30 ideas for virtual retreats to help refresh and reset your staff blog

A virtual retreat is beneficial when it allows employees to step back from the day-to-day routine and review, refresh, and cultivate team bonds.

But, the people who lead today are facing serious problems. Forbes estimates that over fifty per cent ( 52%) of the respondents in their survey suffer from burnout in 2021. In addition, with the most workers in the industry of information from home, or logging in to a hybrid workplace and a hybrid workspace It is very difficult, or even impossible to gather every member of your team to an event like a retreat.

In this post this article, we give a quick overview of what a virtual retreat could be, and the reasons leaders need to consider organizing one. In addition, we provide ideas of best methods and a variety of ways to get you back to the right place.

What will we cover

What is a virtual retreat?

But, the hybrid and remote work aren't free of challenges. 16 percent of folks from Buffer's survey say that remote work is a lonely experience, and 16% have trouble working as teams. The day-to-day work can dampen spirits and take a toll on individual and team productivity.

Virtual retreats are similar to those in-person retreats that they're modelled after. There's still certain planning that needs to be done, such as making a strategy and setting goals, creating an agenda, and then putting the dates onto your employee calendars. We'll get further details in the section.

Therefore, with no further delay we'll present a list of 30 tips to help plan a productive retreat for the team.

30 ways to create virtual retreats

1. Wellness workshop

The study of 2018 found that nearly two thirds of employees within the US suffer from fatigue. It's a pandemic that's coming on, however I'm betting the numbers will only increase this is why that virtual wellness program is a hugely popular alternative.

Encourage office workers to join in for the practice of yoga or a meditation for some time of relaxation. Also, you can dedicate some time to asking everyone what they are doing to boost their fitness.

2. Virtual coffee

An online coffee meeting is the perfect way to start conversations by having a delicious hot cup of coffee. Be sure to send the coffee and cups with a logo for employees in advance.

In order to create an atmosphere that resembles a cafe, You can engage the services of a band to perform either at the start or during the middle of your retreat session. You can also invite your staff to share their coffee-making tips and other beverages with each other.

3. Virtual workshop

Another option for learning that you can add to your online retreat plan is inviting your group to take part in a virtual class. A company called the Remote Company designed an Museum Hack storytelling workshop for their employees, and they delivered it via virtual.

For the duration of the three hours of group work, group members worked together as 4-5 participants to develop their own stories, aided by examples, storieshacks as well as other tips that workshop hosts talked about.

Make a story-telling session for your team or one that teaches an important, related skill that all teams which include marketing customers service, sales etc. - could appreciate.

4. Virtual coffee: learn, and live

There is a chance to discuss news and gossip during a coffee chat at your virtual retreat. You are able to use coffee as a way to exchange information amongst yourself.

The remote Hotjar team usually hosts 15 minute long sessions where each participant in the group gives speeches while others relax and drink their coffee. All the while, they learn some new information.

Take a look at their coffees and learn program:

Source: Hotjar

In your schedule for the virtual you can plan small-scale classes where students choose the topic they want to know more about. Invite the group to participate by drinking any beverage - even freshly squeezed juices, or fancy smoothies in case they'd like. There's no end to being creative, actually.

5. The team should create music lists in conjunction

In teams that collaborate throughout the day on projects related to work, plan an online chat for 30 minutes in which the teams share their thoughts on creation of music-related lists.

Take a page from the Trello team that uses Spotify to listen and curate productivity-boosting and de-stressing playlists. Repeat this process to your group.

6. Virtual book club

It's impossible to ignore this retreat online idea when you've got readers in your team. Ask for book recommendations before the retreat and make sure that all attendees have an audiobook or eBook (whatever you'd like to call it). their choice).

Allow the group to go through a chapter of the book or the entirety before meeting virtually for a discussion of the book. Everyone is expected to bring two questions, two key takeaways (even even if it's a nonfiction book), and lots of diverse thoughts.

7. Virtual movie screening

Additionally, you could invite your colleagues along to see a film. Bring everyone in for the film, chat responses in real-time as well as a debrief following the conclusion. Also, you can send snacks to the movie such as popcorn, cupcakes as well as cookies and other treats ahead of the event.Alternatively you could choose one of the smaller shows that is viewed by all in a group. ERGs from's hosts an ongoing show from the America TV show Pose. Verve Logic, an IT business, gave its employees an extra day to enjoy the cult Spanish show, Money Heist. This means that you can consider such a day as an element of your vacation without stressing whether it would garner a great deal of interest from your employees.

