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.

Are you looking for something a little different than trust falls and guest speakers for your next team building event? If so, you might want to consider a murder mystery weekend, murder mystery vacation or murder mystery cruise. There are several outfits offering a variety of murder mystery events around the country and on cruise ships, providing plenty of options from which to choose. Some companies will design corporate murder mystery events specifically for your company in the location of your choice, while others offer affordable, pre-arranged adventures that your team will love.

If you choose a murder mystery group cruise for your next corporate event or team building trip, be aware that there are different types of murder mystery adventures to be had. On the one hand, you have organized cruises that require all participants to study for a role and bring a costume for their character. This can be incredibly fun and is a full-immersion experience; however, this might not be the best option to fit your needs. This type of environment means that other passengers may be constantly interrogating your team members and your staff’s energy will be focused entirely on their part in the mystery.

For corporate events and team building experiences, it is likely a better idea to choose murder mystery events that are organized in a way to allow for plenty of free time and limited participation. For example, some murder mystery cruises have regularly scheduled murder mystery meetings and suspects are available for questioning during scheduled meals. In addition, investigation updates are delivered to cabins each day to keep guests up-to-date on developments.

This type of murder mystery event allows for easy scheduling of corporate meetings, team building activities or other group events, while still allowing your participants to fully enjoy the fun and excitement of solving a murder.

When we think of team building activities, the old standbys are generally the first to come to mind. However, not every staff will get excited about yet another ropes course or trust exercise. Sometimes folks just want to have fun and will find an activity that is not quite so blatantly ordinary much more appealing.

Team building is meant to bring your staff together into a cohesive, effective team of co-workers, while fostering problem solving skills, encouraging them to think outside of the box and promoting personal and professional growth. While a challenging ropes course might encourage your staff members to push their personal limits and competitive group activities might foster teamwork, not ever team building experience needs to be strictly by the book and quite so focused. It really is okay to have fun sometimes.

Keeping this in mind, you might consider making your next informal team building activity a fun craft project that will encourage creativity and camaraderie, while also reducing stress and changing the pace of the normal daily routine.

Craft materials are inexpensive and easy to acquire, and the creation of craft projects is perfect for impromptu team building sessions. Incorporating crafts into a team building retreat or annual corporate meeting is also a great way to break the ice or provide balance between more challenging activities.