For the last two years, traditional office holiday parties and celebrations have looked different because of the Pandemic. Even if lockdown restrictions are lifted, all memorable exchange gifts, party games, activities, and entertainment won’t be the same.
But of course, who doesn’t want to have fun? We must remember the golden proverb, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” That’s why people became resourceful and looked for new ways to connect and celebrate the holidays.
Microsoft Teams brought people smiles and laughter back to each other. We all felt the gaps that restricted us from social belongingness, Microsoft Teams not just improved its service but reinvents the virtual meeting experiences to bring people together all over the world. It is a great way to help motivate staff and develop an effective communication within the team.
Below features can bring more fun and make your virtual party more memorable.
New Together Mode Scenes
Microsoft teams improved the Together mode from the grid-type video call to bring conversation feels more natural – equipped with a new set of holiday scenes like Christmas-themed wonderland, Coffee shop, conference room, classroom, and more.
To get started, select Together mode in your Microsoft Teams meeting, in the left-hand corner of the screen, click the small pencil then choose a scene. Please note that this feature requires at least five people in your meeting.
New Custom Backgrounds
Design your company-themed custom backgrounds for your virtual party or use the set of new holiday-themed that MS Teams created. To add a new custom background, select and download the backgrounds you want to use. Then before joining a meeting, select Background effects and click Add new , and then choose the background to upload from your computer.
Breakout Rooms
Microsoft Teams make it easy to divide your meetings into multiple sub-groups to enable smaller discussions, brainstorming sessions, strategy planning or depends on how you want to use it.
Organisers can quickly jump between rooms and bring everyone back to the main meeting at any time. Breakout rooms are great and can be utilised while playing games during virtual meetings or holiday parties.
Besides these helpful features, Here are some of the few tips to have a great virtual holiday party.
- Eat and Drink
Plan and order food ahead of time or nominate/hire a talented cook if you want to feel extra festive.
- Dressing up
Setting up a dress code will make your virtual party to the next level. A themed-dress code will do, or you can wear something festive like Santa hat, Sweater, Elf costumes or even a full Santa suit. You can use Microsoft Teams to collect votes if you want to make it more fun.
- Photobooth
Since you are dressed up in your silly outfits, you can also bring some props like sunglasses, stuffed toys and get your best poses and capture the screen.
- Games
Level up the fun by hosting various great online party games that can be easily played online! There is a wide variety of games that is possible to play. Like guess the movie, quizzes, five things, Something in Common, Blackout Truth or Dare, etc. Make sure to offer some prizes too!
- Exchange Gift
Having a Secret Santa part of your online party will boost the fun! All participants will wait until the day of the virtual gift exchange to open the packages. Each recipient should have to guess the gifter after opening the present.
Conclusion
We hope these tips and new experiences bring joy to your team and make parties and meetings more festive during the holiday season. Switch Connect is a unified communications provider that can guide and bring the excitement back to your team. Get Microsoft Teams today to double the fun and excitement! Talk to us today.