8. Virtual Office Road Trip

Prior to 2020, a number of remote businesses held offsite retreats, where teams would fly to destinations. An option that is now feasible but not the virtual office travel like one that was created by the Front office team had designed for their team.

They visited all three cities that they operate in with offices. They all recorded videos from each location and recorded what they enjoyed, other places they went to as and other locations they went to.

Source: Front

Have teammates in different countries? It's no problem. Ask them to pick the location they want to visit and then voyage at the same with the rest of the team as everyone takes notes of their travels as they travel. Do not forget to bring with you the most essential travel items.

9. Virtual GIF battles

Who doesn't love a fun GIF? It's a simple and simple plan for your retreat. The GIF battle can include 3-4 themed games.

Play in groups or have your staff members play the game battle royale-style while they search for theme GIFs during each round, using Google pictures or GIPHY.com. A participant who has the most votes in their GIF wins the round, and ultimately the match.

Pro Tips: You can also create a meme or find a similar battle like this.

10. Virtual guide to work style creating a session

One great way to build bonds during the virtual retreat is asking employees to establish their work styles guidelines. Before going on the retreat, have participants to write a document about their working style that defines their style of communication along with their working methods and suggestions for collaboration. Atlassian provides a variety of Templates for User Manuals that you can try for help in getting everyone started.

When the team is ready, members must read one another's "user manuals" whether asynchronously or synchronously. It is then time to build a repository or library to house the manuals.

11. Fitness retreats, self-care or online

It could be anything that is a meditative experience, using face masks, or even getting manicures with the group. Individuals can go out to salons and share their progress and photos with their team to help keep the positive energy flowing.

There is also the option to organize a fitness challenge. By using Peloton as an example, virtual bikeathons for groups are much more simple due to their stream-friendly bicycle workouts.

12. Virtual creative challenges

Another option is to ask your employees to take part in creative writing or arts challenges during your corporate retreat. This can be as simple as inviting employees to paint, draw sketches, sketch writing, sketch the idea of a sketch, or whatever other activities.

The Balsamiq team held creative Challenges in which the participants were able to create a Frida Kahlo-inspired portrait using various materials - acrylic paints, sharpies, highlighters and crayons.

Source: Balsamiq Creative Challenges

13. Virtual concert with music

The following step is one suggestion that is one of the best to host virtual retreats for your staff: a virtual music concert. Request musicians to be members of your remote team on the internet.

Have musicians with you? Great. Get those talented folks to take up on the guitar, or any other instrument they are skilled at for a musical-themed session that everyone can enjoy to get recharged.

14. Virtual food challenge

It's a fun and exciting idea to think about the idea of an eating contest that participants can take part in online. Offer coupons for restaurants or delivery prior to the event and request everyone to bring home the winning item like pizza, nachos, hot wings, hot dogs to participate.

15. Virtual cooking/baking classes

There's no end of things that your team could do. Think about the Parabol group who organized an Chinese cooking class to hold a group retreat. The group worked together, made new friends together, and enjoyed dumplings in groups and made the best utilization of their shared experiences during a time of gathering.

16. Have fun playing Lego with your friends.

Another enjoyable and easy concept to host a virtual retreat. Select a theme and then begin to build live together with your group. You can also play other games like Bingo in a group. Learn more about the games you can play for your online retreat are below.

17. Learn something new every day.

In order to balance fun with some educational fun, write off a learning each day activity on your virtual retreat agenda. What is the plan? Learn something new about your teammates, or about a different area, or an entirely new technique.

For example, ask teammates to come up with and present the '10 things that I am proud of' list to discover the talents and jokes they can share. As with like the HelpScout group, you may request team members to post GIFs representing them in an anonymous manner. Then, let others determine the GIF is representative of which team member.

Another suggestion that was conceived by the Helpscout group is encouraging people to design hats with things they have in their homes.

18. Cocktail making class

A hat-making course can add the feeling of adventure to your online retreat, and a cocktail-making class can add an entirely new level of enjoyment.

19. Virtual scavenger hunt

It's possible to design an entirely remote or hybrid Scavenger hunt in your group. If you decide to go with the former alternative, ask participants to go from one place to another within their area to discover clues, while also following clues in their own homes.

If you're planning to do an online hunt, ask your participants browse the internet to locate items that are available online.

Here's a great beginner-level Microsoft Teams Scavenger Hunt:

Source: Microsoft Teams

20. Geocaching

For your group to be able to move out of their homes look into geocaching as a useful and enjoyable method. The Parabol team searched for in two days and gave their group with an GPS tracker to ensure that they could get out to enjoy the beauty of nature surrounding their group. Members of the team shared photos and videos of their adventures.

