Category: Teambuilding

Indoor team building for large groups can be a challenge. The limited floor space immediately takes several options off the table. There’s no space for running around and there’s little space for equipment setup.

Some team building programs can scale up and fit with any size group. More equipment, more teams….no problem. While others (I’m looking at you Masterchef) are simply not suitable for large groups. Imagine trying to judge the food of 30 or 40 teams. It would just get tedious.

With large groups indoors, you will often find companies doing activities in which only one or two players from each team are involved while the others remain merely supporters and observers. I think that this approach is not good enough. I want everyone to be involved.

So I’m always thinking about new ways to keep hundreds of people fully engaged while in an indoor team building setting.

For this particular group of 250 pax at Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon Beach, I had already designed and utilised separate elements of the activity with smaller groups. My design challenge here was to (a) bring these disparate elements together into a cohesive theme and then (b) scale things up.

Tons of equipment…check. Loads of teams…check. Massive cleanup operation after the event…check.

Once the design had been finalised it all came down to delivery. With large groups it is imperative to keep things simple. Clear and concise instructions, easy to understand activity components, adequate timings, and activity blocks that are self-managing rather than requiring intensive staff supervision.

I can’t release the details of this specific event as my client always requests anonymity. But I was particularly pleased with how every participant was fully engaged in the activity throughout the whole 2.5 hours. The energy levels were intense.

What I was not so pleased about was the event cleanup afterwards. I still have the carpet burns on my knees from crawling around on the floor like a Victorian chambermaid, tidying up equipment and supplies and returning the hotel ballroom to its original state. In hindsight, I should have got the losing team to do it.

I hadn’t been to Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa for a while so it was nice to be back again. They have some of the best toilets around and I always look forward to a visit. Seriously. In the men’s facilities each cubicle has an open wall which looks out onto a fish pond with Koi carp. One of the greatest views when you’re taking a break.

Aside from the toilets it’s also a nice beachfront property.

This group of 50 pax had an ongoing theme throughout the week – “Fast & Furious”. So our Amazing Race Phuket was an easy choice for their team building on the final morning.

The hot dry season arrived early this year and it was an absolutely boiling hot, sunny day. Luckily, the client was from the healthcare and supplement industry so they brought along plenty of their own SPF 50 sunblock. It was also an early morning event which helped keep temperatures down a little.

The fast and furious theme was evident when the group arrived. You could see the level of competitiveness and enthusiasm. In keeping with the theme, the event was shortened and over three hours, six teams raced around the northernmost tip of Phuket in our best-selling Amazing Race Phuket.

Wrapping things up at 1100 with some awesome prizes for the winners (Apple Watches etc.) half the group then had to quickly shower and change and jump on a transfer bus to the airport for flights back to Australia. It was non-stop.

If this brand keeps up the fast and furious theme at work they are sure to be ultra competitive in their market.

The organiser of this cooking team building in Phuket was indeed very organised and we had had this event locked into our schedule for many months. So it was nice to finally meet everyone in person and conduct the activity that we had been talking so much about.

It was a highly customised version of our popular Masterchef cooking challenge and was held at Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon Beach for 14 management and strategy consultants. In total, the event lasted 5 hours, which is a pretty long time for a cooking team building. However, the additional activities and challenges that we brought in for this event gave participants plenty to do and it was great to see everyone fully engaged throughout the event.

Set on a stunning wooden deck overlooking the Andaman Sea, the view was outstanding. A great spot for a nice, easygoing shared team experience. It is the atmosphere that makes our cooking team building program so enjoyable. It’s got such a nice feel to it and is one of my personal favourites as a facilitator because I have an opportunity to really get to know the participants and host at a personal level.

The director and his wife were keen cooks at home and were leading the way all day. The care and attention that went into each of their dishes showed on the plate. It was even more impressive that they were vegan and they produced vegetarian and vegan alternatives to some famous and not-so-famous Thai dishes. We supplied tofu, soy protein, vegan fish sauce, and oyster sauce alternatives to allow the Thai flavours to be showcased in a way that was suitable for vegans. It’s always a tough challenge to make tofu flavourful but they surpassed expectations.

The Gen Z participants struggled a little more and they freely admitted that they never cook. But, considering this, they managed admirably. Perhaps less ‘Michelin Star’ and more ‘Michelin Tyre’ though….

