Teambuilding‘s virtual murder mystery challenged the DTP cohorts at the 2020 Virtual Orientation
These days many of us face different research, work and even social environments, many entirely online. The DTP has gone virtual for 2020-21. Though our researchers based at Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter are already adept at collaborating flexibly across institutions, connecting in our DTP community from our homes introduces new challenges.
Ordinarily, the annual Orientation draws us together in Cardiff for a two-day, packed schedule of seminars, workshops and socials. This October, we met in Zoom rooms rather than conference rooms, and Teambuilding joined us to facilitate our most unique student social even to date–an evening spent solving a murder with expert guidance from real Murderologists.
Teambuilding’s events run in Zoom, a virtual meeting platform familiar to our students from our Virtual Congress and other Virtual Orientation events. Facilitators divided participants into small teams in breakout rooms to work together to solve an exciting array of puzzles and challenges. Two teams rose victorious, but all DTP members left smiling.
The virtual murder mystery was a great idea and a good way to meet new students.
DTP student feedback
Indeed, the murder mystery event was frequently cited in Orientation feedback as one of the most enjoyable aspects of the two-day agenda. Another DTP Researcher/up-and-coming murder mystery expert noted the value of virtual social events:
I think online social events such as this are useful for the purposes of mingling with other cohort members – it gives a clear topic to start conversations with other students in the breakout rooms rather than having to come up with conversations organically, which can be hard to do on Zoom.
DTP student feedback
We appreciate all the students who made an effort to join in the student social (even though it required a commitment to another 90 minutes on Zoom!) And, we extend our thanks to the energetic and enthusiastic event hosts at Teambuilding.