How to Choose the Right Virtual Team Building Platform
There are more ways than ever to bring remote teams together online.
Virtual trivia, escape rooms, gift exchanges, hosted experiences, collaborative games - the options can feel almost endless. That's good news for remote and hybrid teams, but it can also make choosing the right virtual team building platform surprisingly difficult. The best platform isn't necessarily the one with the longest feature list or the most elaborate experience. It's the one that makes it easy for your particular team to participate, connect, and have a good time.
After helping thousands of organizations run virtual team events, we've found that the experiences people respond to best tend to have something important in common: they make participation feel easy. So before you choose a platform for your next team event, here are the factors worth considering.
🎯 Start With What You Want the Event to Accomplish
Before comparing platforms, start with the event itself. What are you actually trying to create?
Maybe you want to:
Help a new team get to know one another
Give employees a break during a busy quarter
Celebrate a company milestone
Bring a large distributed team together
Host an annual holiday tradition
Create more opportunities for connection throughout the year
Different platforms are built for different types of experiences. A facilitated virtual escape room might be perfect for a dedicated team-building afternoon, while a quick online game may work better during an existing team meeting. A holiday gift exchange has an entirely different set of logistical needs. Defining the goal first makes it much easier to evaluate everything else.
👥 Consider Your Team Size
An activity that's great for eight coworkers doesn't necessarily work for 80, or 800. When evaluating a platform, look beyond its maximum participant count and consider how the experience actually changes as the group gets larger.
Ask questions like:
Does everyone have an opportunity to participate?
Will people spend significant time waiting for their turn?
Does the platform keep the activity organized automatically?
Can administrators easily manage a large group?
Does pricing scale reasonably as participation increases?
We've seen firsthand that large virtual events work best when the structure does some of the heavy lifting. The less an organizer has to manually track, explain, or coordinate, the easier it is to keep a large group engaged.
🚪 Pay Attention to the Participant Experience
It's easy to evaluate software from the administrator's perspective because that's the side you'll see while setting up the event. But your employees' experience matters just as much. Consider what happens after someone receives the invitation.
Do they immediately understand:
What the activity is?
What they need to do?
How to participate?
When they need to participate?
Every additional step creates friction. Complicated downloads, lengthy instructions, confusing interfaces, and unnecessary setup can turn an activity that's supposed to be fun into another task on someone's to-do list.
A good rule of thumb: participation should require as little explanation as possible.
⏱ Consider How Much Setup Is Required
Team building is often organized by someone who already has a full-time job. That's an important reality. Whether the organizer is an HR leader, executive assistant, office manager, or team lead, they probably don't have hours available to configure an event.
Before selecting a platform, consider:
How long does setup take?
Are invitations handled automatically?
Does the platform explain the rules?
Does the organizer need to facilitate the entire experience?
What happens if someone joins late or misses a step?
One pattern we've seen repeatedly is that the easier an event is to organize, the more likely teams are to do it again. That's especially important if team building is something you want to incorporate throughout the year rather than reserve for one annual event.
🌎 Think About Remote and Hybrid Participation
If your organization is distributed, location matters.
A good virtual team building platform should work equally well whether participants are:
At home
In an office
Traveling
Spread across different time zones
For hybrid teams in particular, look for experiences where remote employees can participate just as fully as employees gathered in person. The best virtual activities don't make remote participants feel like they're watching an office event through a screen.
🎮 Choose the Right Level of Facilitation
Virtual team building experiences generally fall somewhere between two ends of a spectrum.
At one end are self-guided activities that teams can run on their own. At the other are fully hosted experiences led by an outside facilitator. Neither approach is inherently better.
Hosted experiences can be useful for major events or complex activities. Self-guided platforms can offer more flexibility, especially for teams that want to incorporate activities into existing meetings or run events on their own schedule. Consider how much structure your team actually needs and how much control you'd like to retain.
💰 Look Beyond the Sticker Price
Price matters, but it shouldn't be evaluated in isolation. A free activity that requires two hours of an administrator's time to organize isn't necessarily less expensive than a paid platform that handles everything automatically.
Consider the full cost of the experience, including:
Platform fees
Gifts or materials
Facilitator costs
Administrator time
Participant preparation
The right question isn't simply, "What's the cheapest option?" It's: "Which option gives us the best experience for the amount of time and money we're investing?"
🔒 Don't Overlook Privacy and Security
Any platform employees use should be thoughtful about personal information. This becomes particularly important for activities involving physical gifts, shipping addresses, or employee data.
Before choosing a platform, understand:
What information participants need to provide
Who can see that information
How it is used
Whether employees need to share personal information with coworkers
The activity may be lighthearted, but participants should still feel comfortable using the platform.
🔄 Consider Whether You'll Use It More Than Once
If your organization wants to create stronger team culture throughout the year, consider whether the platform solves a single need or can support multiple moments.
You may want activities for:
New employee welcomes
Team milestones
Birthdays
Quarterly celebrations
Employee appreciation
Holiday parties
A platform that can support recurring engagement may offer more value than one designed exclusively for a single annual event.
🚩 Red Flags to Watch For
As you compare options, a few things should give you pause:
Complicated onboarding
Extensive participant preparation
Unclear pricing
Activities that don't scale well
Experiences that require everyone to be available simultaneously
Too much manual work for the organizer
Remember that the goal of a team-building platform is to make connection easier, not create another project to manage.
🚀 Choosing a Platform Your Team Will Actually Use
The best virtual team building platform isn't necessarily the flashiest one. It's the one that removes friction between the idea of bringing your team together and actually doing it. Look for an experience that fits your team size, culture, schedule, and goals, paying particular attention to how easy it is for employees to participate.
After years of watching teams come together virtually, we've found that simple experiences often create some of the most memorable moments. Because ultimately, the technology isn't the point. The connection it creates is.