It was no surprise to anyone then that the vegan team went on to win. In fact, teams were so impressed that recipes were shared after the event and vegan fish sauce was taken home.

When we get a team building group that is a bit on the small side (see my post on the ideal team size for team building), some programs on our menu are simply not suitable. You can’t successfully run an Olympic-style sports program with only 9 pax for example. So, in situations like this, I usually recommend something creative instead. A cooking challenge works well for small group team building but my absolute favourite is movie making team building.

It’s highly creative and technically challenging. As a result it allows participants to really go deep into the team building experience by sharing ideas, planning properly, and collaborating closely without the rush that sometimes accompanies a team building event with larger groups. Small group team building is more personal and intimate and we can afford to take the time to consider things in more depth.

This small group of senior leaders and their CEO came to us from the hospitality industry and we held the event at Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithon Beach, one of my favourite hotels on the island.

I have already said that small group team building is more detailed and creative. This movie making team building was a tough challenge. With our comprehensive collection of costumes and props, teams set about filming their movies around hotel grounds and the nearby beach areas, attracting plenty of odd and confused looks from other tourists and hotel staff.

Teams have to think of everything including scouting locations, script writing, directing, acting, filming, sound production, cinematography, and editing. There’s a role for everyone in the team. The extroverts usually volunteer for the lead acting roles while the introverts often take on more supporting actor roles. Also, there’s always someone who excels in the editing phase and reveals hidden talents.

Even with the help of ChatGPT in their script writing, this particular group seemed to forget about the speaking roles. It was more of a 1920s silent movie, more Benny Hill than Brad Pitt. Despite that, it’s always hilarious watching one another in the final product and, for this reason, movie making team building remains one of my personal favourites.

Team building in Krabi has always been popular with our Malaysian groups. Particularly the beachside town of Ao Nang.

It offers a chilled-out destination for MICE groups to relax (and have some meetings of course) while still offering direct international flights to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. There are some fantastic hotels to suit all budgets from comfortable accommodation right in the heart of Ao Nang to luxury stays at Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve.

This industrial tech company is a well-known international brand and we worked with their Malaysian offices. In fact, we operated five team building events for them over the course of two months, all here in Ao Nang, Krabi.

Since Ao Nang is rather compact and our client had limited time, we designed a walking version of our popular Amazing Race – a walk rally, as it’s often known here in Thailand. From their hotel right on the beach, teams made their way to selected locations along Ao Nang beach and the main tourist area, completing plenty of team challenges and earning points along the way.

A walk rally in Ao Nang, Krabi is a great team building option if you want to get out of the hotel for a bit but don’t have the time to travel around too much. It’s also a very affordable option if budget is a little tight as there is no need for expensive transportation.

But with our team building experience, we can certainly keep the energy levels through the roof, the competition intense, and the engagement levels high.

Team building in Khao Lak is a nice treat when it comes along and I always enjoy the change of scenery when I visit. This hugely fun group came to us all the way from Australia and our two day event for 30 pax was held at JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort and Spa, an awesome resort directly on the beach.

I like running team building in Khao Lak because it has such a chilled atmosphere. It offers a more relaxed corporate retreat than nearby Phuket but is still only around 1.5 hours from Phuket International Airport. Arranging your retreat here means 2-3 days of impressive beaches, beautiful hotel accommodation, seaview restaurants, and plenty of time for relaxation and cocktail-powered chats with colleagues.

I guess you could also consider a couple of meetings along the way…

This particular team building group was a delight.

Day one was an Amazing Race Khao Lak, a fast-paced and high-energy race around the town, beaches, and nearby national park.

Day Two was a dinner team building event at JW Marriott’s beachside Italian restaurant, Olive. A seafood BBQ, cocktails, speeches, and some curious blue lighting and fog. It was a sort of nightclub effect, albeit with a slightly older and slightly less cool audience 🙂

Dinner team building is one of my favourite events to facilitate and I have plenty of hilarious stage games and improvisation games to keep the audience engaged. A few cocktails beforehand always helps get people in the mood.

The above photo from the dinner looks like a husband trying to explain to his wife why he is late home. However, since we were in the middle of a pub quiz, I think it more likely that he was trying to explain to his boss why he got the answer wrong when he was so confident earlier.

Whatever the reason, she’s less than impressed.

My new team building menu 2026 (Phuket and Bangkok) has just been released.

