It may seem to many of us that the pandemic is over, but clearly, there are many programs where certain safety precautions are still being honoured.
So it does not surprise me that I continue to get the occasional call from members who are seeking help to build a fun and engaging virtual team-building event.
Prompted by my most recent conversation, I thought it would be useful to others to share a few insights to help you design your next virtual program.
Engagement is your number one priority when presenting online. You have such small real estate when it comes to attracting the eyes of your audience, so choose activities that ramp up engagement in terms of interaction as much as keep your slides to a minimum. Strategies such as QOTD and Curiosity Ping Pong are great for this.
Take plenty of breaks. Staring at a screen for long periods is exhausting. Have you ever noticed that TED Talks are always 20 minutes or less? That’s because science tells us that the average person can only focus on one thing for no more than 20 minutes at a time before being distracted or disengaged. And this time is far less for young people – so be sure to allow for ample energisers and short breaks throughout your program.
If you’re just looking for fun and engagement, our Online Scavenger Hunt is an absolute must to include in your program. It will easily soak up to 60 minutes of your program and no one will notice. In advance, I would present a series of fun, interactive virtual exercises before getting stuck into the Hunt. And then perhaps some reflection exercises at the end, and then, voila – your time is up 🙂
Have you noticed the handy Virtual filter which is built into playmeo’s activity search engine? It’s located under the Filter tab on the Search Activities page. At a glance, I would recommend activities such as Blind Portraits, ID Numbers, Mr & Mrs Wright, Count Off, Must Choose and This or That, just for starters. You’ll find almost 200 activities that can be adapted or are suitable for presenting online.
Certainly, apps like Mentimeter and Kahoots are fun to use, but if you can keep your group together all at the same time within your common Zoom room (or whatever video platform you are using) I believe your audience will enjoy much more valuable play, interaction and sharing.
One of the most powerful benefits of being a playmeo member is your ability to ask for 1:1 live support and help, at any time.
Just hit the button below, make a request and we’ll arrange a mutually convenient time to chat.
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Original post November 2022, last updated November 2023.