How to make Zoom events fun, funny and engaging
Zoom fatigue is real. But virtual gatherings are efficient, convenient, cost effective—and they’re here to stay. And while virtual meetings and gatherings clog up attendees’ calendars these days, there are ways to make yours stand out from the clutter—and leave indelible impressions! How so? Through Watson Adventures, a virtual team building company that’s mastered the art of keeping guests engaged and entertained with a variety of different online, immersive activities—including its signature scavenger hunts.
Here are seven other tips for jazzing up your Zoom content to keep your audience engaged and interacting in new ways.
1. Get a live host to energize your Zoom event
If your virtual event is packed with prerecorded content, or meanders in the absence of an inspired emcee, you’ll lose your audience fast. Avoid this pitfall by using a live host who can structure the event and read the room, making adjustments as necessary to energize and engage the crowd.
2. Transport them away from their screens
Sure, your attendees are logging on from their desks, but that’s exactly why you want to establish a sense of place that transports them away from their ho-hum environment. Plan an activity or game (an adventure, really!) that achieves this sense of fresh perspective by way of virtual locations. Through your program with Watson Adventures, attendees can travel the globe (Around the World Scavenger Hunt), visit world-class museums (Escape to the Museum Virtual Scavenger Hunt), or put on their best detective hats (The Murder By Team Building Game), while interacting with colleagues in a new way.
3. Make it not just fun—but funny, too
Laughter is social glue. It gets people to open up, and to gain comfort and confidence. Put simply, it’s the ultimate ice breaker! To that end, a successful Zoom incorporates humor into the program—whether it’s a virtual happy hour or online mix and mingle event. Watson Adventures builds humor right into the event with funny questions and amusing discoveries. Hosts even weave in natural setups for the players to make the jokes too.
4. Engage every participant
It’s Virtual Events 101: To truly succeed, the program must engage each and every one of its attendees. And that means avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach in favor of a varied program that draws upon a variety of skills and hidden talents so everyone gets a chance to shine while combining their unique skill sets in the course of teamwork.
5. Provide creative opportunities
Challenging participants’ creativity is a surefire way to pump up the participants and get their ideas flowing. One crowd-pleasing way to make it happen? Photo challenges. Participants in Watson Adventures’ scavenger hunts snap digital pics of their finds as part of these challenges, texting in their pics for everyone to see in a gallery or on social media. The Trivia Slam Game also presents plenty of photo opportunities.
6. Make it interactive, not passive
No one really absorbs an experience when they just sit and watch other people—and definitely not through a screen. Authentic engagement means interaction. Instead of a passive program, make yours a two-way conversation involving questions and challenges that require collaboration.
7. Inspire gratitude and appreciation
Your Zoom event will stand out from the crowd if it awakens individual participants’ unique strengths while celebrating the collective strength of the diverse group as a team. Acknowledge their talents, help them get to know their teammates and facilitate attendees’ genuine appreciation for others’ ways of thinking. Watson Adventures answers this call with the Celebrate Diversity: A Virtual Team-Building Scavenger Hunt and A World of Thanks: The Gratitude Scavenger Hunt, both of which inspire appreciation and leave guests feeling their best.
And if you can do all of this? You’ve got all the makings of a Zoom memory they’ll never forget.