Looking to get a corporate group out of the office and interacting? Here are 10 new group activities for that can work for teambuilding, meeting breaks, incentives, and other kinds of corporate outings.
1. Riot Act Comedy Theater
One block from the Verizon Center, this brand-new comedy club hosts both nationally known comics and open-mic nights in a bilevel space that accommodates as many as 500 guests. Groups can book packages like happy hours followed by stand-up performances, or opt for teambuilding exercises like an improv workshop with local troupe Now This!
2. Lansdowne Resort
A new course at Lansdowne Resort in Virginia combines martini tastings with a history lesson on the cocktails. Hosted by sommelier Spenser McKenna in the resort’s fine-dining restaurant On the Potomac, guests sample cocktails like Moscow Mules and Lansdowne Bellinis, while learning how to mix the drinks at home. The cost is based on number of people, but averages $50 per person without tax or gratuity.
3. Go Ape Ropes Course
Group discounts are available for this treetop adventure course complete with “Tarzan” swings and five zip lines at Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, Maryland. After being outfitted with harnesses, pulleys, and carabiners, participants scramble through ladders, walkways, bridges, and tunnels constructed of wood, rope, and wire. The course is appropriate for any skill level and can be completed in two to three hours.
4. DC Metro Food Tours
Plan a pub crawl with a DC Metro Food Tours guide, who will lead corporate groups through three to five pubs in historic neighborhoods like Old Town, Capitol Hill, Georgetown, and U Street. During the tour, guests can play trivia games and win free drinks and prizes. The Ultimate Pub Crawl starts at $87, including heavy appetizers and a drink at each pub.
5. Common Good City Farm
A visit from Prince Charles last spring brought media attention to this northwest Washington farm, which works to provide healthy food to the surrounding urban community. Corporate volunteers pitch in with farm tasks like planting, harvesting, weeding, and composting while learning about sustainable urban agriculture through games and discussion. The fee is $500 for corporate groups.
6. FotoSpace
This new art gallery in Adams Morgan is available for corporate meetings and workshops, with special discounts for groups with a photography or arts affiliation. The 2,500-square-foot space accommodates 200 guests and includes patio seating.
7. DC Brau Brewing Company
Fill up a growler during a tour of this new brewery, touted as the district’s first production brewery in almost 60 years. Free tours and tastings are held most Saturdays and begin every half hour, with no reservation required.
8. Destination DC Pedicab Tours
Destination DC Pedicab Tours boasts enough rickshaws at the ready to accommodate groups as large as 50 on tours of Washington. Riders can customize their own tour or select one of more than 20 listed online, riding from Smithsonian monuments to bars on Dupont Circle and U Street. Tours are priced at an hourly rate of $25 per person, with an average of two to three people per pedicab.
9. Stray Boots Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts go high-tech with this new group activity from Stray Boots Scavenger Hunts, which poses questions via text message. After purchasing electronic tickets for $12 a person, teams answer trivia questions and solve riddles in three game zones in D.C.—Penn Quarter and Chinatown, Georgetown, and on the Mall—all via text clues.
10. Loulies: Real Kitchens, Real Food
Classes with food bloggers Bettina Stern and Suzanne Simon of Web site Loulies: Real Kitchens, Real Food take students straight from the farmers’ market to the kitchen, beginning with a 30-minute shopping tour at the Glover Park-Burleith DC Greens Farmers’ Market to pick up ingredients, followed by a 90-minute cooking demonstration. Priced at $25 per person, fall classes focus on Thanksgiving seasonal sides. Private bookings are available, as are cooking classes for larger groups on request.
