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Month: March 2018

Creative Corporate Event Ideas To Try

Corporate Events to Try

The six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan must have known how corporate events could benefit employees. He famously stated, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” When businesses are comprised of talented people that have a strong connection to the company culture and contribute to a team. The more success the organization will see. Even to the point where the employees and organization become leaders within their industries.

So, how can you build quality teams that live the corporate culture and genuinely enjoy working and spending time together? Have them participate in activities and events hosted by your company! Corporate events are a great way for employees to feel appreciated and to bring fun into the organizational culture.

Below are several creative corporate event ideas to consider this year.

1. Networking Events
Want your employees to mingle with leaders and others within your specific industry? Whether on a large or small scale, these networking events should be in a comfortable environment where people are willing to open up and build new relationships.

Furthermore, a successful networking event is also providing something worthwhile for the attendees. Whether it’s appetizers, live music or a little bit of entertainment — don’t be afraid to add in some fun to the event. People will be more willing to come to your future networking events.

2. Team Building Activities
Team building programs and activities are an excellent way for coworkers to develop meaningful relationships. These programs can help employees grow individually within their respective careers. Best of all, team building can come in a variety forms and appeal to certain interests. From building bikes and wheelchairs for charity to city scavenger hunts and food truck competitions. There are many programs out there that can be a good fit for a unique team or company.

Get your employees outside of their comfort zone and build confidence.

3. Seminars and Trainings
Looking to boost employee engagement levels? Hosting a seminar/educational event is a great way to help employees develop and grow their skill set. These trainings can help employees with their respective careers. Find influential thought leaders in your industry and invite them to speak. Or find thought leaders in your organization and host a seminar for your local community.

As you plan your seminar, be sure to work out the logistics, including setting goals and objectives. You will want to find the appropriate venue, create a guest list and schedule, and creating time blocks for your speaker(s).

4. Attend a Class
In addition to professional development through training and seminars, you can also take a more entertaining route and participate in a cooking or art class. This is an excellent way to get your employees out of the office. Attending a class will help with developing or refining a certain life skill. Plus, at the end of class, your employees will be rewarded with a tasty meal or finished masterpiece.

Try a Charitable Event

5. Volunteer Day
Did you know that the Millennial workforce enjoys volunteer opportunities at their job? According to a Deloitte Volunteer Impact Survey, they found that Millennials preferred organizations where they can volunteer their skills to the community. Look for volunteer opportunities in your community where employees can take time out of the workday to provide their skills and service to those in need. This can also help your organization in creating and building new relationships within your community.

6. Charity Event
Take your volunteer day up a notch and host a charity event, such as a concert, golf tournament or half marathon. Much like volunteering, it can help create better local relationships by supporting a good cause. Be clear in your goals and be sure to have key marketing strategies in place to help you get the support you need in making the event a success.

Furthermore, hosting a charity event can be tricky, so be prepared for the unexpected and have backup plans in place to help the event run as smoothly as possible.

7. Holiday Party
Lastly, hosting a holiday party is a great way to reward your employees for their hard work throughout the year. Talk with managers and employees to get an idea of what they would like in a holiday party. Companies could also create a party planning committee. Employee input is crucial since you want to host a party that they will enjoy. Like most corporate events, make your event as unique as your company culture.

As 2018 comes and goes, be sure to try out these ideas when looking to host a unique and worthwhile corporate event!

Click here to explore every program that Best Corporate Events offers.

Culinary & Cooking Team Building

Culinary Team Building

Our food-themed and cooking team building events are fun and delicious. Each program is the perfect blend of good food, competition, and fun to encourage your group to work together as a team. Ultimately, teams will enjoy each other’s company while cooking up some tasty treats. Best Corporate Events will work seamlessly with your venue to arrange all the logistics from ordering the food to the setting up the room.

The kitchen has always been a place where friends and family like to congregate to socialize. Preparing food together can foster creativity and camaraderie which makes cooking a perfect team building activity. Teams will enjoy a competitive format type event while collaborating and strengthening the cohesiveness of their team. As a result, this is a perfect opportunity to level the playing field. Teams can be created by combining various departments to work together. Everyone will take on an important role and it will take each team member’s contribution to create what is on the menu.

Best Corporate Events offers five food-themed culinary programs.

Each designed to allow everyone from a novice cook in their home kitchen to the master chef in a gourmet kitchen to participate comfortably.

1. Chili Cook-off
Several tasks will occur simultaneously. Tasks include prepping and cooking the chili. Also, decorating the head chef’s apron, and creating a presentation or jingle that will showcase the uniqueness of their team. Participants will also earn points for their team using Apple iPads®. The iPads® which deliver text, audio and video clues, chili trivia, and exciting gaming challenges. All your memories of this delicious team building event will be captured with photos and video of your teams in action. After judging, scoring and tasting, one team will emerge as the reigning Chili Cook-Off Champion!

