accesso’s DEI Council needed a virtual team building activity for its 2026 annual kickoff that would engage a globally distributed group, give the council’s longtime trivia host a chance to actually participate, and build real connection among colleagues who rarely interact outside of structured work.
Case Study Snapshot
A quick overview of the team, the activity, and the outcomes.
| Company | accesso |
| Industry | Technology / Entertainment |
| Group | DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Council |
| Work Model | Fully remote, participants across the US and UK |
| Team Size | ~15 participants |
| Activity | Friendly Feud (virtual, hosted) |
| Occasion | 2026 DEI Council Annual Kickoff |
| Primary Goal | Team connection, inclusive engagement, and giving the council’s in-house trivia host the chance to participate as a player |
| Outcome | Stronger camaraderie, deeper personal knowledge of colleagues, and a better team dynamic in everyday work |
About accesso and Its DEI Council
accesso is a technology company in the entertainment industry with a fully remote workforce spanning North America, the UK, the UAE, Australia, and the APAC region.
While the organization runs its own company-wide team building events through a dedicated engagement manager, its DEI Council plans and runs its own activities independently.
That’s Heather Thomas’s domain.
As a Senior HR Business Partner at accesso, Heather handles people-related initiatives for the council, including sourcing and planning team building experiences.
The council meets monthly and hosts engagement events at least twice a year, anchored by an annual kickoff that reviews the previous year and sets direction for the one ahead.
Team building has always been part of it.
Why the Council’s Trivia-Loving Team Needed a Different Kind of Trivia Night for This Year’s Kick-Off
The accesso DEI Council loves trivia.
That’s not just a passive preference. In fact, when Heather presented Outback’s team building activity options for the 2026 kickoff, the council didn’t need time to deliberate.
As Heather explains, “Before I could even finish my sentence, the group was saying Friendly Feud.”
A big part of that enthusiasm for trivia traces back to one person: Council member Patrick McGee, who has hosted the group’s trivia sessions for years.
This isn’t just a workplace endeavor for him. It’s a passion project. Patrick builds full PowerPoint presentations with custom sounds and video, and hosts trivia nights in his community with friends and family, outside of work.
His sessions for the council had always been a hit. The problem, though, was that he was always the one running the show.
“Patrick has done two sessions for our group, and we were looking for a way to give him a break,” she says. “We really wanted to let him interact as a participant, not be the one hosting.”
How Heather Got the Team Building Activity Planning Process Underway
accesso’s Sr. VP of People, Maura Schiefelbein, originally found us through a Google search for engagement activities.
After the People Team attended one of our Billboard Bingo activities in December 2025, Heather knew she wanted to bring that same energy to the DEI Council for their February 2026 kickoff.
“I loved it,” says Heather. ” I was obsessed. I was singing the whole time. So, I knew we had to bring something like that to the DEI Council.”
Heather reached out through our website. The process moved quickly from there.
“The process was absolutely seamless, with no issues,” says Heather. “I paid within 24 hours through the link, and within the next week, I was connected with our team building facilitator, Barbara.”
Barbara, a classically trained actor with a passion for improvisation and a mission to make every event fun, moving, and memorable, held a one-on-one meeting with Heather before the session to understand the group and what the kickoff needed.
After that, we handled everything.
For anyone who has run an internal event while also trying to participate, that handoff matters.
“Going the route of hiring someone to host all of this for us is a no-brainer,” says Heather. “You don’t have to wonder if the link is going to work, if everyone will be able to join, if the presentation is showing, or if the audio is going to everyone’s speakers.”
She adds, “It’s nice to just hire someone, let go of the reins, and let them be the extrovert who gets everybody engaged. It’s nice to take a break and just be part of the team.”
Pricing made headcount simple too, reducing her stress about attendance fluctuations.
“I did the 15-person cap, so I knew I could have at least 15 people,” she says. “I didn’t have to worry about what happens if attendance shifts. That structure made the whole decision easy.”
The Real Challenge: Inclusive Team Building for a Global Group
With the DEI Council’s trivia obsession leading the charge, choosing an activity was easy, but there were a few essential considerations that needed to be addressed in order for the team’s Friendly Feud to be a success.
The council would have members participating from across the US and the UK. That means a host anchored in pop culture and trivia that’s only relevant to one region leaves international members behind.
For a council built around diversity, equity, and inclusion, that kind of exclusion isn’t a minor inconvenience. It defeats the purpose.
“As the DEI Council, we are always looking to be inclusive,” she explains. “And it’s really hard to find things that are applicable globally with a host who is knowledgeable globally.”
She continues, “We could find someone in the US who only knows US pop culture, or someone in the UK who only knows UK pop culture. But Barbara, our team building facilitator with Outback, seemed globally knowledgeable. She knew things about locations in the UK and common things that are more culturally appropriate there. It was nice having someone who seemed neutral, being based in Canada but genuinely knowledgeable globally.”
How the accesso DEI Council’s Friendly Feud Session Played Out on Event Day
The session opened with the full group together and Barbara facilitating. Participants split into three teams of three in breakout rooms for icebreaker prompts before coming back for the Friendly Feud rounds.
