The 5 Biggest Team Building Event Mistakes

Are you organising a team building event and feeling a little bit stressed about it?

Well don’t worry, you’re not alone!

You’ve got dozens of people to organise, get together, move smoothly from one place to another on time. And most importantly, you’ve got to make sure they’re doing genuinely fun, engaging and memorable activities, which bring them together into a cohesive group of productive, work-loving guys and girls.

All on a tight budget, a tighter timeframe, and with management peeking over your shoulder throughout.

In all my years helping people in exactly your shoes, I’ve noticed some all too common glaring mistakes. If you can cut these out, you’re guaranteed to cut out most of the stress too. And have a far easier and more successful event;

1.      NOT KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

You work with them, but how well do you know them? What really appeals to them, what will get them excited? Flamenco dinners and paella cooking competitions? White water rafting, or beach gymkana games? Or cocktail lessons? Your management might love an adrenalin activity, your team might not.

If you tap into what your team truly wants to do, everything else falls into place. Because they leap out of bed in the morning, and they want to get moving!

Firstly, think carefully about what you know about them. Then ask professional event organisers for advice. And most importantly – Ask them what they want to do!

2.      ORGANISING THE EVENT YOURSELF WITH NO EXPERIENCE

Planning a teambuilding event is seriously time consuming. Much more so than most people expect.

You may think you’ll save money by doing it yourself, but in the end hiring a quality event organiser always saves money, because over the years they’ve set up special deals and arrangements with hotels and activity companies. They know the area inside out and all it has to offer.

If you plan it yourself, you may well have a chaotic, disorganised and expensive event on your hands. Which is bad for your company’s image, and super-stressful for you!

So choose the right teambuilding event specialist, and they will take the stress off your hands, along with the chance of embarrassment and a failed event.

Also, perhaps most importantly, if something goes wrong, event planners are trained, experienced, and know exactly what to do.

3.      NOT ORGANISING WITH ENOUGH TIME

The best hotels, flights, restaurants, etc. all book up quickly in advance. And they are way, way cheaper when you book in advance, especially with big groups.

If it’s during a large conference the best value city accommodation can book up as much as a year in advance!

So don’t delay, begin today. Give yourself time, and you have tones of choice. You’ll save a lot of money. Plus it’s a hundred times more relaxing for you, the organiser.

4.      PLANNING TOO MUCH IN A SHORT TIME FRAME

It’s natural to be over-enthusiastic.

But let’s be honest, when you have a large group to move about, often in a foreign country, it always takes longer to get people going than you expect. Just leaving the hotel in the morning takes a while with most groups.

If you give a little breathing room between activities, you’ll be so so much more relaxed. As a rule – add 30 minutes to group-gathering and preparation times!

5.      PLANNING EARLY MORNING EVENTS AFTER A BIG NIGHT OUT

This one I’ve seen so much, it really surprises me. When all or some of your team’s been up drinking cocktails until the early hours, don’t expect them to leap out of bed at 8 am to rush off to a vigorous outdoor teambuilding activity.

Give them time, and you’ll save yourself plenty of knocking on hotel doors.

And there you have it – the 5 most common teambuilding event mistakes. Avoid them to avoid stress and have a lovely successful event!

Think I’ve missed any out?

Comment and let me know.

This post was originally published here.

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