Company Away Day Team Building Ideas in Ireland

Got the venue, meetings and away day organised but still need the team building? Here’s how to choose an activity that fits your group, your space and the 60 to 120 minutes you have available.

Most companies that contact us about team building for an away day already have everything else sorted.

The hotel is booked. The meeting room is booked. The presentations and business sessions are in the diary. They just need something fun for the team to do in between.

That’s where the team building comes in.

For most of the away days we work on, the activity isn’t supposed to take over the whole event. It’s a break from the business part of the day, usually for somewhere between 60 and 120 minutes.

The question is what to do with that time.

Start With the Time and Space You Actually Have

Before scrolling through dozens of activities, check two things: how much time is available and what space you have at the venue.

These are two of the biggest constraints we come across when helping clients choose an away day activity.

A hotel meeting room might comfortably hold your group for presentations, but that doesn’t automatically mean it has enough usable space for the team building activity you originally had in mind.

Tables, chairs and presentation layouts can change how much of the room is actually available.

That doesn’t mean the activity is off.

If you tell us the room and setup you’re working with, we can advise on activities that will work in the available space. Or, if the venue and weather allow it, you might decide to get everyone out of the meeting room altogether.

If You Only Have an Hour: Code Breaker

Code Breaker is one of the activities we regularly consider when an away day schedule is tight.

Teams work through locked boxes, clues and props as they try to crack the codes needed to unlock the final safe.

It runs for one hour, accommodates groups of 10 to 100 and can be delivered indoors at hotels and conference venues.

That makes the format useful when you’ve got a clear gap in the agenda rather than an entire afternoon to fill.

If the morning has been presentations and company updates, you can move into the activity without having to take everyone to another location.

If You Want to Get Out of the Meeting Room: Digital Treasure Hunt

Sometimes the best use of the team building slot is simply to get everyone outside.

With a Digital Treasure Hunt, teams head out with iPads and use a live GPS map to find hotspots around the location. Reaching them unlocks trivia, photo and video challenges, with teams competing for points along the way.

We build the route around where you want the activity to start and finish, and the format can run from 60 to 120 minutes.

This can also solve a practical problem.

If you’ve booked a hotel meeting room that’s fine for the business part of the day but too tight for the team activity you had in mind, taking the team building outside gives you another option.

If you’re at a hotel or estate with suitable grounds, the activity can potentially use the venue itself. If you’re based somewhere suitable for a city or town route, the surrounding area can become part of the event.

If You Want Puzzles and Competition: The Escape

If your group likes escape rooms, The Escape brings that type of challenge to your venue.

The premise is that the team has been framed for an art heist. They have to search for clues, crack codes and unlock evidence as they race to clear their names.

The Escape is an indoor activity, takes around 90 minutes and is available for groups of eight or more.

Because we bring the activity to the venue, it can sit neatly between the business part of the away day and whatever you have planned afterwards.

If You Want Lots of Different Challenges: Level Up

Not every group wants one big puzzle or storyline.

Level Up gives teams ten different levels containing a mixture of trivia, puzzles and creative challenges. Teams choose the difficulty of the tasks they take on and try to accumulate as many points as possible.

It runs indoors for 60 or 90 minutes and can accommodate groups from 8 to 400+.

It’s a useful option when you have a mixed group and want the activity itself to keep changing rather than asking everyone to spend the whole session doing one type of challenge.

It also fits neatly into an away day schedule because you can choose the 60 or 90-minute format depending on the time you’ve been given.

If You Don’t Want Everything to Be Competitive: Big Picture

Away day team building doesn’t have to mean racing against another team.

Big Picture gives the group something creative to work on together. Participants paint individual sections of a larger artwork before the separate pieces are assembled to reveal the finished picture.

It gives you a very different format from Code Breaker, The Escape or a Digital Treasure Hunt.

If the brief is less about scores and winning and more about giving everyone something completely different to do after the business part of the day, Big Picture is worth considering.

What Should You Choose for Your Group?

There isn’t one activity we recommend for every company away day.

When a client comes to us, we’ll usually look at:

• Your group size
• Where the away day is taking place
• How much time you have
• The space available at the venue
• Whether you want to stay indoors or get outside
• How active you want the session to be
• Your budget
• What your group is likely to enjoy

From there, the shortlist gets much easier.

If you only have 60 minutes, that immediately rules some activities in and others out.

If you’ve got 90 to 120 minutes and plenty of outdoor space, there are more options.

If your meeting room is smaller than expected, we’ll work with the space you actually have rather than recommending something that isn’t practical.

And if the main requirement is simply “we’ve been in meetings all morning and want something fun after lunch”, that’s a perfectly good brief too.

See What Other Companies Have Done

Sometimes it’s easier to get ideas by seeing what other companies have actually done on their away days.

Dynamic Events has delivered team building as part of away days, offsites and wider company events for corporate groups across Ireland.

Our company away day case studies show how different companies have approached their events, the activities they chose and how team building fitted into the wider day.

If you’re still deciding what might work for your own group, they’re a useful place to get ideas.

Already Have Your Away Day Organised?

If the venue and wider day are already booked, you don’t need to have the team building figured out before contacting us.

Send us your date, group size, venue, available time, budget and an idea of what your group would enjoy.

We’ll look at the time and space you’re working with and recommend activities that make sense.

If you’re earlier in the process and need support with more than the activity, explore our Company Away Days & Offsites service.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Should We Allow for Team Building on a Company Away Day?

For many of the away days we work on, the team building part lasts around 60 to 120 minutes.

The right amount of time depends on the activity. Code Breaker takes one hour, The Escape takes around 90 minutes and Digital Treasure Hunt can run from 60 to 120 minutes.

What if Our Hotel Meeting Room Is Too Small for Team Building?

Tell us what space you have available before choosing the activity.

We can recommend options that suit the room you’re working with. Depending on the venue and your plans, you may also be able to take the team building outside with an activity such as a Digital Treasure Hunt.

Should Team Building Happen Before or After the Business Sessions?

There’s no fixed rule, but many companies use the activity as a break from the business part of their away day.

If the morning is taken up with meetings or presentations, an activity after lunch can give the group a completely different type of session before moving on to dinner or the rest of the event.

What Information Do You Need to Recommend an Activity?

Send us your group size, venue and location, available time, budget, indoor or outdoor preference and an idea of how active you want the activity to be.

You don’t need to know which activity you want before getting in touch.

Can Dynamic Events Organise More Than the Team Building?

Yes. If you haven’t already organised the wider event, our Company Away Days & Offsites service covers the broader planning and delivery of corporate away days in Ireland.