Virtual Team Building Ideas for Large Groups
Looking for interesting online team building games for large groups? Look no further. Hosting online team building games for large groups presents its own unique set of problems. How do you make everyone feel included in a large group activity? It is one thing to schedule a virtual team building activity for 10 or 20 people but what happens when you have 200? Never fear my friend. We’re going to teach you how to handle 200 like it’s a walk in the park. A really big park, with lots of things to do. Trust me.
We define virtual team building as, “Intentionally creating space for coworkers to interact and develop genuine connections.” Now, that doesn’t mean that you are so buddy-buddy that every person in your office is invited to your holiday dinner. That’s a lot of turkey! A genuine connection just means that people know each other well enough to feel a sense of psychological safety. That’s a fancy way of saying that you feel comfortable around someone. That can be accomplished by hosting large group team building activities, virtually, of course.
The reality is we all work better with people we like. Communication is easier, projects go faster, and creativity flourishes. For those same reasons companies benefit from regular virtual team building activities because they build trust, develop confidence, and boost motivation. If you need more reasons why virtual team building is a positive this article from Indeed gives seventeen reasons why virtual team building benefits companies.
Big Is Better: Large Group Virtual Team Building Activities are Big Fun
Large groups present their own set of challenges. Now for the purpose of this article I am defining a large group as 100-200 people. You might have hundreds, or even thousands of folks in your organization but when was the last time you were on a Zoom call with 2,000 other people? Not very practical. The best activities for large groups can be broken down into smaller more manageable bites. There is no I in T-E-A-M and there are certainly not 2,000 people either.
When organize a fun and engaging online team building event for a large group you will want to keep several things in mind. It is important to:
- Ensure easy access. Participants are joining from all over the country and sometimes all over the world. Avoid overly complicated technology that requires downloading an app or signing up for an account.
- Remember the individual. Choose a game or virtual activity that has a wide appeal and is easy to understand. Overly complex scenarios with complicated instructions will cause members of your large group to tune out.
- Commit to play. Team building games are designed to give people the opportunity to spend time together where they can have fun and get to know each other. Avoid the temptation to weave in work.
Below you will see a list of our favorite team building activities for large groups. You can use these for a virtual conventions, annual sales meetings, or really as an excuse to throw a party. Pro tip – Team building is not a one-time activity. To see benefits a company must commit to a regular schedule. Monthly or quarterly activities work best. To learn more do’s and don’t check out our article Best Practices for Virtual Team Building.
Creative Online Team Building Games for Large Groups
Branding Battle – Each participant or team has five minutes to come up with an exciting marketing campaign for mundane or boring common items. Like most virtual team building games for large groups this one works best when the teams move into smaller groups for their activities.
Camera Off – One person turns off their camera and must describe an object one word at a time. The group must guess the object based on the description. Fewest descriptive words wins.
Finish The Story – Teams are given a fake headline and have five minutes to come up with the accompanying article. For virtual team building with a large group, have your participants submit their stories ahead of time and then select the winner online.
Five Clicks Away – Link two seemingly unrelated topics through Wikipedia internal links. Obama and Cheeseburgers. How many clicks inside wiki will it take to connect them?
Geoguesser – Players are randomly placed somewhere in the world on Google street view and must figure out where they are based on their surroundings. Excellent for remote workers in different parts of the world.
Open Mic – Ever want to try your hand at standup comedy? Make up your own material or lip-sync one of your favorite sets.
Remote Cribs – In this team building activity willing participants share a video tour of their visible workspace in this MTV Cribs knock off.
Reverse Charades – A twist on the original. Only one player is unaware of the word and the remaining players must act out their clues on camera at the same time.
Shark or Tank – Participants are randomly assigned a mundane item in their home like a lamp or toaster and must pitch the product to the rest of the team who rate their presentation and the product’s potential. Feel free to pair up two remote workers for this virtual activity.
Talent Show – Virtual coworkers compete for glory and bragging rights while showcasing their own special skills. This game is good for online team building for large groups because participants can be selected to present to the rest of the office.
Tour Guide – Each participant is randomly assigned a location in the world and has five minutes to prepare their “tour” of that location. This is a great online team building activity for coworkers from different countries because it also promotes diversity and cultural education.
Vision Board Mystery – Participants choose images that represent themselves prior to the game and then the images are shown to the group to see if they can figure out which remote coworker the vision board represents.
We Didn’t Start the Fire – Team must add another set of lyrics to the Billy Joel classic. Singing optional. This is one of the newer virtual team building ideas for large groups. We’re excited to see how it plays out.
Virtual Team Building: Large Groups = Big Fun
Whew, that was a big list! If that looks daunting it might be time to turn to a pro. You want to get the most out of hosting a game for a big group, right? If you’re putting in the work to host a large group game, it should flow smoothly. Players will need to be broken up into organized smaller groups because they need that personal space to interact.
If you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of organizing a virtual activity for 200 people, all over the world, with different ideas, different time zones, and different cultural expectations, well, you’re not alone. That is a difficult task. Good news! There are several companies whose entire focus is on virtual team building. Some companies. like The Poker People, can also create hybrid events.
We often work with clients in the weeks leading up to their Las Vegas conventions to provide online team building poker tournaments. These virtual games create excitement for the upcoming event. When everyone gathers in Las Vegas we will provide an in-person Final Table to crown a champion.
