Large-Group Team Building: Challenges and Best Practices

By Tom Frearson | Be Fearsome Events

Running a team building session for 10 people has its challenges.

Running one for 300 — with pressure, coordination, branding, and meaningful outcomes — takes serious planning, structure, and delivery skill.

We’ve seen too many large-scale events fall flat. Too much standing around. Too little clarity. A short-term buzz that fades after the coach ride home.

At Be Fearsome Events, we specialise in delivering large-group team building challenges that scale without losing focus, where every delegate is engaged, and the outcomes are felt, not just talked about.

Here’s how we do it — and how we brought it to life for Red Bull.

Why Large-Group Events Often Miss the Mark

Most large events fail for one simple reason: they’re designed as scaled-up small events, not as experiences built to handle scale.

Here’s what typically goes wrong:

• Too many passive participants – A few are engaged, most are watching.

• Lack of pace control – Some teams fly, others drift. Momentum collapses.

• Unclear objectives – People don’t know what success looks like.

• No unifying narrative – Tasks feel disconnected, not part of a journey.

• Not enough skilled facilitators – No one’s observing real behaviour.

• All fun, no follow-through – It feels good, but it doesn’t change anything.

  
  

We don’t run event days for entertainment. We build experiences that scale challenge, focus, and collaboration with professional precision.

How We Design at Scale

🧱 1. Framework Before Fun

We start with the end in mind:

• What outcomes do you want?

• Who’s involved — and what roles do they hold?

• What needs to shift — behaviour, communication, energy?

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Then we build a challenge structure that’s modular, clear, and tailored. Everything has a reason. Nothing is filler.

👥 2. Split, Synchronise, and Scale

The bigger the group, the more important it is to create movement with meaning.

We split large groups into smaller, interlinked teams — not randomised activity pods, but strategic units with tasks that affect each other. Every sub-team’s success contributes to the larger mission.

That way, everyone’s busy — but also connected to a common goal.

🧭 3. Central Narrative, One Real Outcome

A good large-group event needs a narrative — a mission, a story, a shared purpose. Otherwise, it’s just a set of disconnected tasks.

We design events where:

• There’s a clear beginning, middle, and end

• Teams know what they’re working toward

• Progress and stakes are visible

• The final outcome is collective, not just individual

  
  

This gives energy direction — and makes the debrief meaningful.

🎯 4. Facilitators Who Can Handle Scale

Anyone can hand out a task. Very few can hold space for learning at scale.

Our facilitators are trained in high-performance environments — military, coaching, operations. They’re not just running activities. They’re observing behaviour, managing tempo, and extracting insight under pressure.

This is critical when you’ve got 100+ people moving fast.

Case Study: Red Bull – 300 Delegates, 60+ Miles, One Mission

Red Bull approached us with a bold challenge:

“We want something different. Physically and mentally engaging. Something that gets everyone involved — and brings them together.”

We answered with one of our most ambitious bespoke events to date:

A cross-country, live-tracked, Red Bull–branded scavenger hunt for 300 delegates, travelling more than 60 miles from London to Osea Island in the Blackwater Estuary.

🧩 Repurposing Game of Codes for Scale

We took our signature event, Game of Codes — normally run in a single location — and completely reengineered it into a linear, cross-country experience.

• Teams moved by train, bus, and on foot

• Supported by paramedic cars and pickup vehicles

• Live GPS tracking allowed our operations centre to monitor every move

• Teams submitted riddle answers in real time to HQ, which verified and unlocked the next stage

• All clues were Red Bull themed — with correct answers earning Red Bull cans (virtual points)

  
  

This was not a treasure hunt. It was a live, coordinated, strategic challenge — wrapped in energy, logistics, and brand.

🔄 How It Played Out

• Teams had to solve riddles, make directional decisions, and manage pace — all while on the move

• Three different-length routes on foot

• Every message, mistake, and breakthrough was tracked centrally

• When they reached checkpoints, they were given the next task — or had to wait and solve the riddle if wrong

  
  

Each success earned them cans. Each misstep cost them time. Every decision mattered.

🏁 Finale: Collaboration at the Causeway

The day culminated in a coordinated arrival at Osea Island, accessible only at low tide via a flooded causeway.

There, teams used their earned cans in a series of Command Task team challenges — solving physical and practical problems together, with the final score being the total number of “rescued” Red Bull cans across all teams.

“A fantastic and engaging event. Every person played a part — from start to finish."

Why Large Events Still Need Debriefing

It’s easy to assume large-group events can’t deliver meaningful reflection. That’s wrong.

We run structured, scalable debriefs that focus on:

• Common patterns across teams

• Moments of clarity, conflict, or breakthrough

• Leadership that emerged

• Communication that stalled or soared

• Business parallels — and what it means for work on Monday

  
  

This turns the energy of the day into insight that sticks.

When to Use Large-Group Team Building

These challenges are ideal when:

• You’ve had a restructure and need to align people fast

• Departments or regions rarely interact

• You want a memorable, branded, and behavioural team experience

• You’re setting a tone for performance, energy, or shared mission

• You need to engage people of different ages, roles, or capabilities — in one challenge

  
  

It’s not about going big. It’s about going deep at scale.

What Next?

If you’ve got 50, 100, or 300+ people — and you want to run a team building event that actually shifts behaviour, trust, and clarity — we’ll help you do it properly.

Tailored. Tracked. Themed. Delivered with precision.

📍 Book a Corporate Event Consultation