Meeting and corporate event planners are always in need of fresh ideas to use as icebreakers. Meeting and event participants attend so many functions with icebreakers that there is a good chance they have already participated in all of the old, tried-and-true activities that have been popular over the years. Because of this, the best way to mix things up and show your attendees that this will not be yet another boring meeting or event filled with hackneyed icebreaker games and team-building activities is to come up with fun icebreakers they have likely never participated in before.

One such icebreaker would be building houses of cards. Building card houses takes patience and teamwork and is a great way to encourage your participants to get to know one another and learn ways to work together well. This is a very manageable activity that can be completed in small groups, which also means this icebreaker can be used to break your group into smaller working groups or breakout groups.

In order to successfully implement a card house building activity, you will need as many large, flat surfaces as you have teams. Your meeting or conference tables will likely work fine for this. You will also need several decks of cards per team, keeping in mind that it can take more than a deck of cards just to build a single-level card house, depending on the size. If you would like to indulge your team’s competitive spirit, you can make this a competition and give prizes for the largest, tallest, strongest or most unique house of cards.

London is one of the world’s most visited cities. With its combination of historic buildings, renowned museums and galleries and the best in dining, clubbing, entertainment and now a new range of boutique hotels, you won’t run out of activities for your meeting attendees.

It’s no surprise that London is full of hotels of various sizes and standards. Famous and expensive hotels sit alongside smaller guesthouses, but it is the boutique hotel that’s currently proving a popular choice with meeting planners with small groups. Small and stylish, with impeccable service and a real atmosphere rather than one manufactured by the marketing department of a large hotel chain, staying in one of these hotels can only make your trip to London more enjoyable.

There’s so much going on in London that even the residents don’t see it all. Plan your event so that your attendees can enjoy a little bit of history at the Tower of London or St. Paul’s Cathedral for example; some of the treasures and paintings in the museums and galleries; a show in the West End and some great drinking and dining.