Virtual field days are a great way to capture some of the summer spirit, even if your team is working remotely!
Field day events have long been a classic part of company culture: office picnics, company BBQs, team retreats and more are all important events that help deepen relationships between employees and create a more dynamic and engaged work environment. As the global COVID-19 pandemic forced many offices to switch to a remote work, and more recently to a hybrid office model, people managers are finding that virtual field day events can be just as fun as the in-person version.
We’ve come up with a list of activities you can do virtually over Zoom, or if your team is one area, a few things that can be done while socially distancing. No matter how you plan to connect your team this summer, we can help provide the gifts and custom swag to make it extra special.
Socially Distanced Outdoor Meet-Ups
If you are adopting a hybrid office approach, your team may be clustered enough to organize a get together in a space that allows for proper social distancing!
Getting people together in person is always ideal, especially in the summertime when the sun is out and people are ready to party! Encourage people to stop looking at social media and have some fun IRL. THe best places to get together are parks, beaches, or any outdoor space that will allow people to hang out at a safe distance.
Swag idea: To make a team hike a little more fun, outfit everyone with a custom hiking kit, complete with a windbreaker, water bottle and drawstring bag!
Read more: Welcome Back To Work Gifts And Swag
Virtual Company BBQ
As we mentioned before, getting the team together for an in-person hang is ideal— who doesn’t love a company BBQ? But if your team is too spread out, a virtual lunch can be just as meaningful!
You can achieve this by offering people gift cards to restaurants or food delivery apps that can help get BBQ in the hands of the whole team! Set a time to take an afternoon off, and have everyone order food at the same time. From there you can get together on Zoom, or any virtual conferencing app that will let the team connect. Bonus if you can provide some artificial turfgrass to sit on. One upside is that you won’t have to worry about pesky pollinators!
Swag idea: Give the whole team customized Bento Lunch Box they can use for their leftovers, and any future adventures where they’ll need a mobile lunch!
Read more: Tips To Maintain Company Culture In The Hybrid Office
Virtual Bar Crawl
We’re big fans of the virtual happy hour, and we think they are a great way to blow off some steam while bringing the team together. But if you want to kick it up a notch, consider upgrading to a virtual pub crawl!
A virtual pub crawl consists of the same basic ingredients as the virtual happy hour: drinks, a video chatting service and some free time. But the pub crawl adds an element where the whole team visits different websites at the same time, exploring the content they find there. Some great examples of what we mean:
- Live Stream of the Monterey Bay Aquarium
- NYC Parks at Home Virtual Tours
- Create Interactive Art with Silk
Be sure to check out our longer article all about virtual happy hour ideas!
Share in a Virtual Vacation
This is a fun way to pretend that travelling is still a thing. Virtual vacations let your team venture to a new and exotic location without ever leaving their couch!
At Virtual Vacations, you can choose from a huge variety of trip types and destinations. For example, maybe your team wants to spend the afternoon looking at world monuments. Or perhaps they’d rather take in a live stream of bustling downtown Amsterdam! It’s all possible, and a great way to offer a bit of a respite from the isolation of WFH.
Oh, you can also virtually visit a castle. NBD.
Virtual Summer Camp Day
This one requires a bit of planning, some willingness to be creative and a team that’s down for adventure!
Plan to take a full day off, and spread some fun virtual activities throughout the day! These should be activities people will actually want to do— AKA not work related. While we don’t think keeping everyone in front of their computer for an entire day will be super relaxing, if you organize three or four hour long events throughout the day, everybody will have the chance to participate in at least one of them! Some fun activities to consider:
- Guided virtual meditation or yoga class in the morning
- A fun team-building exercise in the afternoon
- Virtual happy hour in the evening
- A s’mores building party to end the night
Swag idea: Wrap up your virtual camp day by gifting people a s’mores kit they can use at home!
Read more: Top Swag Ideas for Your Next Golf Outing or Tournament
Virtual Museum Tour
If you want to inject a bit of culture into your social activities at work, a virtual museum tour could be just the thing to spark conversations about life’s finer things between team members.
Lots of museums around the world have begun offering tours of their galleries as the pandemic forced them to shut their physical doors. Now, it’s easier than ever to see some of the greatest pieces of art in the world— you can visit Madrid, Paris and Rome all in one afternoon! Check out this great list of museums you can tour.
Swag idea: Class up your virtual outing by sending your team a customized wine tumbler they can use while perusing Picassos.
Virtual field days are just one way you can make the summer special even for teams that are working remotely. If you need custom gifts or swag to help pull off the perfect event, check out our full collection of curated items. If you want to speak to an experienced swag rep about how we can help bring your swag vision to life, fill out the form below and we will reach out ASAP!
