Six ideas work for most corporate days out: a team challenge like a scavenger hunt or escape room, learning something new together, getting outdoors, a seasonal event, an activity that does some good, and a virtual event for teams who can’t all be in one place. Challenges and virtual events are the easiest to scale, from a single team of 4 to 6 people up to a conference of several hundred, and a hosted activity means nobody on your team has to run it on the day.
What Are Corporate Events?
Corporate events are any time a company brings its people together on purpose, from a conference or kickoff to a team lunch or a holiday party. They matter more when people spend most of the week working apart, because they’re often the only time colleagues talk about something other than work.
What Are Corporate Days Out?
A corporate day out used to mean a conference to share company updates, celebrate successes and talk about values, mission and vision. There are far more options now. Fun corporate events, virtual corporate events and outdoor corporate events can all lift morale and build teamwork.
An activity can be a 15-minute icebreaker that helps people get to know each other before a meeting, or the main event of a day for hundreds of people.
Here are six ideas for a corporate day out (or day in) together.
1. Up For The Challenge
Working together to beat a challenge is the basis of a lot of good corporate event ideas, and paintball and laser tag aren’t the only options anymore. Interactive team quizzes, escape rooms, scavenger hunts, murder mysteries, top secret spy missions and team survival games can all liven up a corporate event or meet-up.
A challenge gets teams active and working together, in or out of the office, and fits around whatever else is on the agenda. If the whole team can’t get together in one place, there are virtual versions too, so nobody misses out wherever they are. For something you can run at your desks, check out office games.
2. Learning Together
Learning a new skill or making something together is a good fit for a team that wants a slower pace than a competition. Painting, pottery, poetry, cooking, cocktails, candle making, dancing, singing and comedy classes all work. Everyone starts as a beginner, so nobody’s the expert in the room, and you’ll leave with something you made as a group.
3. The Great Outdoors
There are plenty of outdoor corporate event ideas to get you out in the fresh air. An interactive scavenger hunt around the area where your event’s being held is an easy one to organize, because it starts and finishes wherever your group already is. Fast cars or go-karting make for a fast and furious corporate day out. For the water lovers, there’s kayaking and canoeing. If you want to reach some impressive heights, try climbing or rappelling. Or get sporty by watching or playing your team’s favorite game. Discover more outdoor team building activities.
4. Seasonal Events Bring Themed Activities
Corporate events can change with the seasons. There’s nothing like getting in the holiday mood with some festive challenges, or getting spooked together around Halloween. In the summer you can get outdoors, and when the weather turns there are indoor team games and activities that run in your office or venue.
5. Corporate Events That Do Some Good
Looking after colleagues, the people around us and the planet are things no business can ignore, so some of the best corporate event ideas combine them. Planting trees together, yoga or mindfulness sessions, camping out together, volunteering and supporting charities can all make a real difference.
6. Virtual Events Suit Any Budget and Format
Virtual corporate experiences have a few clear advantages:
- Anyone can join from anywhere and still share the experience.
- They’re flexible, so they can be part of an outdoor, indoor, hybrid or remote event.
- They’re cost-effective, so they suit a tight budget.
- They run at a time that suits you, for as many people as you need.
For remote colleagues who don’t talk much outside meetings, short games like Connect and Water Cooler are built around conversation rather than competition, so they work as a regular habit as well as a one-off.
Which Idea Fits Your Group?
The right idea depends on where your team is, how many of you there are and how much time you’ve got.
| Your group | Ideas that fit | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| One team in one office | Office games, a quiz, an escape room | Your office or a meeting room |
| A big group at a conference or offsite | A GPS scavenger hunt, a short indoor energizer | Out from your venue, or in the same room |
| A remote or spread-out team | Virtual quizzes, escape rooms and murder mysteries | A video call, on everyone’s own devices |
| A mix of office and remote | A hybrid event with one shared leaderboard | In the room and online at the same time |
If you’re planning in a particular city, our guides cover team building in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC and Boston, with the neighborhoods teams explore and the venues hunts can start from. The rest of our US locations are listed by city.
What Does a Corporate Day Out Cost?
In the US, most of our hosted activities cost $15 per person and GPS scavenger hunts cost $20 per person, plus a $300 Remote Host fee. So a scavenger hunt for 50 people comes to $1,300, or $26 per person. If budget’s tight, short hosted games like Office Games are $15 per person with the host included and a $300 minimum spend, and some activities can be self-managed with no host fee at all. Our corporate events page has worked examples for groups from 12 to 200 people, including Onsite Host prices.
Final Thoughts
There’s a whole range of corporate event ideas, from 30 to 45-minute icebreakers to longer interactive experiences for hundreds of people. If you’d like more ideas, explore our full list of activities to suit any event.
