We talk with clients from a wide variety of industries and company sizes but one concern that comes up across the board is the current state of tightening budgets. That makes this time of year particularly difficult since most team gatherings happen around the holidays and are crucial to keeping morale high, team members working efficiently and feeling connected to their colleagues.

If the budget is shrinking or frankly non-existent, some much-needed team connection and team building events can feel like a tall and potentially impossible order.

The good news is that there are still ways for you to gather your team together, connect, and foster a productive and thoughtful team culture.

Here are 5 virtual ways you can connect with your team without breaking the bank (or even spending a cent).

1. Cookie Decorating Competition

Send out a simple sugar cookie and icing recipe and host a virtual cookie decorating competition. There are so many fun ways to organize this event depending on the interests of your team.
Give it a cooking show vibe where everyone joins a Zoom call and decorates together for 20 minutes and then shares their final results and participates in judging.

If you want something a little less involved, have your team make cookies in their free time and submit a photo to a Teams chat or Slack channel and everyone can vote based on a few judging categories.

Fun Tip! Encourage your teammates to dress up in a favorite holiday outfit. You could even have a judging category for best dressed!

2. Guess Who Game

Come up with a series of questions, gather your team’s answers ahead of time, and see how well you know each other. For example, what’s your most listened to song currently? Favorite candy? Fun fact about you?

Gather everyone on a Zoom call for the game. Depending on the size of your team, have everyone write each team member's name on a piece of paper. When you ask the question, have them hold up the piece of paper with the name of the person who they think is the correct answer.

Tip! If you’re doing any sort of game, check out free online platforms that will elevate the experience and make it a more interactive event. Check out Kahoot or Heads-Up. If you need more game ideas, check out this Washington Post article!

3. Skills Class

Take a page out of our play book! Poll your team members for special skills and pick one person on your team to teach the rest of your team a new skill.

It can be anything: painting, yoga, sign language, etc. Be creative.

4. Charades

We’re firm believers that the best interactive virtual events get people up and out of their chairs. No one wants to sit in front of Zoom the same way they do every day at work.

Have one person draft up some charade ideas and then through the chat box privately message individuals with their charade task.

5. Powerpoint Party

Tell everyone on your team to come prepared with a 3-minute presentation. Set parameters for prep time, such as only 10 minutes to work on it, so it’s not an overwhelming ask. Give guidelines on what the presentation should be about. For example, best 90’s movie, favorite holiday tradition, most underrated holiday movie character, etc.

Turn it into a competition and give out prizes for most convincing, creative, or festive presentation.

It’s important that regardless of budget, you’re finding ways to engage your team and connect. In the future, when it’s the right time to invest in your next team building events, let us make it the easiest item on your to-do list. We’ll handle all the prep work and management so you can sit back and enjoy with your team.

Inquire about our team events