By Kirstin McCudden
When you’re here to get work done, it’s the meetings that matter. But there’s often not enough time to get beyond the PowerPoint. When the day is done for your team, or you want to break up the monotony of meetings with some meaningful intermingling, there’s something in our fair city that will bring out the best for all the types on your teams.
For the Accounting and Number-Crunching types:
Nothing breaks down barriers like side-by-side skee-ball and four-person off road driving games. The Crossroads Arts District’s arcade-and-beer spot, Up-Down, brings out nostalgia and team building all in one shot. Games are a quarter which means even the number crunchers among you will be happy. Perfect for a mid-day break or pre-dinner happy hour.
For the Busy Bee types:
After a full day of chair-bound meetings, the movers and shakers in your club will want to head to Sky Zone trampoline park. Rent the entire facility to bounce—literally— off the trampoline-lined walls, and blow off some steam while stretching muscles. Everyone’s brains will be better for it. Perfect after a multi-day conference or for a longer mid-day break.
For the Human Resources types:
There are benefits to leveling the playing field. At The Culinary Center of Kansas City, everyone gets an apron and their hands dirty as professional culinary instructors take your team through entire meal prep. Conversation flows freely in the industrial-grade kitchens during these private courses, and any Human Resourcer or “Who Moved My Cheese” master knows there are benefits to learning about the people around you and how best to work with them. The best part is – you get to eat your feelings. Perfect for when the workday is done.
For the Junior VPs and Mid-Management types:
Let your leaders shine—and figure out the up-and-comers—in a game of wits and teambuilding at Breakout KC, Kansas City’s Escape Game. A national phenomenon, the escape room concept puts a small group in a room with clues and sets a timer to freedom. Take your group to the River Market to show them how communication and working together are keys to success, and watch the competitive click into high gear with this group exercise. Perfect for a 60-minute day break or pre-dinner exercise.
For the Social Media Savvy and Digital Types:
It’s not just because we have Garmin’s world headquarters in our radius that Kansas City is known as a “Smart City.” With high-tech entrepreneurs and Google Fiber coursing through our veins, the techies among you will be right at home. A cultural-themed scavenger hunt, like one taking you through the world-renowned Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, can be arranged by Watson Adventures. All your team needs is a phone and some quick wits. The best high-tech, low-cost brain break needs nothing more than prep time. Organize a nearby Geocaching treasure hunt, and explore the city using coordinates to find hidden treasures. Perfect to roll out a more complicated version over a multiple-day meeting, or for longer breaks.
FOR THE THRILL OF IT: Check out our list of 15 adventurous pursuits for even more ideas to take your meeting up a notch.
Brittany Howard: What Now Tour
The Truman
Silversun Pickups
The Midland Theatre
Alvvays
The Truman
The Cancelled Podcast Tour with Tana Mongeau and Brooke Schofield
The Midland Theatre
Miller Lite Presents Downtown Hoedown featuring Brett Young
Kansas City Power & Light District
Palace
The Truman
Liquid Stranger: Wakaan Expansion Tour
The Midland Theatre
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
The Truman
Bianca Del Rio: Dead Inside Comedy Tour
The Midland Theatre
Black Veil Brides: Bleeders Tour 2024
The Truman
Wage War & Nothing More
The Midland Theatre
Greta Van Fleet
T-Mobile Center
slowdive
The Truman
Tori Kelly: purple skies tour
The Midland Theatre
Mosaic Presents: Lost Kings
Mosaic Ultra Lounge
Tech N9ne with The KC Symphony
The Midland Theatre
foorum Nexus
Kansas City Convention Center
foorum Nexus
Kansas City Convention Center
Portugal. The Man: The Knik Country Tour
The Truman
foorum Nexus
Kansas City Convention Center
Sam Barber: Till I Return Tour
The Truman
Hermanos Gutiérrez
The Truman
The Postal Service & Death Cab for Cutie
T-Mobile Center
Donny Benét
The Truman
NF
T-Mobile Center
Gavin DeGraw
The Truman
Gary Clark Jr.
The Midland Theatre
Local Natives
The Truman
Kumar Sanu & Sadhna Sargam
The Midland Theatre
Marca MP: Simplemente Marca Tour
The Midland Theatre
Outdoor Concert Series
City of Lenexa, Kansas
Real Estate: Infinite Jangle Tour
The Truman
Jammin’ on the Green: A Summer Concert Series
Shawnee Town 1929
Pepe Aguilar
T-Mobile Center
Outdoor Concert Series
City of Lenexa, Kansas
Brit Floyd: Pulse Tour
The Midland Theatre
Outdoor Concert Series
City of Lenexa, Kansas
Lionel Richie
T-Mobile Center
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Treaty Oak Revival
Kansas City Power & Light District
Tim McGraw
T-Mobile Center
Outdoor Concert Series
City of Lenexa, Kansas
Goose
The Midland Theatre
Chris Stapleton
T-Mobile Center
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Niko Moon
Kansas City Power & Light District
Outdoor Concert Series
City of Lenexa, Kansas
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Warren Zeiders
Kansas City Power & Light District
QUINN XCII
Kansas City Power & Light District
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Pecos & the Rooftops
Kansas City Power & Light District
Kenny Chesney : Sun Goes Down Tour with Zach Brown Band
Arrowhead Events
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Mitchell Tenpenny
Kansas City Power & Light District
Bowling for Soup: Sick 50 Tour
The Truman
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Randall King
Kansas City Power & Light District
Olivia Rodrigo
T-Mobile Center
The Last Dinner Party
The Truman
Charley Crockett
The Midland Theatre
Morgan Wallen : One Night At A Time
Arrowhead Events
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Alexandra Kay
Kansas City Power & Light District
Morgan Wallen : One Night At A Time
Arrowhead Events
Peso Pluma
T-Mobile Center
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Conner Smith
Kansas City Power & Light District
blink-182
T-Mobile Center
Luke Bryan
T-Mobile Center
Zach Bryan
T-Mobile Center
Zach Bryan
T-Mobile Center
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Travis Denning
Kansas City Power & Light District
Dierks Bentley
T-Mobile Center
Franco Escamilla
The Midland Theatre
Hank Williams Jr.
T-Mobile Center
Sublime with Rome Farewell Tour
Kansas City Power & Light District
Chromeo & The Midnight: Chrome Nights North American Tour
The Midland Theatre
The Dead South
The Midland Theatre
Sammy Rae & The Friends
The Midland Theatre
Creed
T-Mobile Center