Nice and early this year. It’s normally February when I release the new menu but you know what it’s like when you get “in the zone” and creativity is flowing. Recently, in between events, I was able to have a bit of downtime and have a good think about what improvements could be made to existing programs and what new activities could be introduced.

The new menu includes a new outdoor team building program as well as three new indoor options. In addition, a refined pricing structure offers greater affordability on selected programs.

The indoor options are great for groups staying in Bangkok. A lot of team building in Bangkok is held indoors because Bangkok hotels often don’t have much garden space, groups want to avoid travel through traffic, and there’s a certain formality to MICE events in Bangkok. These new indoor team building options offer something quite different from the norm and, while indoor team building of course comes with some limitations, I am confident that these new offerings will keep levels of engagement high.

You can request a copy of the 2026 team building menu from here.

Joining me for this Amazing Race in Bangkok was a department from an NGO headquartered in Switzerland. The participants formed a remote team across the world in India, China, Germany, and the UK and this was the first time they had got together. With the rise of Work From Home (WFH) in recent years, it has become increasingly common for me to work with groups who have never met each other in person before. While this team meets online every day, they had never met in the real world. And, while WFH of course starts to build relationships, there is no substitute for real world interactions, shared experiences, dinner, and a beer.

We started the race from the Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn. My amazing race leaves teams to figure things out for themselves and come up with their own plan. Team leaders need to strategise and prioritise. In this case, it was the most chaotic start to a race I have ever seen. Teams were hilariously unorganised like some sort of Laurel and Hardy slapstick comedy act from the 1930s. One particular incident involving a hotel lift (or elevator for our American friends) will go down in history as a real WTF! moment.

However, after a while, the teams did manage to settle down into a decent plan and the race took us across Bangkok on a hot and humid afternoon. Instead of ending the race back at the hotel, the group had booked their evening dinner at Blue Elephant Restaurant, a high-end restaurant set in a stunning colonial-style house that specialises in Royal Thai Cuisine. Built in 1903, it was originally a luxury department store before housing the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce from 1928. In 2002, the building was restored and turned into the world-famous restaurant known as Blue Elephant.

It was a lovely evening of food and drink, a couple of speeches, and some singing. Not by me of course. We Brits are not known for our singing skills. The Indian and Chinese participants impressed though. The organiser had arranged a bottle of champagne for the best singer. Funnily enough, it was her.

I have often said that our version of the Amazing Race is our biggest-selling team building program in Phuket. Why is that?

• It gets everyone involved.
• Suitable for both extroverts and introverts.
• Highly competitive and high energy.
• Takes groups out of the hotel for a while.
• Allows participants to see a bit of the island.
• Includes interaction with the local community.
• Not too physically demanding.
• Offers varied challenges and is a nice mix of activities.

But some groups make the race extra special. This group, back in 2019, was one such case. The company was from the oil and gas industry and based out of Singapore and Malaysia. It was a group of 40 department heads and senior leaders, staying at the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket at Patong Beach.

When I think of my favourite team building experiences in Phuket, I always come back to this particular group as a standout. While we didn’t do anything different from normal as far as the race setup itself, the participants had a certain ‘buzz’ which carried through all day.

We started the race in the morning, stopped for lunch in a fantastic beachside restaurant along the way, and ended the race mid-afternoon. Then, my team was back in the evening to continue the merriment over dinner with some dinner and audience stage games.

The energy levels did not drop even for a second. It was obvious that this team had incredibly strong and positive relationships with one another. I always look for this in the groups I work with. I’ve worked with so many groups in which the senior leaders do not really engage. When this happens, there is a disconnect with the rest of the group and energy and enthusiasm are low. But when the leaders demonstrate positivity and a sense of humour, the dynamics of the group change completely.

I’m not saying that leaders should behave like clowns. But I strongly believe that they should bring a certain ‘energy’ to the group. Passion, interest, humour, rapport. Too many leaders take themselves too seriously. While you’re on a team building program with your colleagues, forget about the potential effect of upcoming tarrifs on your bottom line and loosen up. Your responsibility as a leader is not just to your shareholders. It’s also to your team.

Anyway, this particular group had the right leaders in the right places. The atmosphere was electric all day and the managing director was a fan of stand-up comedy, as I am. While I’m no Ricky Gervais (although I am certainly a bit of a fanboy), I did manage to land a few memorable quips and risqué anecdotes of my own and enjoyed my time in the spotlight with this outstanding team that I will remember forever.