Whether you’re at the Venetian or Venice, London or Luxor, the goal is to put on the best virtual team building game for your large group that you can. We suggested hiring a pro because they bring a lot to the table. And not just the poker table. When looking for a partner consider:
- How much time you have to plan. Using a professional can make the game turnkey. All you need to do is invite folks. It is so easy that you might even get to play in your own game.
- The complexity of the game. The more moving parts the more you should consider using a pro. Props, research, roleplaying. All of these take skill to do right especially as a large group virtual team building activity.
- How much data management is included? How are you planning to track the results when you have 15 breakout rooms going? Who won round two, who is in the finals? Ahhh… help!
Games run by a pro can save you time and trouble therefore using a pro can save you a lot of time. Having a turnkey event is a great alternative because vendors often have games you never considered. Virtual team building is the most effective when it is on a regular schedule. Partnering with a professional can help solve the “what should we do next?’ question with ease.
Large Group Virtual Team Building Activities Best Run by Professionals
Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament – Over 120 million people worldwide play poker so don’t underestimate your office mates. Poker is a fantastic online team building activity for large groups because it can accommodate up to 200 players in the same tournament. This is our number one recommended game because it is great for Poker is a great game for online team building, networking event, and even customer rewards.
International Food Tour – A gift box of goodies from around the world is sent to all participants of this virtual activity and a professional expert joins the video meeting to lead participants through the tastings.
Bingo – Several online versions are available with or without hosts but hiring a pro means the game will move quickly. For a more interesting game, create bingo cards with personal characteristics. “Speaks more than one language,” “has a pet,” or “has traveled to more than 10 countries” to showcase a virtual coworker in the game.
Casino Night – A Las Vegas experience is a great large group team building activity because there is something for everyone. Real dealers teach guests to play craps, blackjack, and roulette. Players can win chips and prizes.
Escape Rooms – The popular in-person games make a great virtual activity for corporate teams. Coworkers must solve a series of clues in order to escape in a set amount of time.
Horse Races – Players work in teams to train their horses, devise race strategies, sabotage their opponents, and bet on the outcomes. This game requires a host because they will provide the racing forms, stats, and footage of real horse races.
Jeopardy – Play the classic answer-question game as a virtual team building activity. This game is best done with a professional company because it is more fun with a real game show host to manage the questions and scoring. Some vendors can customize the answers to reflect company specific messaging.
Mafia – Team members are assigned roles such as “mafia”, “doctor”, and “citizen” in this team building game. The “mafia” secretly tries to eliminate the other players while the “doctor” tries to save them.
Murder Mystery – Decide who dunnit and see if you’re right. Professional vendors can customize the game to your group size in this activity.
Office Olympics – A professional host will curate the games based on your company’s industry and number of participants. “Events” can take place in one meeting or over the course of several sessions. A fun perk in this specific corporate team building activity is that participants earn medals for their finish order that can be mailed to them.
Trivia – Players divide into teams and answer questions. This can be done in-house or hosted. We recommend hosted to make sure there are a wide variety of questions and topics.
What Is the Best Virtual Team Building Game for a Large Group?
The answer is poker. Playing Texas Hold’em with real dealers not only provides a fun and organized way to host virtual team building activities but it also builds business skills. Because poker and business have so many overlapping concepts like decision making, reading people, and adapting to changes quickly, using Texas Hold’em as a team building activity not only makes for a fun and creative experience, but also reinforces fundamental business skills.
The ultimate goal for virtual team building activities is to create space for people to get to know each other. We are strong advocates for poker as a creative large group team building activity. Poker and business overlap in so many ways. Playing poker can teach:
- Risk management. Players must always know their exposure and be prepared to change course quickly.
- Strategic planning. The best players have a plan and stick to it.
- Bankroll management. Chips are your currency when it comes to poker and knowing how much to bet will help your ROI.
- Emotional control. Poker players deal with challenging opponents, face setbacks, and adapt to change just like businesspeople do daily.
Now I realize that part of my advice said not to weave in work to your virtual team building game but that doesn’t mean you can’t choose a game that improves business skills through play. It’s like hiding vegetables in your kid’s meatloaf They never know they are eating healthy. If best virtual team building activity for large groups can also build business skills then why wouldn’t you choose it?
Large Group Team building Activities: Virtual Games, Real Life Results
If you are seeking virtual team building options for large groups you are likely to be using a professional. The bring a skillset to the table that can be hard to duplicate. Some companies are able to staff in-house event planners but most folks are scheduling games a few times a year at most. It is just a lot of work to organize large virtual team building activities that appeal to people from around the world. We hope that these lists of games have given you some inspiration and some new ideas.
FAQ’s
Hosting large group virtual team building activities is not an easy task. Choosing a game is just step one. Equally important is choosing a game that not only engages your audience but makes everyone better for having had the experience. We believe that poker meets all those needs and we’re happy to connect with you and see how poker can fit in with your virtual team building activities.
Texas Hold’em poker tournaments. They incorporate business skills like risk management and strategic planning into a play activity. Poker is an easy game to learn, and players are able to chat and build camaraderie while playing.
Poker tournaments, trivia, and escape rooms are very popular. We recommend that you hire a professional to execute these games since they often require planning and a dedicated host. Texas Hold’em poker tournaments with live dealers offer a fun game experience during a fully supported event.
The key to planning a virtual team building event for a large group is to choose an activity that will engage at the individual level. This may mean hiring a professional to run a game like Texas Hold’em where everyone gets to participate equally. Remember that team building is about creating opportunities for people to interact so lumping people into large groups without structure can undermine your goals.
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