VenueNow Reveals: 9 of the Best Activities for Corporate Events and Conferences

As a group of event and startup professionals, the VenueNow team has experienced many, many team-building and corporate activities during conferences, retreats, and planning days. Today, we name our favourites.

Inspired by the number of conference and corporate event bookings coming through VenueNow at the moment, we've brought recent lists of corporate retreat inspiration and conference activities that won't bore the socks off your teammates and delegates.

But what about our own experiences? Today, we bring you a list straight from the venue horse's mouth – our favourite activities for corporate events and conferences.

Grace (Marketplace Growth Manager): A tour of the Yarra Valley! Learnt the "French method" – of wine making, people – at Dominique Portet, then popped into an olive farm and educated ourselves on what cold pressed olive oil actually is. And of course, we sampled all the earthly delights the Yarra Valley has to offer – while trucking around in a minibus oozing class and elegance. 

Michael (Venue Booking Manager): Anything to break away from the stuffy corporate vibes of yesteryear! When the VenueNow team headed to Aitken Hill for a retreat, we played a game of celebrity heads before we got into the meeting for the day. It provided a bunch of laughs, and lent a great energy to the team. A nice idea to get the juices flowing for any group, good bonding experience also! 

James (Co-Founder & CTO): A while back we enjoyed a team outing to Mornington for a lunch and wine tasting at a few wineries. It was a fantastic way to get the team together to celebrate and wind down after a successful quarter. Even though I was the designated driver, I still had a great time enjoying the sun, the views, the laughs and a few cheeky sips of wine.

Hayley (Content Producer): Improv! It's a super fun way to loosen up, bond with your (awesome) team, and understand how to truly  generate ideas without judging them. You quickly realise it's not about being quick-witted or naturally funny. It's about being open to teamwork, support, contributing, and making every idea – or mistake – the best it can be. Which is hella handy to take back to work. For Melburnians, The Improv Conspiracy's corporate workshops are a great place to start!

Pippa (Content Producer): As part of my old job as a teletext captioner, we got a tour of Seven's Docklands studio and facility. We went into the copper-wired backend of operations to meet all the techies (and people we'd only every spoken to over the talkback), and the presenters.

Ange (Venue Booking Manager): An 'Amazing Race' activity. I've done a few of them – one time for just a couple of hours and the other times for half a day (a fundraiser for the Royal Children's Hospital). They involved clues and heading around the hidden corners of Melbourne and doing activities - martial arts, swimming, archery, rock climbing, Bollywood dancing, competitive cup stacking, even one-handed boiled egg peeling.

It's fun seeing new parts of the city I grew up in and challenging my problem solving skills with my mates. I like that you bump into the other teams along the way and the feeling of camaraderie.  I actually then put one together with a team of four others when I worked at Intrepid. We ran it over the weekend, including camping in Black Rock in the backyard of my colleague's parents' house.

Rebecca (Content Manager): I'm a pretty avid believer that a team that has a good time together, stays together. And there's no more classic good time than drinking and eating together. We recently enjoyed a unique indoor/outdoor dinner at Mantra Lorne the night before our last retreat/planning day – there was musical entertainment, dining while sitting on cushions around a long table, styled like some kind of Moroccan feast. A roaring fireplace, the sea breeze – it was a great night (even if the planning day itself was a little fuzzy as a result).

Ellie (Venue Booking Manager): My favourite corporate activity was my first ever site viewing at The Prahran Hotel on my first day working at VenueNow! We were greeted with cocktails before being taken for a tour of all the function spaces. I loved it. The venue is intriguing from the outside – I had walked past it many times and wondered what it was like inside. After the tour we were treated with more drinks and delicious canapés as we got to know the events team at the venue. Best first day of work ever!

Leah (Venue Booking Manager): Don't know if it's weird or a cop-out to say, but VenueNow's Aquarium client event was probably the best I've ever experienced! Each space was so unique and offered something totally different to the next. It was truly an exciting journey, paired with delicious food and great company! I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed that event so much was because we were able to see, touch and feel all the spaces throughout the night. A really interactive night. 

You've basked in some corporate activity inspo, now it's time to make it a reality.Check out some of Australia's best corporate retreat venues right here >>