Beyond the Party
The best staff celebrations usually have one thing in common: they feel like they were chosen specifically for the people in the room. That sense of thoughtfulness can make all the difference. A celebration may be fun, polished and well organized, but the ones people tend to remember are the ones that feel personal, reflect the team and give people a reason to genuinely connect.
Bringing people together creates the opportunity for connection, but simply being in the room does not automatically mean people feel engaged, involved or part of the experience. The right activity can help turn a holiday party, year-end celebration or staff social into something people genuinely take part in, whether they are laughing, solving, creating, competing or simply interacting with colleagues in a way that feels different from the everyday workplace.
Same Activity, Different Room
A room full of people laughing, competing, solving something together or racing against the clock can create more than a good photo. Shared experiences can change how connected people feel to one another, but the effect is not automatic. Who is taking part, how the group interacts and even the size of the group can change what happens.
Recent research into shared emotional experiences found that greater emotional intensity was associated with stronger feelings of connection between people when their attention was focused on something together. Interestingly, participants did not need to experience the moment in the same way for that connection to develop (Chung et al., 2024).
That helps explain why the same activity can feel electric with one team and fall surprisingly flat with another. Before choosing the program, it is worth looking at the room:
- How established is the team? Long-time colleagues may be ready to jump straight into competition, while a newly formed group may benefit from an activity that makes participation and conversation come more naturally
- What energy already exists? Some teams feed off time pressure, big reactions and a little rivalry, while others respond better to collaboration
- How large is the group? An experience that feels intimate with 20 people can feel completely different with 200
- What are we trying to create? Laughter, celebration, connection, new relationships, shared purpose and breaking down silos may each call for a different kind of experience
Those answers can lead in very different directions. Friendly Feud may be just right for a team that thrives on quick thinking and friendly rivalry, while Drawn Together gives a more collaborative group the chance to create something together. For others, a CSR experience can build connections around shared purpose.
The activity matters, but the room changes the activity.
Different Ways People Participate
Once you have a sense of what will work for the group, the next step is thinking about how people are likely to engage with it. Some will naturally be the first to grab the microphone, volunteer an answer or rally the team. Others may hang back at first, listen, problem-solve, organize or contribute more comfortably with a smaller group. That does not necessarily mean they are less engaged.
Recent workplace research highlights how easily quieter participation can be misread. Across three studies, introverted employees were consistently perceived as less warm and less competent than extraverted employees, showing how visible, outgoing behaviour can influence the way contribution is judged (McCord, 2025).
That is worth considering when choosing the right team experience. Rather than relying on one style of participation, a strong activity leaves more than one door open:
- Leading the group or taking centre stage
- Solving a problem or spotting something others have missed
- Creating or building something hands-on
- Organizing the team and keeping everyone moving
- Encouraging others and helping the group work together
If you are not entirely sure what mix of people and working styles exists within your organization, there are plenty of ways to get a clearer picture. Team surveys, strengths assessments, 360-degree feedback, facilitated workshops and other behavioural or communication tools can all help uncover how people prefer to work, communicate and contribute.
Eventology also offers a DISC Assessment & Workshop, which can provide insight into behavioural and communication styles, where people naturally tend to contribute and how those styles may work together as a team.
The goal is not to make everyone participate in the same way. It is to create enough ways into the experience that different personalities can find a role that feels natural to them.
Different Can Be the Advantage
Different ways of participating are only part of what people bring into a shared experience. They also bring different knowledge, instincts, perspectives and ways of thinking. Research on cognitive diversity suggests those differences can strengthen team performance through greater information sharing and discussion, while also creating friction when they are not understood or worked through effectively (Ishikawa, 2024).
Andrew Leith, an Eventology partner who delivers keynote speeches and training across Canada, takes that idea a step further in his keynote, Uncovering Our Underlying Superpowers: Understanding the Diverse People in Our Culture. Rather than treating different ways of thinking as something a group simply needs to accommodate, he looks at what can happen when those differences are recognized as strengths. As Andrew puts it, “Teams stop labeling differences as ‘problems’ and start treating them as capability, when supported the right way.”
That creates an interesting lens for staff celebrations too. A person who notices something others miss, approaches a challenge differently or contributes in an unexpected way can change what the whole group is able to do. The aim is not to make everyone participate the same way, but to choose experiences that leave enough room for those different strengths to surface, giving people more opportunities to contribute and the team more ways to succeed.
Chosen With Intention
When the experience is shaped around the people taking part, it feels more personal from the start. The energy, the activity and the way people come together all have a clearer purpose, giving the team something they can genuinely enjoy and share.
A staff celebration becomes far more meaningful when it is chosen with intention, reflects the people in the room and gives everyone a way to be part of the experience.
References
Chung, V., Mennella, R., Pacherie, E., & Grezes, J. (2024). Social bonding through shared experiences: the role of emotional intensity. Royal Society Open Science, 11(10), 240048. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/11/10/240048/92251/Social-bonding-through-shared-experiences-the-role
McCord, M. A. (2025). Sounds of Silence: Using the Stereotype Content Model to Understand Perceptions of Introverts and Extraverts at Work. Occupational Health Science, 9, 331–361. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41542-024-00218-7
Ishikawa, J. (2024). The effects of gender diversity and cognitive diversity on team performance in Japanese R&D teams including the effect of shared leadership as a moderator. Asia Pacific Business Review, 31(2), 349–383. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13602381.2024.2353773
