The Office Team Building Scavenger Hunt Guide - Part 3

In this 3-part guide (Links to Part 1 and Part 2), we share some of our tips on organizing photo or video scavenger hunts for an office team-building event. Please note that while our guide will primarily be focusing on groups utilizing the Goosechase Platform to run their game in an office setting, these tips will certainly be helpful for any organizer putting together a scavenger hunt in general.

Part 3 of our guide is all about how to conclude your scavenger hunt event and organizing a marvelous after-party. While planning the logistics and running the actual scavenger hunt are very important pieces in the overall affair, don't let that give you an excuse to rush through the details of your event wrapup and debrief. When organized correctly, the post-hunt celebration that follow an intense scavenger hunt can be the most memorable and crucial part of the entire team-building experience.

Release a High-Value Bonus Mission to Move Teams Toward the Meeting Spot

As we mentioned in Part 2, bonus missions announced at strategic times during the hunt can be a great way for organizers to accomplish logistical goals, such as incentivizing teams to quickly move from one place or another.

Especially if the overall event has to stick as closely as possible to a rigid schedule, we encourage organizers to announce a high-value bonus mission at the final meeting spot 10 minutes before the hunt draws to a close. This last surprise mission reminds teams that the scavenger hunt is about to end, and that they should be on the way back to rendezvous with the other teams. For added dramatic effect, you can even announce that bonus points will be awarded to the first team to get all their members back to the meeting spot. From the players' points of views, this creates a "finish line" atmosphere with one last exhilarating sprint; there's a real sense of camaraderie to be part of a converging crowd as teams rush for those last bonus points. With that in mind...

Have Refreshments and Snacks Ready When the Scavenger Hunt Ends

Participants who have potentially been running around for the past hour or two would usually appreciate a thirst quencher and a bite to eat at the finish line. If you're running your event on a hot day, an iced drink can be quite a rewarding treat; conversely, having hot chocolate, coffee, or soup ready might be the way to go if you're running your team-builder in a colder part of the world. Depending on what time of day you've scheduled your event, it might even be a good idea to end right at lunch or dinner time, and surprise your teams with some top notch catering to wrap up your outing.

Create a Highlight Video of Outrageous, Funny, and Creative Submissions

You'd be surprised at some of the crazy things participants get up to during a photo/video scavenger hunt. Collecting some of the best submissions and screening the highlights video can make for a memorable kicker to your post-hunt debrief.

Keep in mind that time is of the essence if you want to have the video ready for right after your scavenger hunt ends. Scanning through footage and looking for usable content is usually the most time-consuming part of editing a video; whatever method you've decided on using to collect photo and video mission submissions, we recommend having somebody on the organizing team actively scanning the submissions for highlight-worthy content as they come in. If you're using Goosechase to run your game, This can be done by having having an organizer actively monitoring the Activity Feed and taking note of which submissions will be added to the highights video. All the game submissions can then be exported through the Game Manager and pieced together in iMovie or another similar video editing application. While a few catchy songs included as a background soundtrack is never a bad idea, don't stress too much on editing an award-winning video while your participants are waiting in the next room. Most people just want to see a quick highlights reel of what the other teams got up to during the game, and won't be too concerned about fancy cuts or special effects.

Have an Awards Ceremony and Give Out Prizes That Can Be Shared

In general, we've found that scavenger hunts where prizes are given out at the end usually result in a more competitive event, and more effort put into submissions. We leave it up to you to decide if you want to reveal the grand prize beforehand or make it a surprise; but since this is a team building activity, it's usually a good idea to ensure that a portion of the championship prize package includes things that can be shared with other teams. A fruit basket or a case of beer is usually opened up right away and offered to competing teams as a sign of good will, and is an ideal way to make the entire event feel like a win for all.

While usually people will have figured out who's in the lead as a hunt draws to an end, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't put some ritual and fanfare into announcing the winners. Announcing final leaderboard positions in reverse builds anticipation in the crowd; couple this with some intro music, a makeshift trophy, or a rag-tag podium and you've got yourself a proper awards ceremony for the books.

Organizing a scavenger hunt can seem like a lot of work, but when you pre-plan what needs to be done and are well-prepared for all possible outcomes, a scavenger hunt has the potential to be a truly remarkable and unforgettable team-building experience.

We hope you've found our 3-part guide to Office Team-Building Scavenger Hunts helpful to organizing your next company outing. Make sure to check out our blog for other helpful scavenger hunt resources, including our lists of scavenger hunt mission ideas!

What is Goosechase?

Goosechase is an online platform that helps organizers create and run digital scavenger hunt experiences for team building, learning, public engagement, or a variety of other events. Sign up and try creating a free recreational game, or contact us to learn more about our enterprise solutions!