The idea of a wide-scale company meeting held in an auditorium or a large conference room may seem good enough, as you’d rather stick to the tradition and focus on the goals rather than the process. But do you think your participants feel the same way?
In a training session, for example, you’re expecting newly hired employees to be full of anticipation, and like you, they’re looking forward to all the lessons they would learn. The question, however, is will they be enthusiastic enough to learn in a traditional meeting setup without fun incorporated in it?
If you’re going to hold a training soon, consider hiring a corporate event planner who can help you add twists and lace fun into your meetings. Click here to go to MTI Event’s website, a corporate event planning company that can help you come up with incredible training ideas.
That said, here are some fun ideas you should consider:
1. Choose a Theme
A themed training meeting is surely unusual, which would only excite your participants more. Try a leadership theme, where your new managers can exercise their skills right away, while also giving their team members a chance to take the lead on some parts. Come up with a group discussion portion in the meeting, where everyone can share their thoughts and ideas on training and leadership.
If you think a leadership theme would be a bit overwhelming, try a teamwork theme, instead. After all, teamwork in an organization is crucial, so why not highlight it in your training meeting? Plan on games where they can brainstorm, solve problems together, and get to know each other better.
Another fitting theme would be innovation, in which the goal is to make your new employees creative, great problem-solvers, and full of ideas. Activities can include brainstorming, group discussions, motivational talks, and a workshop on how to be innovative.
2. Provide Meaningful Audiovisual Presentation
A/V presentations are automatically needed when orienting new employees, but to make them more engaging, keep them short, but straight to the point. Overly-detailed and lengthy presentations will only bore them, so only include the most vital ones like your company’s vision and mission, and as for the rest, only present the highlights, and tailor them based on each job title’s needs.
Using demo videos can also keep your new employees engaged while trying to learn their jobs. The advantage of a video is that you can send it out to them after the meeting, so they can go back to it again and again until they master their designated tasks.
3. Have an Online Channel for the Team
This can be a group chat platform, or an online forums board. Establish an “online onboarding”, in which you’d gather the entire team and discuss their training programs digitally. Encourage interaction, questions, new ideas, and feedback. Online team channels are especially useful if you have employees working remotely.
Your online channel is where managers could also open discussions and spread important information to the team. In addition, the staff members can also post new ideas, open new topics, and share their personal thoughts and feelings.
4. Take Breaks
After long hours of talking and brainstorming, your new employees and managers will be drained, so they deserve little breaks. Play simple games at intervals to beat the boredom, have refreshments and snacks, and let them move through some stretching exercises. You can also pop some easy quizzes to test what they’ve learned so far.
With these fun training meeting ideas, you’ll never have boring and bland meetings again. Try to change things up yearly or every time you conduct these meetings. The best way to stir anticipation is to make your meetings and other corporate events fun and unpredictable.
