I have had a similar conversation with two colleagues over the past week, looking for ideas as to how to get co-workers engaged during virtual happy hour. The idea of getting people who work remotely together was popular, however, creating an engaging and fun environment was proving a challenge. I suggested these six ideas which I'll share with you here.
Two Truths, One Lie - participants present three facts about themselves, one is false the other two are true, co-workers have to choose which fact is false. This works best if people are able to think of a facts that people are unlikely to know about them eg I used to sing in a rock band, I once played professional soccer, I once ran a marathon.
Pictionary - a co-worker chooses an image and then has describe the image to everyone without naming it directly. Participants have to draw the image described.
Guess The Baby Picture - before the event the organizer collects baby photos from the participants, having compiled the images onto a powerpoint for viewing, co-workers have to match their colleagues to the baby photos.
My Grandma's Best Recipe - co-workers share recipes of their grandmother's favourite recipes.
Pub Trivia Quiz - before the event the organizer compiles a list of trivia questions, co-workers then form virtual teams and compete to find the trivia champion.
Chain Story - The first co-worker starts a simple story with no more than a sentence eg “there was a cat up in the tree.” The next person repeats the original line and then adds to it, “there was a cat up in the tree, and it was having an exceptionally bad day.” The story continues with subsequent people adding to the story in this way, until the story becomes unbearably long or the organizer calls a halt.
So there you are, six simple ideas that will help you build engagement and hopefully have some fun with your co-workers during virtual 'happy hour'.
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Well that's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed these articles and resources and I'll be back next week with more, until then ... be a leader not just a boss!
#leadership #futureofwork #employeeengagement #virtual happy hour