Planning an indoor corporate team building event involves more than booking a room and choosing an activity. 

To create an event that employees genuinely enjoy and that delivers value for the organisation, you need to consider the objective, audience, venue, activity, timing and desired outcomes. 

Whether you’re organising a small team away day or an event for hundreds of employees, having a clear plan can make the experience significantly more effective. 

Here’s how to get started.

Define the Purpose of Your Event

Start with the most important question: 

What do you want your team building event to achieve? 

Your objective could be: 

• Employee engagement  

• Reward and recognition  

• Leadership development  

• Creativity  

• Problem-solving  

• Decision-making  

• Time management  

• Resource management  

• Strategic thinking  

• Team development  

• A mixture of skills and entertainment  

There isn’t a right or wrong answer. 

The important thing is knowing what you’re trying to achieve before selecting the activity.

Understand Your Audience

The right activity for one team may be completely unsuitable for another. 

Think about: 

• Number of participants  

• Age range  

• Physical abilities  

• Personality mix  

• Existing relationships  

• Familiarity with one another  

• Job roles  

• Experience of previous team building events  

An inclusive event should provide different ways for people to contribute. 

A participant doesn’t necessarily have to be the fastest or strongest person in the group to make an important contribution. 

They might be the person who spots a pattern, develops the strategy, manages the resources or keeps everyone focused on the deadline.

Choose the Right Type of Challenge

Indoor corporate team building can take many forms. 

If your objective is problem-solving, consider puzzles or escape-style challenges. 

For creativity, look at construction or design-based activities. 

For decision-making, choose an event that introduces pressure, limited information or changing circumstances. 

For employee engagement, competitive and highly entertaining activities can work particularly well. 

For a mixture of objectives, choose an event that combines several different types of challenge.

Consider Your Venue

The venue can have a significant impact on the success of your event. 

Consider: 

• Available floor space  

• Room layout  

• Number of breakout areas  

• Access to power  

• Lighting  

• Accessibility  

• Catering  

• Parking  

• Audio-visual facilities  

• Noise restrictions  

It’s also important to consider whether the activity can work effectively within the venue. 

An experienced event provider should be able to advise you about space and setup requirements.

Get the Timing Right

Nobody wants a team building event squeezed into an already exhausting schedule. 

When planning your agenda, consider how the activity fits around: 

• Registration  

• Presentations  

• Lunch  

• Breaks  

• Travel  

• Other conference sessions  

If the event forms part of a conference, shorter team building activities can be used to break up presentations and re-energise delegates. 

Alternatively, a longer event can provide the main focus of an away day.

Make the Event Inclusive

An effective corporate team building event should give everyone an opportunity to participate. 

This means thinking about physical requirements, confidence levels, accessibility and different personality types. 

Activities that combine different types of challenge can be particularly effective because they allow participants to contribute in different ways. 

A successful event isn’t necessarily one where everyone does exactly the same thing. 

It’s one where everyone has something valuable to contribute.

Think About Business Impact

If your organisation is investing time and money into team building, consider what you want participants to take away from the experience. 

This doesn’t mean every event needs to feel like a training session. 

In fact, some of the best learning happens when people are simply immersed in a challenge. 

However, identifying the skills and behaviours you want to encourage can help you select a more appropriate activity. 

At EML, we consider Business Impact alongside four other attributes: 

• Teamwork  

• Mental  

• Physical  

• Entertainment   

Each event is scored from 1 to 5 across these areas.

This gives clients a clearer understanding of what an activity is designed to deliver and helps them choose an event that aligns with their objectives.

Consider Facilitation

The people delivering your event can be just as important as the activity itself. 

Experienced facilitators help explain the challenge, manage the pace, maintain energy and ensure participants understand what they need to do. 

They can also help teams reflect on what happened during the activity. 

For example,  

what happened when the original plan failed? 

How did the team allocate resources? 

Who took responsibility? 

How were decisions made? 

These observations can create valuable opportunities to connect the event with real workplace behaviours.

Don’t Forget the Fun

While business impact is important, corporate team building should still be enjoyable. 

People are more likely to engage with a challenge when they’re having fun. 

Competition, humour and shared experiences can create memorable moments and help employees step away from their normal routines. 

The trick is finding the right balance. 

The event should feel like an experience, not another day of compulsory training.

Work With an Experienced Team Building Provider (Us!)

Planning everything yourself can quickly become complicated. 

An experienced corporate team building provider can help with: 

• Activity selection  

• Venue requirements  

• Event logistics  

• Group sizes  

• Team structures  

• Facilitation  

• Equipment  

• Timing  

• Adaptations  

• Business objectives  

At EML, we also offer Add-ons like Team Building Plus, where we reflect on your objectives, so the activity you choose becomes part of a bigger story rather than a standalone experience. We can also create bespoke team-building events where an existing activity isn’t the right fit. 

This allows the experience to be designed around a client’s specific industry, objectives or theme. 

Planning Your Indoor Corporate Team Building Event 

A successful indoor corporate team building event starts with understanding why you’re holding it. 

Once you’ve established your objectives, you can work backwards to choose the right activity, venue and format. 

Whether you’re looking for a highly entertaining experience, a mentally challenging competition or an event designed to develop practical workplace skills, there’s an indoor team building option to suit your requirements. 

At EML, we don’t believe there is one “best” team building activity. 

The best activity is the one that’s right for your people, your objectives and your organisation. 

And when those three things align, your team-building event can become much more than a day away from the office, it can become an experience people remember and skills they take back to work. 

Looking to book your next team-building event? Get in touch today, we’ll help you plan the best event for you.