The prompts were personal but work-appropriate, encouraging council members to open up, share, and get to know each other better, all in a fun and engaging way.
Those moments of personal sharing are made effortless in breakout rooms, where staying quiet isn’t really an option. The format also gave less vocal members a way in.
“For folks who struggle with, say, turning their camera on during meetings, the smaller group format helps,” says Heather. “There’s always going to be someone slightly more extroverted who kicks off the discussion, and it gives the more reserved folks the space to open up.”
The Friendly Feud rounds themselves hit the right note. Barbara’s questions leaned toward work culture without her being instructed to.
“The Outback team seems like extroverts who can read the room,” she says. “Whether that was intuitive or something I mentioned, the questions were geared perfectly around what we needed.”
The 4 Questions That Got Everyone Talking
Barbara built the DIY Council’s session around work and life themes, keeping the content relatable and easy to engage with regardless of role or background.
There were a few questions in particular that stood out.
One prompt asked what would make you late for work. For a fully remote group with no office commute to speak of, the answers leaned straight into the realities of working from home.
Another asked what people are afraid of, and that’s where things got personal.
“I found out two coworkers are allergic to cockroaches, which I didn’t even know was a possibility,” says Heather. “How do you even find that out?”
She adds, “And then there’s James, who genuinely loves spiders. Meanwhile, Carleigh hates roaches, and she and Patrick had especially strong opinions about what annoys them when driving. You just learn things about people in these kinds of situations.”
The lottery question landed a little differently.
When asked what they’d do if they won, the group rattled off luxury purchases before a collective realization set in.
Heather shares, “We laughed when we realized we all forgot to say we’d help a friend or family member.”
Those aren’t manufactured team building moments. They’re what happens when you put people in a small group, give them a low-pressure prompt, and get out of the way.
The Benefits That accesso’s DEI Council Got from Their Friendly Feud Team Building Activity
The results of accesso’s Friendly Feud team building activity weren’t captured in a survey or spreadsheet, but they were obvious in how the team showed up for each other afterward.
“Going into future calls that are all work-related after doing a team building activity like that, you have a greater sense of camaraderie,” Heather shares. “You know a little more about someone, the things they enjoy, and the things they don’t like so much.”
She continues, “It helps you feel bonded and builds empathy for people’s lives. We’re all working together, but these kinds of things remind you that people are real. They have real lives. And it gives you a more personal perspective on people you’re traditionally just engaging with in a professional capacity every day.”
Plus, Patrick got to be a player for the first time.
Most importantly, though, Friendly Feud brought accesso’s core values to life by:
- Encouraging authentic participation (integrity)
- Energizing employees through fun and connection (passion)
- Fostering collaboration in small teams (teamwork)
- Reinforcing our commitment to belonging and engagement (commitment)
- Using a creative, interactive format to connect people in new ways (innovation)
When asked whether team building is worth it for organizations on the fence, Heather doesn’t hesitate.
“Team building is absolutely worth it,” she says. “Typically, people walk away feeling positive and getting to do something different than your typical workload.”
Why Facilitated Virtual Team Building Produces Better Results
Running a virtual team building event yourself means someone on the team carries the logistics while everyone else participates.
That person is watching the clock, monitoring the chat, and troubleshooting AV issues, all while also trying to be present.
Having a professional facilitator takes that off the table entirely, and suddenly everyone, including the organizer, gets to just show up.
That matters even more for a globally distributed group.
Why?
Because remote teams don’t get the hallway conversations, shared lunches, or offhand moments that build relationships organically, but a structured small-group prompt in a breakout room deliberately creates those moments.
Three people in a breakout room, a personal question, and five minutes can produce a connection that carries into real work in a way that a full-group icebreaker rarely does.
For a DEI-focused group specifically, there’s one more layer: having a facilitator who defaults to one country’s cultural references, intentionally or not, signals to everyone outside that frame that they’re an afterthought.
That’s the opposite of what a DEI Council exists to do. Cultural fluency in a facilitator isn’t a bonus. It’s the whole thing.
When is This Type of Virtual Team Building Is the Right Fit?
The Friendly Feud format, delivered by a professional virtual facilitator, works well in specific situations. Consider it if any of these apply to your team:
- Your team is fully remote or globally distributed and rarely shares a physical space
- You have a go-to activities organizer who deserves a chance to actually participate
- You’re planning a DEI council, ERG, or cross-functional committee event that needs culturally neutral content
- Your kickoff or semi-annual gathering is focused on connection rather than skills training
- Your team has quieter members who engage better in smaller groups
If more than one of those sounds familiar, this format is worth a serious look.
accesso’s DEI Council came in with three clear goals:
- Connect the group
- Give Patrick a well-earned break
- Run a trivia-focused activity that worked for members across multiple countries
Friendly Feud delivered on them all.
Want to plan a virtual team building event for your distributed workgroup?
Get in touch with one of our Employee Engagement Consultants, who can help you find the right activity for your group size, goals, and budget.
