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Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

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Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#121

Post by wilwade »

Cost: $0 Time: ~1 hour Location: Zoom Requires: Someone to act as host

Here's something we recently tried that worked fairly well: Story Time. The goal was to share short humorous stories. Exaggerations were encouraged. And topics suggested. To help I (acting as the host) started it off with a story about a car and picking up "new" clothing at 70 mph. Opening up to others for other stories, but specifically encouraging stories about cars or clothing (to help prime the pump).

People tended to thread story topics on their own for the most part, but if things quieted down, I would add in another story, likely shifting the topic around some.

A few stories fell flat, but they are short and for the most part it worked really well. It also helped with one of the parts of "Zoom Happy Hour" that I hate: not knowing who is supposed to be talking and when to join in.

It does require a level of comfort with the team, but at the same time it allowed an enjoyable time for those who just wanted to lurk. It also didn't appear to be limited to those who lean extroverted as some happy hours can even in real life.

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#122

Post by ADifferentKyle »

laurent92 wrote: post #108
noarchy wrote: post #38

Related note: do it during work hours, if possible. Not all of us want to be expected to take an evening to devote to work events. Even if I genuinely like my co-workers, there are times that I want to set aside where I don't have to think about work.

I used to offer via ferratas or paragliding on worktime, but then the employees would leave at 5 (none of them have children) and no-one stayed for beers. If you do that, then at least be good at go-kart, you’re paid for it. At least it clarified the situation: They don’t expect work to be fun. I stopped organizing events. If you want work to be boring, then this is how to make work boring. It makes me a bit sad. But…

If I may... your events might not be as fun as you think they are. Just because I don't have kids doesn't mean I don't have other obligations. I'd like to workout after work. And the dog needs to be walked, dinner needs to get made, clothes folded, etc. I'm also an early person so I've been logged in since 6:30am. Maybe I just want to zone out and watch the grass grow for a while. It doesn't matter - the point is, you don't know what people have going on outside of work, and it shouldn't bother you that those might be a higher priority for the people on your team. If these forced events are so important to you, maybe try delegating them? "I've set aside an hour for us all and have asked Amy to put together an idea."

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#123

Post by pessimizer »

boardgamearena.com, esp. 6 nimmt, Oh Hell!, Incan Gold, and No Thanks seat more than six, are very easy to explain, are very fun, and are brisk. Turn the Tide only seats six, but meets the other points.

Short tournaments could be fun. The site allows people to be spectators to games they're not participating in, and if everyone is connected by voice chat it could be a nice shared experience.

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#124

Post by mo2lina »

Appears there's quite a few players emerging in this space, some with overlapping vendors :-), so I'll go ahead & throw my venture in the ring https://www.evee.com

We've found the most engagement by organizing larger team "mini-festival" where you pre-book multiple experiences and let your teammates pick & choose which events they want to attend. https://demo.evee.com

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#125

Post by fovc »

We use watercoolertrivia.com and it's great for having something to talk about other than work/covid. We use their weekly program ($1/user/mo iirc), but they also host one off events

Disclosure: I previously worked with one of the founders

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#126

Post by almost »

jot wrote: post #41

Live Video Escape Room maybe? https://livevideoescaperooms.com/ Or for a different way to think about it try what Podia did for a team dinner: https://kindops.com/remote-dinners At The Skiff Coworking community we enjoy weekly drinks here: https://getmibo.com/ It’s so much more natural an experience than Zoom.

Thanks for posting that! https://LiveVideoEscapeRooms.com is my site, part of my attempt to help the customers for my startup (A SaaS product for Escape Rooms) weather the pandemic. Online Escape Rooms are really a lot of fun, it's so cool to see all the creativity in the industry being channeled into crazy online games (many of theme featuring live video links to the escape rooms, but some also hosted completely online).

I've since also pivoted my startup and created a new product (https://TelescapeLive.com/) for escape rooms moving to online!

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#128

Post by kmarc »

wilwade wrote: post #121

Cost: $0 Time: ~1 hour Location: Zoom Requires: Someone to act as host Here's something we recently tried that worked fairly well: Story Time. The goal was to share short humorous stories. Exaggerations were encouraged. And topics suggested. To help I (acting as the host) started it off with a story about a car and picking up "new" clothing at 70 mph. Opening up to others for other stories, but specifically encouragi…

Oh but that's what I do on our daily in the morning. Isn't that's why it's called a "stand-up"?

Speaking seriously, we have a Mo-Wed-Fri 3PM 'virtual coffee break'. The team of ~15 is invited, but it's optional, and free mic; you can talk about anything. It's fun, not always the same people, not the same topics.

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#129

Post by kroltan »

jakub_g wrote: post #76

We sometimes play fun multiplayer games online (+zoom for talking) 1) https://garticphone.com/en 2) Among Us ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.innersloth... )

Absolutely second on Gartic Phone, it is brilliant.

It is a drawing game, but it has no scoring, so it is very welcoming for all skill levels, including zero!

Among Us also has a desktop version if you prefer, but it is paid. (cheap though, 10BRL, dunno dollars) (you probably know, but to anyone who reads)

Re: Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH?

#130

Post by pc86 »

benjohnson wrote: post #110
dimitrios1 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the exact opposite. They keep coming up because most of your coworkers want these events.

As a business owner - I can't ethically ask my employees to have "mandatory fun time" after work. But 80% of my employees keep asking for them!

Do you know why they keep asking if they're free to get together on their own?
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