This group came to us from a financial institution in Singapore. It was the same organisation that we worked with in January but a different department. Once again, it was a real pleasure working with them. For this particular event, we had 32 pax staying at Centara Karon Resort Phuket.

There’s not much more I can say about our Amazing Race Phuket. I have written about it so many times as it’s our biggest-selling team building program in both Phuket and Bangkok. So let me tell you about the weather….it was hot. No surprise there for an outdoor event in Thailand in April.

The Kata/Karon area in Phuket has some of the best beaches on the island in my opinion and a more laid-back atmosphere than Patong. I’m not a beach person myself and neither is my wife so we rarely, if ever, go to the beach. But if we were forced to go and spend time on a beach, we’d probably choose Karon.

Anyway, back to our Amazing Race. Four teams travelled around the Kata/Karon area competing directly with one another in a series of challenges. There’s plenty of twists and turns along the way though and this team building program always keeps participants highly engaged.

To meet my client’s request for privacy, I’m using a photo of Phuket’s Big Buddha, an interesting attraction not too far from Karon.

As I’ve mentioned before, team building in Bangkok is often more formal than in Phuket. There are more men in suits and more women in heels. Louis Vuitton handbags everywhere you look. Dior and Armani fragrances wafting through the corridors.

This event was no different as my client, a well-known IT company, was having a 3-day conference at Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse and wanted to have a couple of hours of fun team building in the meeting room on the afternoon of day 2. With 70 pax, they wanted the team building to provide a lighthearted break for the conference participants, raise the energy levels, and allow an opportunity to relax and get to know one another better.

I have the perfect program for these situations. Limited time. Indoor only. No setup time available. Formal dress. My job is to walk into that meeting room and, within minutes, have participants fully engaged in the challenges and games we have prepared.

This particular group was a pleasure to work with. They were already on a high because of the success of their ongoing conference and the chatty Australians (no surprise really) created lots of playful banter between myself and the group. It was UK (me) against Australia. Which nation can claim to be the masters of banter and verbal comebacks?

There can only be one winner of course and you know who that would be, right? Right?

I won’t say too much about the games and challenges in this event but it’s short and to-the-point, super competitive, high-energy, and really quite difficult. So when success does come along, the sense of achievement is immense.

Phuket Town is the very best destination for an Amazing Race team building program in Phuket. There are so many points of interest and there’s so much going on that our client on this day requested an extension to the race so they could spend more time in and around the old town.

Years ago, Phuket Town seemed a little neglected. The traditional shops, businesses, and restaurants had steadily been closing down and the buildings themselves were in a state of disrepair. But in the last 10 years or so, there has been a real effort to bring new life to the old town. The old buildings have been renovated and new businesses, cafes, and restaurants opened. It is now, in my opinion, the best part of Phuket. I’ve never been a beach person.

The main pocket of town is around Thalang Road, Phang Nga Road, and Soi Romanee. Three instagram-worthy streets with quaint coffeeshops, cool boutiques, and plenty of tasty street food. All three streets are within easy walking distance of one another and this creates a very cool vibe, at all times of the day, but especially late afternoon and evening.

Pullman Phuket Panwa to Phuket Old Town

On this occasion, our team building client, a manufacturer and distributor of a famous household product, was staying at Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort which boasts some awesome views over Phang Nga Bay. A 20-minute drive and the teams were in the old part of the town and their Amazing Race had begun.

As well as our usual fun team building activities, we were asked to include some street food as part of the race and Phuket Town always has plenty to offer. For many of the participants, it was their first time visiting Phuket so it was important to highlight the best bits of this pretty and culturally important town.

It was an engaging afternoon for the teams with plenty of team bonding challenges, interesting destinations, and plenty of street food treats to eat and drink along the way. The competition was fierce between the three teams but there was also a particular warmth between colleagues from across Asia and Europe. It was a real pleasure working with this group.

After 2.5 hours of a high-energy and fun-focused race, the organiser requested to extend for another 45 minutes. This addition was welcomed by all and gave us time to have cocktails together in a pretty cool little pop-up bar near Soi Romanee. However, I’m not absolutely sure that the group selfie of all of us with the bartender will be sufficient for the client’s finance department to reimburse the cost as a company expense. Worth a try though…