2. Fiesta Fun™
Fiest Fun™ is a lively event where corporate groups will experience the sights, sounds, and flavors of Mexico! In this exciting contest, participants compete to make their brand of salsa, guacamole, and golden margaritas! They will be having fun to the beat of Mexican music as the program kicks off with a series of team building icebreakers. Next, teams work on their unique recipes. Followed by developing a name, logo and a jingle to market their creations. Tables are equipped with all the required utensils, and an abundance of ingredients are supplied.

Each of these cooking programs shares a common goal.

3. Food Truck Face-Off
After teams are formed, they will participate in a fun icebreaker which will set the order in which they will choose their cuisine. The order also determines the theme that their food truck will feature. All-American, Mexican, Mediterranean, Asian, Vegetarian, and “Sweet Tooth” are all on the table and up for grabs. Once cuisines are chosen, it’s time to get to work. Teams pick a company name, design a logo, and build a large truck façade with cardboard, duct tape, and decorative materials. Then, teams will create their menus. To whet their colleagues’ appetites, teams will create and present a commercial to promote their menu. This event will test each team’s culinary creativity with specific ingredients will be provided, and suggestions for the dishes to be served, but there will be no actual recipes.

Our Foodie SmartHunt® is a high-tech scavenger hunt

4. Foodie SmartHunt®
Teams will be provided with iPads and a food and beverage budget. They will search for local restaurants, cafes, streets vendors, food trucks, and farmer’s markets in their host city. At each location, teams will sample local cuisine and videotape live critiques on their iPads. This is a one-of-a-kind scavenger hunt. As teams travel on their culinary tour, they will navigate to historical points of interest. Teams will earn points by completing in photo and video challenges. As well as a variety of Foodie themed missions such as Chef Talk, Food Critic, Foodie Trivia and Beat the Bartender. Teams could even earn extra points at fun, challenging, physical game stations set up at one or more of the stops!

5. Tapas and Sangria Making
In this Spanish-themed series of team bonding cooking exercises, your group will be making Tapas and Sangria! Now enjoyed everywhere, Tapas originated as appetizers or small plates in Spanish cuisine. Flavorful Sangria is a beverage from Spain and Portugal, which usually consists of wine, chopped fruit, sweetener, and a small amount of brandy. Your group will be formed into “wineries.” Each team will choose a name for their winery. Here, teams will develop their brand of Sangria using ingredients from our marketplace. Also, they will design a logo used to market their unique concoction.

The ingredients in Sangria vary, particularly in the type of fruit used, the kind of spirits added, and the presence or lack of carbonation. Teams also create Tapas based on a delicious cold menu provided. Therefore, no stove required for this cooking event! Ingredients and a dish description will be provided but not a specific recipe. That’s where the team building comes in.

Let’s get cooking!

The type of cuisines may vary, but these cooking programs share a common goal – to build unity while breaking down barriers for better communication. Culinary programs offer challenges to the group’s creativity, communication, cooperation and time/resource management. Most importantly, culinary team building fosters positive, open communication and resourceful thinking.

From a small intimate group of 30 to a large group of 100’s, our events focus on interaction which leads to happier and more productive team members in the workplace. So let’s get cooking!

5 Benefits of Team Building

The Benefits of Team Building – Learn from the Pros

The benefits of team building are plentiful. Positive employee and team relationships are vital in today’s business environment. Rory Vaden, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Southwestern Consulting explains, “People who talk about teamwork as if it’s an important part of the business are missing the point entirely. Teamwork is not a ‘part’ or business. Teamwork is the business, and the business is the team. So without teamwork, you have no business.”

As such, team building tactics and activities are an excellent way for employees to develop deeper relationships with one another and grow within their respective career. Furthermore, when employees feel like they play an important role on the team, it allows them to be better engaged, productive, happy and best of all, contribute to a strong company culture. So, it begs the question, why aren’t more companies investing in good team building activities?

Here are five benefits of team building and why organizations should invest in it.

1. Creates better social capital
Margaret Heffernan, an international businesswoman, and writer describes social capital as, “the trust, knowledge, reciprocity, and shared norms that create the quality of life and make a group resilient.” From office small talk to overcoming a work crisis together, social capital can take on many forms. It is something that can always be further developed through team building. When social capital is present, the deeper relationships between employees can form. Relationships can help make them a stronger team — willing to go the extra mile for a team member.

2. Grows strong organizational culture
When teams grow through team building, the better the culture they develop. The culture reinforces the mission and values of the organization. Courtney Klein, co-founder, and CEO of Seed Spot and Seed Spot Next explains:

“The single most powerful thing a team of people can do is build a common culture. A shared set of values – not the fluffy kind – but the really gritty kind. Culture can challenge and push people beyond what they previously thought possible. A group of people united under a shared vision and a common culture is one of the most powerful forces in the world. Leveraging the collective ideas of a team not only to build that culture but to keep those that don’t align out. This is the real measure of an effective team. Having someone on the team that does not align is like a cancer that spreads out of control. A strong team of people can keep the cancer out. And keep an organization healthy, pushing it to thrive under even the harshest of circumstances.”

