Sure, we have 100 stock team building events in our repertoire. But, one of the reasons we’re called Wildly Different is because we specialize in and love creating and implementing custom team building events for our clients!

Here’s some of the reasons why you should do custom team building events instead of “off-the-shelf” experiences that anyone can participate in and some tips on the little things you can do to create custom team building events:

• Put your logo and branding on any handouts teams will receive. This lets your participants know this is something special that was created just for them.

• Work your messaging into the event to drive home the point. For instance, if your company just went through a merger and the focus of your meeting is “coming together as one,” your event should be customized to highlight that. So, something like one of our custom team building event ideas, The Big Picture in which teams compete in themed challenges to collect squares that get hung up on a numbered grid to reveal a custom message, would be ideal.

Putting the pieces together on a custom mural project!

• Re-enforce training information to see if employees remember and are able to use it. That’s why, in our iTech Treks, we test participants’ knowledge of corporate information by weaving it into challenges. I.e., teams may see a jumble of letters and receive a hint that “If they know the number of products they’re launching next year, they can ‘count’ on a solution appearing.” If participants know 5 new products will launch, they realize that if they take every 5^th letter, it spells out the location where they must go to take a team photo.

• Add extra touches to get people into the spirit of the meeting. A good example of this is one client who had their event about a “revolutionary” new product in Philadelphia. One of our custom team building event ideas was to create a meeting-long, ongoing Treasure Hunt that revealed locations on a treasure map. For one clue Betsy Ross mingled with guests during a break and players needed to view the flag she was carrying to find the location. During another break, players were told to view a vignette on the snack bar and remember Paul Revere’s ride to figure out a coordinate. When they got there, they saw two lanterns. Clever hunters recalling the famous phrase associated with Paul Revere, “One if by land, two if by sea”, realize the coordinate they needed for the map was 2C (two lanterns = by C)! How’s that for custom team building activities?

More characters were on hand to assist Betsy Ross & Paul Revere with this custom team building event!

Our very own Jane and McKenzie went out to Chicago a couple of weeks ago to run one of our custom team building events for Chiesi, that put a different “spin” on things and got attendees to experience the Navy Pier!

Jane & McKenzie bringing one of our custom team building events to life in Chicago!

Having a “wheelie” good time delivering a custom team building event in Chicago

And customization doesn’t always mean corporate! Gaby and her team ran a “clown college” for a financial company that wanted to entertain kids at a circus-themed family party. The kids got to don a clown nose and decorate their own clown collar, tie and hat. Of course, our team couldn’t resist clowning around while they were there!