february 2021

The ultimate challenge of making virtual hangouts fun again

Still in partial lockdown, I volunteered to help amp up the experience of our company’s annual (virtual) domain day. The purpose of the day is for leadership to present strategic updates for the year but is also a moment for our 100+ domain members to come together and connect with one another.

The initial idea was to have an escape room type game facilitated by an outside agency, but me and my two colleagues on the planning team pitched for an Amazing Race type experience instead (inspired by inventive Reddit posts). We really wanted to people to get moving in a different way and not be stuck clicking on their laptops or battling awkward small talk in a Zoom happy hour.

And so the Banko* Ultimate Challenge Klarna was born!

How it worked

Participants were put into random teams and sent to separate Google Meet rooms. At the start of the day we gave a list of 6 daily challenges, each worth 100 points, that could be completed until the end of the day. Via a designated slack channel, we then released a series of hourly tasks that the teams had to complete with smaller point rewards.

My Responsibilities

Brainstorming and vetting ideas for each of the 36 challenges. Ensuring they were exciting, challenging and as inclusive as possible to our team’s varying at home environments
Establishing the rules and agenda for the day
Creating the visual identity and Slack graphics
Facilitating during the event to keep teams motivated and keep track of progress