Autumn is when most organisations shift from summer’s outdoor, GPS-based team building back to indoor and hybrid formats, driven by shorter days, worse weather, and the September intake of new starters who need onboarding fast. The best autumn activities are quick to set up, work indoors without depending on weather, and flex easily between people who are back at their desks and those still working remotely.
Why does team building activity change in autumn?
Summer favours outdoor, GPS-locked activities: teams walking between real-world locations, unlocking tasks as they go, taking advantage of long evenings and better weather. Once the clocks change and offices fill back up after the summer holiday lull, the same GPS-based format becomes harder to plan around, and demand shifts toward indoor, app-based game screens that don’t care whether it’s raining outside. Autumn is also peak season for new starters, meaning onboarding-friendly, fast-to-learn formats matter more than they do in mid-summer.
What indoor team building formats work best for a back-to-office autumn?
Indoor experiences that run on interactive game screens directly on participants’ devices, rather than needing GPS or outdoor space, are the natural autumn default. They solve puzzles, unlock sequential challenge levels, and run table-based or room-based tasks entirely indoors, which means a session can be booked with much shorter notice than an outdoor treasure hunt and isn’t at the mercy of the forecast. Fast-paced, multi-level formats in the 60-90 minute range suit a full afternoon session, while 30-45 minute office games work well as a conference icebreaker or meeting opener for teams easing back into a fuller autumn schedule.
How do you plan team building for a mixed office and remote team in autumn?
Most teams aren’t fully back in the office by September, even if the return-to-office push is real. A hybrid format, where onsite and remote participants compete on the same live leaderboard simultaneously, avoids forcing a choice between “in-person for whoever’s in the building” and “separate virtual session for everyone else.” The app links both groups so nobody’s experience is a downgrade of the other’s, which matters if part of your reason for running the activity is to actually reconnect a team that’s been split across home and office all summer.
What’s the best team building activity for new starters in autumn?
New joiners benefit most from short, low-stakes, easy-to-explain formats rather than anything requiring deep familiarity with existing team dynamics. A 30-45 minute indoor energiser gives new starters a low-pressure way to interact with colleagues they haven’t worked with yet, without the format itself being complicated enough to become the thing they’re anxious about. Pairing new starters with existing team members in mixed teams of 4-6 during the activity is a simple, effective way to build the first real working relationships of their tenure, faster than a standard induction schedule usually manages on its own.
How far ahead should you book autumn team building?
Book earlier than you’d think, and earlier than you would for a summer outdoor session. September is when most organisations are simultaneously running new-starter onboarding, planning conferences and away days, and starting to think about the Christmas party season, which means indoor and hybrid capacity gets booked up faster than outdoor GPS slots do in summer. A self-managed option, run independently using step-by-step guides, is worth considering if you need something in place quickly without waiting on host availability.
Wildgoose’s indoor and hybrid activities run through the Mobile Adventures app, scaling from small teams to 1,000+ players, with self-managed, remote-hosted and onsite-hosted options depending on how much support you need. Get in touch with the Wildgoose team.
