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Getting Introverts to Unwind at Work X-Mas Party?

Posted by Cliff on from the you-have-to-come-out-of-the-cubical-sometime dept.

pongo asks: "My department has a large population of introverts, as confirmed by Meyers-Briggs testing. Somehow I was suckered into planning a holiday party with another department that suffers similiar symptoms. Any suggestions on ways (themes, decorations, food choices, games, etc) to encourage light banter and to get people meeting each other, which would make this party a big success? The party will be during business hours and alcohol is allowed." The key here is making a comfortable atmosphere where everyone can unwind and feel comfortable with meeting each other. What ways do you know of to encourage this kind of atmosphere?

2 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. eye candy, lighting, seats, and some alcohol by willhelm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Serve alcohol--not so much to get people wasted, but to take the edge off.

    Get one of the projectors from marketing, hook it up to a laptop with a serious 3d video card, and do the tunes with Winamp or some other player that has the ability for visual plug-ins like Geiss or something pretty that people can literally just stare at.

    And get rid of the flourescent lights. Do some other lighting so people can see other people's faces, but aren't exposed to blaring light irritation.

    Provide seating to. Most introverts I know are pretty non-excited about their bodies and feel awkward standing up which just causes them to be more shy than usual.

    Don't run around telling people to have fun because it's a company party--that's just irritating.

  2. Great Egg Race by Rupert · · Score: 4, Interesting

    a.k.a. Junkyard Wars, a.k.a. The Ultimate Architect.

    So, there were a few hundred geeks in Las Vegas last week for Windows Embedded DevCon. Thursday night was the XP Embedded launch party. The musical act was Credence Clearwater Revisited, with warm-up provided by the product manager's band. Sounds terrible, right?

    Wrong. Because in one corner of the room, 10 teams of 4 geeks each were frantically collecting parts to build a device capable of transporting a full glass of beer across a flat 10 meter track. That was the most fun I've ever had at a work-related party.

    Here's my recipe:
    Pick your objective. It should be acheiveable, but challenging;
    Give each team the absolute essentials (wheel, motors);
    Put everything else (mix up Meccano, Lego, string, glue, bits of plumbing, stuff) on a big table in the middle, and keep it covered until the starting whistle blows;
    Three hours seems about the right length of time. Adjust if your objective is particularly challenging;
    Make sure someone is keeping the teams fed and watered;
    Encourage strained interpretations of the rules (e.g. string can be used as a guidance system, but not as propulsion);
    Award several prizes (fastest; best design; most colorful and so on)

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