Most of the time goes not into the outing but into arranging it. Here is how to bring that back to an afternoon of work.
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Ask anyone who has organised a team outing where the time went, and the answer is rarely "choosing the activity". It is requesting quotes, comparing suppliers, finding a date that suits both the team and the provider, and justifying the cost afterwards.
That whole process is only necessary if you pick something that comes with a facilitator on site. Choose a format you can run yourself and it disappears — then it is picking a date and putting it in the calendar.
That does not mean settling for less. It means choosing something that does not depend on somebody turning up.
Pick a format that requires no fitness, knowledge or particular skill. The one colleague who could not join in mostly remembers that they could not join in.
With thirty participants, €25 a head is €750. Formats priced per activity get cheaper per person as the group grows.
Whoever spends the afternoon running things has not had a team outing. Pick something where the format itself enforces the rules.
It depends heavily on the format. The question that matters more is whether the provider charges per person or per activity — with a large group that difference outweighs the difference between providers.
Make attendance voluntary but the invitation personal, and pick a format that is not physically competitive. Most reluctance comes from expecting to have to perform.
Exercises that feel like exercises work badly. What does work is a situation where cooperating is the only way to win — then it happens by itself.
Pick something where the teams are deliberately mixed and different roles are needed. Then people work together who otherwise only exchange emails.
Uitvossen is a city-wide hunt for two teams, priced per game rather than per person. Try the free demo game over a lunch break.
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