I've had the privilege recently of organizing a few team building events. I am writing this to share my experience.

Welcome

The first event was to welcome a new team member.

I chose Friday, as it's typically an easygoing day. In Google Calendar, I added the dozen team members, and stared at unavailability across the entire day. Thankfully, most meetings on Friday afternoons are 1 on 1s, easily rescheduled or rolled into the broader team social. I picked a time with few overlaps and sent the invite.

I considered including an activity, versus letting conversation flow. I decided to include a game: with a remote meet of a dozen people, big personalities can dominate to the exclusion of others. A game provides the structure for everyone to participate.

I searched Google and asked ChatGPT for help, finally settling on two truths and a lie. I didn't inform the team beforehand, to encourage spontaneous answers.

The game went over very well, easily taking up over half an hour. I emcee'd, leading the votes for each round: "Raise your hand if you think XYZ is the lie."

Throughout the game, people explained the stories behind the truths and the lies, and that naturally led to further conversation from the group.

Goodbye

The next event was saying goodbye to a team member. They weren't leaving on bad terms; they were well integrated and appreciated on the team.

As before, I chose Friday afternoon - coinciding with the team member's departure.

With invites sent, I faced the challenge of organizing a more somber event. After scouring the internet, I found a promising idea: each team member would share for a minute or so on their experience with, or advice for, the departing colleague.

This went better than I expected. The emotion was palpable. The shares covered favorite memories, accomplishments, positive feedback, and advice. It was after this social that I came to appreciate the strongly positive team culture.

Afterwards, I received private feedback from a team member asking me to organize the same event for them when they depart. I can't imagine more positive feedback.

And Welcome Again

Finally, I organized another welcome social for another new team member.

Time slot: locked down on Friday afternoon.

Game: out with two truths and a lie, in with a different guessing game. I wanted to switch things up, given how recently we had just played two truths and a lie. The game I settled on involved each team member sharing privately with me a fun fact or story, and during the social the team would guess whose story belonged to whom.

There's a lot of startup effort involved in a game with setup like this. The team all shared their stories with me, but it took prodding.

I put together a slideshow, with AI generated images for each story, using the story as a prompt.

The game went well, but didn't last as long as I'd have hoped. To make it longer, I could've asked for multiple stories from each team member, or added in fake stories to the mix.

The format of preparation did encourage different story telling than two truths and a lie. Some team members shared longer stories, others a simple fun fact.

Conclusion

In organizing just a few remote team social events, I have gained appreciation for event organizers and planners. I also appreciate my team's strongly positive culture, without which it's not hard for me to imagine suffering in awkward silences!

I'm thankful for the opportunity to cut my teeth. Organizing is a powerful skill, small remote events being just the start.