great here, and it’s always funny to see how bad people are at drawing with their mouse – even the true artists! Drawing dictation is a very good communicative teambuilding activity that works well in virtual platforms – have one person verbally describe a photo that only they can see and have the rest of the team try to draw what they are told. Points go to the person or team who best represented that photo in their drawing. Not only is this fun, it helps your team get more familiar with virtual conferencing tools such as annotation and shared whiteboards.
Riddles and Brain Teasers
Much like trivia, people love the chance to figure out a good head-scratcher, especially together as a team. There are many existing sources of good, tough riddles and pictorial puzzles online that you can choose from, so try putting together a “brain race” made up of a selection of riddles and see which of your teams can finish them first! Of course, you should be standing by to give hints if teams ask for help, but make sure to deduct points from teams that need a hint, otherwise the brainiac teams who refuse help will gripe about it!
Using physical objects
Let’s face it: people have some interesting, sometimes downright weird things in their house – so why not celebrate them by doing a show-and-tell or scavenger hunt. This can be a fun virtual teambuilding warmer that gets the conversation started in a silly way! Try posing an imaginary problem to the team (your car broke down, you are lost in the woods, etc.) and have your team grab a nearby object from their house that they will use to solve the problem – the fun part is seeing the random things people have, and listening to the creative explanations for how their objects will work in a given scenario! You can also make short scavenger games that require people to grab a selection of everyday items from their home within a time limit – this can be great for team delegation and collaboration as people work together to break up their team’s list of things to collect – try it out with your team next meeting!
