I got the kind of phone call this morning that I love. A client referred someone to us, saying that our large group team building program actually worked, as if that should be a shock…But I understand why people are surprised. It’s hard to find large group team building activities that engage everyone in a fun and inclusive way.

There are two basic choices on how to approach your team building challenge; keep your large group together or break into smaller teams. Both choices are fun and effective. Agenda time and budget may dictate which route you go.

Large Group Team Building Challenges

Stay Together…

There are interactive keynote sessions that function as team builders. We get large groups out of their seats, engaged and working together in our song session keynotes and conference icebreakers. This program is successful because we tap into two important things that everyone can relate to; music and story. Music and story are powerful ice breakers, tapping into emotion and shared experience. We’ll write a song with several hundred people in sixty minutes. Those lyrical stories run the gamut from corporate themes, to shared challenges, gripes, goals or celebration. In fact, the songs our clients create with us almost always include all of those elements.

large group team building

Break Into Teams & Come Together

You can have effective large group team building while incorporating small group work. We’ve worked with groups of about 300 people, combining smaller team work with large group celebration. With 300 people, we might break everyone into ten teams of 30. Each separate team is led by a hit songwriter-facilitator as they create songs about the work they do. Each team writes and records their own song and then we all get back together for song competition. Quite often, we’ll work in small groups during a morning or afternoon as teams create their company songs. Then, as part of a dinner celebration, teams will take the stage and perform for each other, vying for awards such as ‘Best Lyric’, ‘Best Performance’ or ‘Best Song’. I really like this program because it combines small group work with large group celebration and some lighthearted competition.

If you’re stuck trying to plan your large group team building, don’t give up. You can find success!

About Billy Kirsch

Billy is a Grammy & Emmy nominated, CMA & ACM award winning songwriter with numerous Top 10 hits to his credit. His team building programs and keynote speaking presentations help people tap into their creative abilities to become more innovative and engaged in their work. Clients include Fortune 100 companies and organizations throughout the world.