March 27, 2020
At TeamBonding, we are experts at mixing work & play to create team building events, both virtually and in-person globally, for businesses looking to positively impact their company culture, employee engagement and retention, on-the-job effectiveness and job satisfaction.
A quarantine can’t stop #ThirstyThursdays
In facing this new reality of remote team building activities, we have gathered all our resources to expand our Virtual/Remote program category. Most companies at this point are all working remotely for the first time and in an effort to help keep your remote workers engaged, we’ve launched an exclusive team building Webinar Series streaming every Tuesday.
Our newest addition? A TeamBonding Virtual Happy Hour on Facebook LIVE.
Learn how to craft and enjoy classic cocktails at home. Using our signature Cocktail Kits, Jonathan – The Cocktail Guru will be your host for 30 minutes to show you the right ingredients to perfect your drink.
- April 9th – featuring a Old Fashioned Cocktail
- April 16th – featuring a Gin Smash Cocktail
- April 23rd – featuring a Champagne Cocktail
- May 7th – featuring a Mint Julep Cocktail
Drink with co-workers for a Virtual Happy Hour, share with friends, or share with your significant other! Follow our page on Facebook to watch.
You can join using the ingredients you have at home, or if you would like to purchase a Cocktail Kit, visit the Cocktail Kits Page. Each kit makes 4 drinks, and can make a cocktail OR a mocktail! (Make sure to order ahead of time to allow for shipping.)
Here are some pro tips for Virtual Happy Hour best practices from TeamBonding’s David Goldstein, Founder & COO (Creator of Opportunities)
What should go into a virtual happy hour?
Ideally, a meeting invite should be sent out to all participants in advance with details on when, how / where to join the virtual happy hour, and an agenda, if any. Having some structure to a virtual happy hour is strongly recommended so that all attendees are sure to participate and be engaged. To ensure the happy hour starts on time, all participants should be encouraged to download any software (like Zoom) and test it out in advance of the call.
How many people is an “ideal” number where it won’t just feel like talking heads talking over each other?
There is no ideal number, and again, a structure can really help to ensure that people don’t talk over one another, particularly with groups bigger than 3-5 people. Some tools such as Zoom will have limits to the number of participants depending on the specific tool and/or the plan you registered for.
Depending on the number of participants and their level of familiarity with each other, you may wish to have each person introduce themselves at the beginning of the happy hour, for groups under 15 people. Usually, for larger groups the may wish to send a list of participants & bios in advance of the call to ensure that participants RSVP in advance by a certain date.
Are there other virtual meeting apps to try?
There are so many video meeting apps out there. Here are a few tools in addition to Zoom to increase communication within your team:
• Skype
• Slack
• JoinMe
• Go to Meeting
• Google Hangouts
• Jitsi
• Uber Conference
• BlueJeans
• Microsoft Teams
What exactly happens during a Virtual Happy Hour?
Each virtual happy hour can take on the flavor of the group. As we said to Aly Walansky in a recent article on Forbes, having the details and agenda locked in, like making a signature cocktail together – frees up more time for fun and lessens the chance of technical difficulties. Plus, having a moderator just enhances the group’s excitement and interaction.
Craft and enjoy classic cocktails at home!
At TeamBonding, we realize you can’t go for drinks after work right now, but having cocktails together hosted by our world-class mixologist by video chat can help fill that void. There’s never been a better time to learn a new skill and our Virtual Happy Hour & Mixology is the perfect blend of work and pleasure. We blend in tips, tricks, and trivia from one of the world’s leading authorities on bartending. To top it all off, we will ship each participant their own cocktail kit.
Feel free to contact us if there’s any other information we can share with you regarding virtual happy hours, team building in a remote work world, or otherwise!
Plays well with these activities...