21. Virtual bonfire

Make use of the retreat as a chance to catch up with your group, too. Bring a box of snacks (campfire cupcakes are essential!) before the time. Be open to discussion or discuss some interesting topics which break the ice, such as your personal goals for growth and achievements.

22. 30-minute chatroulette

It's an alternative remote team building exercise of the Hotjar team that you can add to your ideas for virtual teams to use in retreats.

The plan? Get officemates to join in an hour of conversation - something that is vital for teams that have a remote location, since a lot of people may not (or maybe, never) have the ability to communicate with people who are members of different teams.

Have a go at Try Donut the Slack-based app which randomizes pairing of teammates for an internet-based chat. Each participant can participate with beverages and donuts, should they wish to discuss anything aside from work.

If you prefer to have your team members chat via the chat method, then you can begin by holding a a chat for 15 minutes as well, so that everyone gets onto at least 3 calls within an hour.

23. Themed events

You can also create a party similar to a Met Gala party, or an easy themed event. In order to add more entertainment factor, consider hosting live entertainment at your event.

24. A fireside chat with an industry expert or influencer

25. Social media challenges

26. Game streams from virtual video

Through streaming, it's feasible for the group to play live video games against each other. Beware: this retreat could consume longer than you think because do people not lose the track of time while enjoying themselves?

There are many ways to organize teams of players play however, you could also organize gaming streaming in which well-known game streamers are playing while office workers observe or cheer and change side at any time.

27. Virtual photography contest

Everyone loves taking an amazing photo Do they? You can even get people who have a phobia of cameras to be a bit more adventurous. This is by encouraging everyone to utilize filters and shoot photos with themes.

End the contest with a ceremony to award prizes like the most funny picture, the hardest worker', the most influential and many more.

28. Virtual art conference

A conference that is centered on art could be an excellent opportunity to inspire employees. A lot of art-related conferences are now presenting live shows as well as arranging online live events.

29. Virtual theater performances

Similar to the concept of an online concert, a virtual theater production is the perfect way for anyone to have fun. It is possible to choose small-scale plays or musical performances.

Actually, theatres all over the globe offer live streaming - a practice they adopted in light of the pandemic COVID-19. Ballet Idaho, Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts, and Opera Philadelphia are some examples.

30. Virtual games

Finally, you could make your retreat more enjoyable by playing games on the internet too. This is great since games can easily fit in any schedule for retreats regardless of your goal to study and plan. Try some of these: Skribblio, Weavr two truths and the truth and Picktionary.

How do I do a virtual retreat?

Are you impressed by all the virtual team idea for retreats? Awesome. We'll go through how to plan an unforgettable virtual retreat:

You must ensure that you are on your event team

Decide whom you'll work with to plan, organize, and execute your retreat online.

It's possible to take on the entire task with the help of a group of tech support staff. But a better approach is to get departmental managers to discuss the objectives as well as strategies, and resources for virtual retreat concepts internal.

Each department could have smaller specific goals for their own online conference. All of which must be integrated in a larger, corporate-wide strategy.

However, the details are contingent on what the organization and different departmental heads want to accomplish during your retreat.

Plan your agenda for your virtual retreat, and 2-3 targets

The first thing to do is decide why you want to organize an online conference. What benefits will it bring to your company and its employees?

Find out more in Agorapulse's CMO, Michael Angiletta's memoir, in which he organized the team's very first virtual retreat. "I carried out a survey of our marketing staff, and I asked everybody to identify the biggest challenges they faced and the best possibilities. I attempted to construct an agenda around those."

Next, brainstorm and then write the goals.

Do you wish to unite your group to help get to know one another? Or, do you want to combine fun and strategy and planning to plan for the coming quarter? There is also the option to create a virtual retreat in order to accomplish a different goal, like employee appreciation or acknowledgement.

One thing to keep on your mind: don't record the biggest desired goals, and try to meet them all with one retreat. This can backfire in a variety of ways.

What are the best ways to ensure your retreat goes smoothly is successful, that it meets the goals and that the participants are having a great time? The best way is to establish three objectives as well as plan your retreat around these.

Determine important information like costs and the duration of your occasion.

After you've set your goals, get into infrastructural planning. Fill in the following questions:

• What's the budget you have available? Can it allow you to investigate the possibilities you have in your head?
• What number of people are expected in attendance at the gathering? This will help you plan and prepare virtual tech in the right way.
• What is the length of the retreat be? What is the day's subject?

Write a detailed list of the things that you can do during your virtual retreat and also the timetable

If you're overwhelmed by the ideas in you have in your head, go through the list of virtual retreat concepts we've discussed in the last post. choose those that are in line with your goal to hold the retreat.

