Corporate Away Day Ideas That People Don't Pretend to Be Ill For
There are two kinds of corporate away days.
The first kind: a hotel conference room, seven hours of slides, a "fun" segment where everyone builds a tower out of spaghetti, and a long train home. Attendance is mandatory. Enthusiasm is not.
The second kind: people are still talking about it in December. Same budget, usually. The difference is structure and one good decision about entertainment.
Here's how to plan the second kind.
The structure that works
Having delivered entertainment at away days for companies from start-ups to the Magic Circle, the pattern of a good one is remarkably consistent:
Morning — the work, kept tight. Strategy, updates, workshops. Two to three hours maximum. The fatal away day error is letting the business content sprawl into the afternoon. By 2pm, nobody is absorbing anything anyway.
Afternoon — one big shared experience. Not three small ones. One activity that the entire team does together, that produces a winner, a loser, and at least one story. This is the part of the day people will actually remember, so it deserves the biggest slice of budget and attention.
Evening — food and the wind-down. Dinner or drinks, no agenda. The afternoon's activity does the social heavy lifting; by evening, people have something to talk about beyond work.
Away day entertainment ideas, ranked honestly
A live game show experience
The big shared experience, solved. We transform your venue into a TV studio — full set, buzzers, podiums, professional host — and run your team through rounds inspired by the shows they grew up shouting answers at. It scales from 20 to 200+, requires zero effort from the organiser on the day, and works in literally any conference room, office, or event space.
It also solves the away day's hardest problem: mixing. Teams are drawn across departments, the host carries the energy, and the grad scheme intake ends up celebrating with the senior partners. That doesn't happen at a wine tasting.
Outdoor pursuits (raft building, high ropes, archery)
The traditional choice. Genuinely good for some teams — usually younger, sportier ones. But be honest about your audience: for plenty of people, "abseiling in front of colleagues" is a nightmare scenario, and opt-outs standing at the side defeats the purpose. Weather risk applies.
Escape rooms
Fine for 8–15 people. Above that, you're splitting into separate rooms doing separate things, which fragments the day. We've written a full comparison: game show vs escape rooms for team building.
Workshops (cooking, art, mixology)
Pleasant, low-risk, a bit forgettable. Good as a secondary activity; rarely strong enough to be the centrepiece of a full away day.
A guest speaker
Inspirational speakers have their place — in the morning, alongside the work content. A speaker is not entertainment. If the "fun" part of your away day is more sitting and listening, expect the 3pm phone-scrolling to be vigorous.
The budget question
A common away day budget mistake: spending 80% on the venue and catering, then trying to find entertainment with what's left. Flip it. People forgive average sandwiches at a brilliant event; nobody forgives a beautiful venue where nothing happened. The shared experience is the product — the venue is just the box it comes in.
Planning an away day for autumn?
September and October are peak away day season, and good dates go in the summer. If you want the afternoon sorted with one booking — set, host, tech and all — we'd love to be your big shared experience.