Lastly, team building helps build a culture of belonging and this belonging can bring out the best in people—higher engagement, retention, etc.

Build a Culture of Belonging

3. Builds confidence
Team building is a great underlying tool that builds individual confidence. Have an employee that struggles with making company presentations? Have a team lunch and encourage that employee to discuss with the group something they are passionate about. The more casual and comfortable setting can help them develop their networking skills. In turn, this person will become more confident in speaking to groups. Team building activities, whether it’s developing a new skill or attending a sporting event, can have workplace benefits where employees can apply it to their next project.

4. Boosts overall team performance
Newly formed teams that participate in team building and team bonding experiences will work better together than those that do not. Why? In addition to forming better relationships, team building exercises can help employees learn each other’s hidden strengths. Teams can apply these interests back in the office. So when a big project hits a team’s desk, they will be more confident in what roles everyone should take. Moreover, team building can help teams produce better work quality at a more efficient rate.

5. Invites fun into the office
Lastly, team building is and should be fun for everyone involved! When planning an activity, be sure to let employees be a part of the decision-making process. Learn what their interests are. They’ll be more willing to participate. The last thing you want to do is pick an activity one or two people enjoy, and the rest of the team becomes disengaged.

Remember, having fun doesn’t have to strip away all the importance of work. As successful team building activities allow for employees to learn about each other and grow mutual respect. At Best Corporate Events, we offer unique programs that combine fun with a higher level of problem-solving, innovation and strategic planning. Furthermore, our events are designed to enhance individual and team growth. Through experiences that have a strong connection to teamwork, trust, and communication, solidifying the cohesiveness of your group while providing key insights and applicable skill sets.

Click here to explore our catalog of programs.

At the end of the day, companies will be better off when they incorporate team building programs into their organizational culture.

How to find the right hunt for your team?

Groups Love a Scavenger Hunt

So your corporate group is on the hunt for a fun and thrilling team building event. You start by browsing through our Top 10 Programs, and two programs catch your eye; Amazing Chase SmartHunt® and City SmartHunt®. Are these scavenger hunts? Are these team building? Well, you are on the right path as they are both a scavenger hunt type of team building! Remember when you were young, and you played games like manhunt, hide and seek, scavenger hunts or Easter egg hunts? Kids love them and so do adults!

Introducing our high-tech team building scavenger hunts for corporate groups. SmartHunts® are a unique combination of sightseeing, adventure, team building challenges and gamification fun your company will love! If your company is hosting their conference in a fun city, whether metropolitan, small and quaint or a beachside town, then a SmartHunt® is the perfect activity for your group to get out and explore their surrounding city while having fun.

Your group will explore local landmarks, learn fun facts and we can even brand the event with your company logo. The SmartHunts® app allows us to customize the questions and content to your company including points of interest, photo, video, and trivia to meet the goals and outcomes for your group.

Just a few of the benefits of a SmartHunt® include:

Encourage team members to build relationships
Improve confidence
Improve communication
Educate while having fun
Promote positive and happy workplace

Your group will start with an engaging physical icebreaker to form all the participants into teams. Each team is given an iPad loaded with our event app to get things started. Teams are now on the hunt, analyzing clues and navigating their way through the city. Teams will develop the best possible strategy to beat the other teams. Groups use their iPads to answer quizzes, tour points of interest, solve puzzles, and tackle photo and video missions during their hunt.

Once all the challenges are complete, it’s a race against the other teams – and the clock – back to home base. Laughter, accomplishment, and fond memories are additional benefits to this event. Teams will improve trust, communication, and effective problem-solving skills. The hunt features two-way messaging. Teams are connected with our lead facilitator, stationed at the ending location, which tracks racers using GPS. The facilitator downloads photos, video, and scoring throughout the hunt for a big-screen presentation of the action during the event. Teams will never lose connectivity to their game. Een if the hunt takes them indoors. All photos, videos, and scoring are sent to us throughout the event. We will have them on the big screen when your teams arrive at the final location. After the program, we will also send you a link that contains all the photos and videos shot by your group. The page also includes an edited video plus all the scores, photos, and videos from each participating team. Now, that’s SMART!

Try a SmartHunt at your next corporate event

So if your group wants to explore a city, museum, or an attraction, our SmartHunts® location challenges will make sure your teams won’t miss a thing. Our national account managers will take the time to get to know you and your company walking through the details of your upcoming event. Our objective is to recommend the best team building program that will be right for your event whether it’s a SmartHunts® or something that’s customized just for you.

SmartHunts® has been delivering professional corporate team building events since 2010. We have built a solid reputation by working hard to deliver top-quality programming for our clients. Learn more here.

Welcome to the BEST blog, a collection of team building articles, industry insights and news about our large collection of programs and events offered in locations across North America.