What do you want to do with your coworkers? Struggle to escape a room? Catch them in a trust fall? Or harness heat and movement to shape glass? Eat fire? Forge steel hooks with a forge, hammer, and anvil? We think your team would enjoy spending some time with us. We will even lock you in a room—if you insist. Holding an offsite for your company is a fast and fun way to encourage creative problem solving, boost employee morale, improve communication, and promote collaboration. There are a lot of different things you can do with your team—check out our seven tips to planning a good team build.

1. Get out of the office

Coworkers will feel more relaxed outside of their normal working environment. Trade in the blue light of your desktop for the red glow of our Glass Blowing hot shop. Give your team the space to get outside of their comfort zone by working with materials like metal, glass, and clay. Your new experience working hands-on will inform your problems back at the office in ways that will surprise you.

2. Give your team options—21 of them

The last thing you want out of your team build is boredom. Don’t limit your team to a single activity option. At The Crucible we offer 21 different workshops in 14 departments, allowing large groups to split up based on their individual interests and dive into things like Ceramics, Blacksmithing, and Fire & Performance.

3. Make it accessible for everyone

Playing competitive kickball can be fun, but physical activity isn’t easy for everyone, and signing them up for a demanding activity might make them feel left out. Another benefit of having options is that it provides your teammates more opportunities for inclusion. We value inclusion and artistic exploration no matter your skill level, so we keep our workshops low-stress.

4. Keep it casual, not competitive

Team builds give you a chance to collaborate and get to know your coworkers outside the office, fostering a sense of camaraderie. Overly competitive team build activities that involve winning and losing (escaping or not escaping) can result in a team feeling demoralized by the end of the day. At The Crucible, we value innovative, non-competitive, imaginative creation and play in everyone. Removing the competitive element allows your team to focus on having fun and getting creative—no matter what they make—and encourage out-of-the-box thinking.

5. Support a local cause

Your team will be happy to know that their day of fun is supporting a good cause. Did you know The Crucible is a nonprofit? Having your team build at our studio means you and your company are supporting funding for our youth and adult scholarship program, free field trips for Oakland youth, and living wages for working artists. You spend the day making, and help ensure someone else can do the same.

6. Feed your creativity, and your stomach

Nothing has the power to distract you more than an empty stomach. That’s why every team build at The Crucible comes with an optional catered lunch or wine-and-cheese reception where participants can discuss what was learned and created. Catered lunches begin at $32/person. Wine-and-cheese receptions are $28/person. Groups are also welcome to arrange their own catering. Bring your team together over fire, making, and lunch.

7. Fire it up!

Okay sure, maybe every team build activity doesn’t need to have fire to make it a success. But if you can—why say no? Whether you’re spinning melted glass and into bowls, shaping iron in our Blacksmithing furnace, or literally learning to swallow fire, we can guarantee one thing about your next Crucible team build—it will be hot!