Team building entertainment is a collective activity designed to build cohesion, away from the usual rhythm of the office. Chosen well, it turns colleagues who pass each other at the coffee machine into an actual team. Chosen badly, it becomes the awkward memory nobody wants to mention. To stay on the right side, here is how to build one, some concrete ideas, and one that sticks.
Why run team building entertainment?
Team building exists to create connections where day-to-day work mostly creates email. By taking people out of their usual setting, it works on four things:
- Strengthen the links between colleagues, departments and levels.
- Build team spirit around a shared objective.
- Improve communication, because talking comes more easily after laughing together.
- Restart the group dynamic after a reorganisation, a crunch, or the arrival of new people.
In other words, team building isn’t playtime in disguise. It is a genuine management lever, provided it is treated as one: with a thought-through objective, audience and format. A welcome bonus: people who have shared a good moment often come back more invested.
How do you build team building entertainment?
Building team building entertainment that works comes down to four steps. No summer-camp experience required, we promise.
1. Start from a clear objective
Bonding a newly formed team, celebrating a win, breaking the ice between two departments: each objective calls for something different. Write it down before you organise anything, not after. It will also tell you, at the end, whether it worked.
2. Think about everyone
Ages, appetites, physical condition: a good cohesion activity has to be inclusive. The treetop course that thrills some will leave others at the foot of the tree.
3. Choose the right format and the right moment
Half a day, a full day or an evening? Built into a company off-site or run on its own? The format depends on your budget, the number of people and the time available. A group of fifteen doesn’t move like a team of two hundred: the bigger the group, the easier the activity has to be to join and to leave.
4. Go for what sticks
Entertainment works when people are still talking about it the following Monday. Favour activities that are playful, participative, and that leave something concrete behind: a photo, a video, a story to tell. And keep an element of surprise: team building you can guess from the invitation rarely produces sparks.
Which team building ideas should you choose?
There is no universal team building, but a few families of activity have proved themselves. A quick comparison:
| Idea | What it builds | Format | Logistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escape game | Collaboration under pressure | 1 to 2 h | Light |
| Cooking workshop | Warmth and sharing | Half a day | Medium |
| Treasure hunt or rally | Strategy and communication | Half a day | Medium |
| Mini-olympics | Team spirit and competition | A day | Heavy |
| Creative workshop | Creativity and expression | 2 to 3 h | Medium |
| The Clubby immersive cabin | Connection, fun and shared memories | Continuous or evening | Light (turnkey) |
The right choice? The one that fits your objective… and your teams’ mood.
Team building ideas in Paris
Paris is not short of playgrounds for bringing a team together. Among the most popular:
- a treasure hunt through the historic quarters, to rediscover the city together;
- a private boat on the Seine, for something more relaxed;
- an escape game or a cooking workshop, easy to reach by metro;
- an art or street-art workshop, to wake up the creative side;
- an evening on a rooftop, to end the day with a view.
One tip: in Paris, every journey counts. Entertainment that comes to you, in your own offices or at your venue, avoids losing half the group between two connections. And it combines easily with a daytime activity.
How do you make team building work in the evening?
Evening team building has one big advantage: people relax and conversation becomes more spontaneous. Three ingredients are enough: a welcoming place, music that has been thought about, and something that invites everyone in without pushing anyone. Avoid tightly scripted formats where people wait their turn checking their watch: in the evening, what works is open-access entertainment you join when you want, alone or with colleagues. To go further, see our company party entertainment ideas.
Clubby, the corporate entertainment that sticks
Clubby is the all-in-one party cabin built by IMERSIA: a wall of music, a photo booth, a video booth and karaoke in the same space. Corporate entertainment designed to surprise, to entertain, and to create shared memories.
An experience that takes the barriers down
You go in two at a time or in a small group, put on your music, sing, dance, film yourselves. Within minutes, the intern and the finance director are sharing the same fit of laughter. It is hard to find a more effective cohesion activity. And since everyone picks their own moment, even the shyest end up trying it.
Memories that carry the event further
Every turn leaves a photo or a video to share. The team building carries on well after the event, on screens as much as in conversation. For your employer brand, that is also authentic content, made by your own people.
Turnkey entertainment, for every one of your highlights
Clubby goes wherever you put it and fits into every kind of event: an off-site, a company party, but also a trade show stand or a product launch. IMERSIA handles the set-up, you handle enjoying it.
Want team building your teams will still be talking about in six months? See how Clubby hire works and ask for your quote.