Remote Resilience Series: Pandemic Happy Hour Ideas
Written by Olivia Cacchione
Time to read: 5 mins
Before the pandemic hit, the firm enjoyed gathering for creative happy hours. The first one on the list was a Paint & Sip where the firm was invited to a step-by-step painting tutorial of The Starry Night, led by the firm’s marketing coordinator. While some paintings came out looking quite similar to Van Gogh’s original, some had Cyprus trees looking ingeniously inspired by The Eye from Lord of the Rings’ Mordor.
While unable to meet in person due to quarantining, we continued our happy hours virtually. Those who appreciated the Paint & Sip could exercise their artistry at our Pictionary happy hour. Our firm uses Microsoft Teams, which comes with a Whiteboard feature. This allowed us to draw on a board that is visible to all players in real-time. Some of our favorites included a three-toed sloth, black-belt, and love seat.
We also played virtual Bingo using an online card generator and number randomizer. Each player got their own card and could mark their card by clicking on the spot that was called.
Popular, ice-breaker type happy hours included Kahoot quizzes like Would You Rather, Never Have I Ever, and Trivia. We shared the questions screen on Teams and the players used their phones to log into kahoot.it with the code to enter the games. Then, we could participate and answer questions like “Would you rather lose the ability to lie, or believe everything you’re told?”, “Never have I ever changed my major”, and “What well-known chef has a black-belt in karate?”.
Summer associate, Jessica Sullivan, says, “I’ve been able to stay social by meeting with partners and associates for virtual coffee and attending virtual happy hours where we all chat and play games… It’s nice to still get face-to-face interaction, even if it’s through a computer screen.”
We can’t wait to see each other again in person, but these happy hour ideas help keep us connected.
If you’re interested in any of the Kahoot quizzes, they’re free to use here:
Would You Rather
Never Have I Ever
Trivia
To play Bingo, follow this link.
August 11, 2020