Show & Tell (Work Edition)
Time for the team building activity: 10–15 minutes
Setup effort: Easy (participants bring one item)
Estimated cost: Free
Business value: Deepens team connection, encourages storytelling, and strengthens engagement in team building sessions
What is Show & Tell (Work Edition)?
Show & Tell (Work Edition) is a modern team building activity where participants briefly present an object that represents something about them — typically related to their work style, a recent win, a hobby, or something meaningful on their desk.
Adapted from the classic school format, the workplace version is more intentional and professionally framed. The goal is not just to “show something,” but to create short personal stories that help colleagues understand each other beyond roles and titles.
It is especially effective in hybrid and remote team building environments, where visual sharing creates stronger human presence.
How do you run Show & Tell (Work Edition)?
Before the session (or at the start if keeping it spontaneous), ask participants to bring one item that represents something about them.
You can guide the theme, for example:
“Bring something on your desk that says something about how you work.”
“Bring an object that represents a recent win or learning.”
“Bring something that helps you stay productive.”
During the activity, go around the group and give each person about 30–60 seconds to:
show their item
explain why they chose it
Encourage concise storytelling to keep the pace dynamic.
For remote teams, participants simply hold the object up to their camera.
Why it’s great for a team
Many team building activities struggle to create genuine conversation. Show & Tell works because objects act as powerful storytelling triggers.
In just a short round, this activity helps teams:
humanize colleagues in a natural way
create memorable personal anchors
spark organic follow-up conversations
increase camera-on engagement in remote settings
build empathy across different work styles
It is particularly valuable in distributed teams where informal desk-side conversations don’t happen naturally.
From a team dynamics perspective, object-based storytelling tends to produce more authentic sharing than direct personal questions.
Teams that regularly incorporate visual sharing moments often experience warmer meeting dynamics and stronger interpersonal familiarity.
How to organize it effectively
The facilitator’s prompt design is the biggest success factor.
Choose a theme that is:
professional but personal enough to be interesting
easy to interpret quickly
not emotionally heavy
accessible to everyone
Model the expected level of depth with your own example first. Keep it short and relevant — this prevents oversharing.
Maintain a steady tempo during the round. If someone starts telling a long story, gently guide the group forward.
For larger groups (15–20+), consider:
using breakout rooms
or selecting a handful of volunteers instead of full round-robin
In remote team building sessions, encourage participants to prepare their object in advance to avoid delays.
Avoid using the exact same prompt repeatedly over time. Rotating themes keeps the activity fresh and engaging.
When facilitated well, Show & Tell (Work Edition) is a simple but highly effective team building activity that creates authentic human moments with minimal setup.