For instance, that the goal of the remote team is to help employees get acquainted, it's best to investigate the 30-minute chatroulette concept. If you're hoping to increase education, think about the option of studying retreats and coffee.

Pro-tip Get suggestions from your colleagues. It will be amazing how many imaginative ideas they're in a position to offer you. Furthermore, asking employees for ideas questions can stimulate them to think about the idea and build anticipation of the occasion as well.

Once your checklist of tasks is complete, you can elaborate on the appropriate timing of each one. Include breaks so that you are putting a plan that is realistic to follow.

Take a look at Parabol's calendar for their virtual retreat. You can see how they've given the events fun names and then paired the sessions with an extensive description to make it clear.

Source: Parabol

Attention Take care to pay particular attention to the timing zones when you're planning if you're from different nations. It is also important to keep a record of each session to ensure that people who aren't able to attend are able to see their sessions later when they're.

Choose the best technology for you.

Now comes the tech-y part which will be the foundation that will control the whole event.

Think about: How can the team coordinate and meet for the event? Then write down each tool that can help, starting with your team's communication channel (such such as Slack) to get suggestions, sharing schedules, in addition to reminding them.

You might also want to add Slack-based apps such as Donut in your toolbox. The two other tools you'll need to help support your retreat online:

• Zoom to allow one-to-one interactions.
• : For broadcasting live events for employees, such as art classes, wellness workshops, and so on.

The HelpScout group, as an instance, was connected by sharing home tours. Becca Van Nederynen, the company's head of People Ops shares:

"We are a family of four where we film home tour videos called At Home with Help Scout. Our team enjoys watching these videos, however they typically don't have time to create videos of their own. Therefore, we incorporated filming an at-home tour in one of our activities for retreats!"

In the same way, they also used video in lieu of an online award ceremony. Van Nederynen explains:

"Instead of a real-time award ceremony, which we'd be able to do at a retreat, each manager took a hilarious and silly video of the ceremony and posted it on the Slack the retreat channel.

To make the bizarre more interesting We asked the managers to choose a random item from their household in order to symbolize the award to present in their video. The result was dancing T-Rexs, a ceremonious toilet paper, and even an animated unicorn which would've never occurred if we'd seen each other in person."

But, if you're thinking that you are employing new programs for your online retreat ensure that you are aware of the best way to utilize them. You should have tech support ready to help attendees use these programs for a seamless retreat event.

Invite invitees

Based on the budget you have depending on your budget, you can choose to send an email or Slack invites. Also, you could make it more exciting by sending out physical invitations in special packages of care to the occasion.

Make sure you add items to your care package in line with the types of games that teams will be playing and the other activities that they'll engage in during the retreat. For example, snacks, a excellent book, coffee mug, notebook along with the travel itinerary (if you're planning to travel) just to mention a few.

Request feedback

When your retreat comes to an end, be certain to gather feedback through surveys. Discover how employees felt the retreat helped facilitate your objectives. It is important to note each specific goal.

Example: On a scale of one to 10 How did your online retreat assist in helping improve your relationships with your fellow team members?

The other questions you can ask during the after-retreat survey include:

• Did you feel satisfied with the event?
• What was the activity that you were most happy with?
• Have you got any other thoughts or suggestions?
• What could we can improve on next time?
• Was it straightforward to use the tools during the virtual retreat?
• What does this incident mean in your view of the business?

Virtual retreat FAQs

 What can you do to create a relaxing virtual getaway?

Mix learning and entertainment in order for employees to take their minds off of work as well as to keep them entertained. Create snack bags beforehand and enjoy films with your colleagues. Make art together and get to know each other better, and chat with coffee. Fun is the main ingredient about the event and it brings energy into the room. How do I host an online getaway?

Virtual retreats can be a success when you have a well-planned plan and tools. First, identify the purpose of your retreat, and then pick activities to assist towards achieving the desired outcome. Then, choose the right equipment that meets your requirements, and you'll have the basic blueprint for hosting a retreat online.  How do you make an online retreat for your employees?

Create a schedule for your virtual retreat. start brainstorming and finding ideas for the activities to be conducted by your team. After that, you'll be able to narrow down the ideas to ensure they fit into the event's scheduled timeframe. After that, you'll need devices to aid in your event, and you're prepared. What can you do when you getaway?

On a retreat, the group unwinds and engages in something completely different from the normal routine of working. Retreats help teams connect to enjoy themselves, explore interesting things and boost efficiency by allowing moment to slow down and take in the collective life.

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