Anyone familiar with Lime Venue Portfolio know that we like to look to the future and to stargaze a little at what’s round the corner for all us #eventprofs. At the same time, we also like to advocate for meetings and events, not just for making them better, but for what they do for businesses every single day.
Let’s take Team Building. That’s right, Team building, the lost and last forgotten part of a meeting. The bit we attach on to a conference, use to kick off a training programme or party, essentially to bookend more ‘important’ aspects of the event programme. It’s time to look again, and to reconsider this, increasingly incredibly important, event type.
It’s important first to set some context and look at some of the most pressing trends affecting meeting and event design. The first is wellbeing. The events industry should be widely commended on the way it has embraced wellbeing for delegates. Introducing wellness rooms, on site yoga and fitness studio’s, sympathetic break out areas, and mental health first aid and aiders across event teams. Wellness remains critical to the way we engage with our delegates.
Second is neurodiversity. Linked to wellbeing but specifically built around those people who have previously found event environments intimidating or scary. Again, the industry is quickly looking at redesigning event spaces to welcome everyone, and to make them feel welcomes as well. There is expertise out there that helps business and events engage with people who require specific needs related to the way they take in professional environments. The event industry is listening and acting.
Another, more macro, trend concerns the fragmentation of the traditional office. More and more people are working remotely and from further away. In our recent Meeting of the Future projections, we predicted that events would increasingly look to recreate the office, not just escape from it. This is happening. Now though, when teams who would usually spend most of their time on video conferencing and telephone, finally meet, they don’t really know each other. This again, is intimidating.
Modern Team Building understands all of these trends and has been quietly and expertly evolving in the background to what we’re calling Team Building for Good. These events are being curated with as much care and precision as any other event, regardless of whether they stand on their own or as part of a converged, multi-type event.
At a basic level this can be a simple 5K charity fun run at the beginning or the end of a multi-day congress. But it goes much deeper, Team Building now seeks to positively influence the person as well as the professional. Modern team building briefs ask for the event team to improve guests’ outlook, their state of mind and their day-to-day lives. It’s not just about making them bond, it wants to make them healthier, in mind, body and spirit.
There are impressive agencies coming up with new concepts that achieve this. Using outside speakers and experts, new forms of gamification, or just offering more space for the delegate to reflect, learn, and engage with the people around them. It’s incredibly sophisticated, profound, and the value is enormous.
These agencies work closely with Lime Venue Portfolio venues across the UK and are genuinely inspiring. They have inspired us. So, when you’re next looking to bring your teams together, look at Team Building beyond just helping them to get along better. Think about it as a way to improve the lives of the people you care about. Personally, and professionally.
If you’re looking for a venue or event space to hold your next team building event take a look at our recommended venues here.
If you’re looking for a team building company. We can highly recommend Off Limits, as our team building partner, specialising in providing an extensive range of activities, team building exercises, evening entertainment and bespoke events.
