11 Virtual Event Ideas To Inspire Your Next Company Meeting

Virtual company meetings can be long and exhausting, especially if they go on for hours. Those attending the meeting may also get bored with time if all discussion is on work alone. This can reduce their concentration and productivity during the session. 

Therefore, it's wise to spice up your virtual meetings with exciting games and bonding activities. Having fun together as team members is an excellent way to enhance collaboration. 

With that in mind, here are some virtual event ideas to liven up your next company meeting:

1. Sharing Experiences 

Daily experiences mean a lot. People like talking about what’s happening in their lives. So, at the start of the meeting, you could show your soft side by giving everyone a chance to talk about their experiences. Perhaps you could limit it to the weeks since your last interaction as a team, just to avoid sharing out-of-date experiences. 

To make it even more interesting, you can consider working with experienced third-party virtual event planners. It may happen that no one in your team is well versed in the science and art of sparking joy and building connections. 

In such cases, it’s advisable to enlist the help of a professional. If that’s something you’d want to try out, you could derive fresh ideas from workplace morale booster platforms such as the virtual events by Mystery or from professionals from other companies to liven up your meetings. Hiring such experts also frees up your time, allowing you to focus on the business side of the meeting. You understand that preparing for bonding activities may take quite some time.

In addition to sharing experiences, you could also:

• Welcome new employees to the company. 
• Interact freely with everyone, regardless of their position in the company.
• Boost the morale of anyone feeling down.
• Get the opinion of attendees regarding the virtual meetings you hold.

Ultimately, through sharing experiences, you’ll have an easier time during the actual company meeting and the staff can easily open up.

2. Team Lunch

Eating together as a team is key to strengthening your bond. Therefore, consider asking every participant to prepare their favorite meal and show up with it to the virtual meeting. 

For the first few minutes, everyone can explain why they prepared that particular food, and perhaps share tips on preparing it. This activity is even more meaningful if the team members are from different countries, as everyone will learn about foreign cultures.

Aside from that, it’s a perfect way to ensure your staff members get inspired for the meeting. As they’ll have something to share with the rest, they’ll put their best foot forward and look forward to the meeting with positive expectations.

3. Coffee Breaks

Physical meetings have coffee breaks, and so should virtual ones. After the first hour or so, allow everyone to grab a cup of coffee and take a sip. Request them to leave their cameras on during the break. 

This makes the meeting more personal, as everyone is able to get a view of how the others live in their homes. When the meeting resumes, all participants will be rejuvenated and you won’t have to deal with boredom.

4. Online Games

Games are a fun way to psyche up the team. As telecommuting picked up during the pandemic, software developers worked round the clock to come up with numerous games for virtual teams.

As of now, there are dozens of online sites offering both free and paid games for remote meetings. You only have to pick a host to guide the rest through the selected games. 

Here are some game ideas you could try out:

• Ice Breaker

This involves asking short questions to every participant. The common approach is to have everyone pick a number randomly. The exact question is only revealed after each one picks a number. 

Such suspense keeps everyone on their toes since they don’t know what type of question they’ll be answering. Make sure to prepare thought-provoking questions that will send everyone laughing.

• Two Truths And One Lie

This involves every team member making one false and two true statements about themselves. Then, the rest of the team tries to pick out the false one. It’s a perfect way to get to know your teammates better.

• Puzzles

You can divide your team into small groups and let them solve puzzles. A good example is a Sudoku, wherein you have to fill a 9 x 9 grid such that each row, column, and 3 x 3 grid has the numbers 1 to 9 without any repetitions. Other popular puzzles include jigsaws and crossword puzzles.

The list of games is endless. Other popular ones include Minecraft, Scribble, Mario, Solitaire, Monopoly, Werewolf, and Pool. Just ensure all participants understand the rules of a specific game before you start playing. You can make them livelier by giving rewards to the winner.

5. Fitness Training

Health and fitness boost work productivity. Next time you’re meeting, consider calling an online fitness trainer and letting your staff follow their moves in real-time. Make sure you inform them in advance, so they can prepare.

You can consider doing simple exercises like:

• Rope skipping
• Spot jogging
• Cardio kickboxing
• Push-ups
• Squats
• Triceps dips
• Crunches
• Burpees
• Sit-ups
• Yoga poses

Exercises that require no equipment are preferable, as you wouldn’t want to get into the logistics of ensuring every participant has the requisite equipment. Also, advise them to respect their limits. Going beyond the intensity they can manage may leave them aching all over.

Furthermore, don’t forget to take care of their mental health now and then. You could invite mental health professionals to your virtual meeting to help assess how your team members are doing. They’ll feel appreciated and cared for. This will also motivate them to work at their best for the company.

6. Mixology

Since most people fancy drinks, you could invite an experienced mixologist to your next virtual company meeting. The attendees can learn different ways of mixing various drinks to make tasty cocktails. 

In addition, they could even interact with the expert and share different ways in which they've been doing theirs. The mixologist can give their opinion and show them how they can do it better.

7. Social Media Challenges

Presently, almost everyone has a social media account. Take this opportunity to engage your team members in a trending challenge. Time after time, exciting challenges erupt on social media. Here are some popular examples:

• Don’t rush the challenge
• Don’t leave me to challenge
• Gesture challenge
• Wipe it down a challenge
• Beauty mode challenge
• Who is more challenge
• Vogue challenge
• Pillow challenge
• Flip the switch challenge
• Drop challenge
• Dalgona coffee challenge
• Trickshot challenge
• The savage challenge
• The SuperBowl challenge

If you catch any ongoing challenges, you can request your colleagues to join and share their photos or videos. It’s a perfect way to showcase their talents. This way, everyone will look forward to the meeting to show off what they’re capable of doing. 

8. Speed Networking

Speed networking doesn't apply to dating only. You can do something similar during your next company meeting. If your company has numerous staff, it's advisable to find ways to ensure the different departments connect. 

You can start by randomly separating the team into exclusive groups and allowing them to interact for a few minutes. If time allows, you can regroup them and let the networking continue. This enhances internal communication, which is essential for success.

9. Virtual Concerts

Virtual meetings don’t have to be boring. There are many entertainment ideas you can consider. For instance, you can play some popular songs and let everyone jam to them. If your team is up to it, you can even hold a dance competition. 

Alternatively, you can turn on some cool karaoke to play in the background as you proceed with your work meeting. That’s enough to lighten their hearts. 

Another option is to set aside a little time for comedy. Allow your staff to crack jokes and laugh their hearts off.

10. Avatar Guesses

Spice things up by requesting everyone to choose an avatar of their choice to match their physical appearance. Then, let the rest guess the actual faces behind the avatars. 

This improves creativity and curiosity in your virtual company meeting as everyone struggles to make the right guesses. After every correct guess, allow the person behind the avatar to explain why they chose it.

11. Virtual Photo Sessions

This could be an interesting way to end your meeting, since it breaks away from the casual greetings and goodbyes everyone is used to. Ask the participants to pose for group photos, which you can later upload to your company album. Ensure they wear smiley faces during this session.

Conclusion

Your virtual meetings don’t have to be dull. There are games and bonding activities you could try out to make your meetings livelier. You can consider the suggestions above as a starting point. Once you exhaust them, explore even more. 

The whole idea is to make all your team members happy and enhance connections so that they keep looking forward to such meetings instead of dreading them.

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