Drawing on from learnings and experiences of the BritCham Marketing & Communications Committee members, we have put together this short guide to help businesses foster social connectedness amongst their employees and customers, while keeping them engaged, inspired and connected.

1. From BritCham’s
Marketing & Communications(M&C) Committee
Top tips on staying
sane while staying in

2. A message from the Committee
Singapore has eased into phase 2 of its reopening but with certain restrictions still in place and working from home
still the norm for many companies, it is important to continue engaging employees with activities to help them stay
sane while working remotely.
Drawing onfrom learnings and experiencesof the BritCham Marketing & Communications Committee members, we
have put together this short guide to help businesses foster social connectedness amongst their employees and
customers, while keepingthem engaged, inspired and connected.
Enjoy the read. Stay safe and stay healthy.

3. Diffuse pre-meeting
awkwardnesswith Icebreakers
Butrunningvirtual events continueto
beawkwardforparticipantsandnerve-wrackingforthehost.And
withso manyof themin ourcalendarsright now,howdoyoumake
them moreinteresting andless like achore?
A freeandeasyway,is tokickoffwithsimpleice breakersin the
formofquizzes,pollsorshortvideos.A little laugh hereandthereis
boundto calmthe unsettlednerves andeaseyouinto youronline
meetings proper.
Live streaming, animation,
online meetings, virtual events
and other pandemic-friendly
formats will continue at higher
levels than before,especially
considering that countries are
reopening at different rates.

4. Icebreakers:
what it could look like
Youcan get creative yourself bymakingyourown list of questions, like with a simple GeneralKnowledge quiz created in
Google Slides. Or whynot share a short video that made an impression? If want to up yourgame even more, give
something like Kahoot a try,which can take yourice breakersto a whole newlevel. Bottom line, think interactive by
engaging people visually. Make it fun, using content that helps colleagues taketheir minds (albeit briefly) off work, and
makethem smile!
If there's onething that we've learntin the last few months, it's that online meetings and webinars aren’tgoing away, and
at AsiaWorks we've been developing a rangeof solutions that allow ourclients to elevate their onlinemeetings and
events. At a time when we seem to be bombarded by a myriadof webinars, think about how youcan makeyournext one
not just stand out, but provide real value to youraudience. More than ever at this time, its important to beaware of how
we'repositioning, promoting and producing content, to protect our staff and ourreputation. If youneed anyadvice or
help with that, we're hereto help.
“
”
Andrew Clark
Partner

5. Complement webinars with
Virtual Wine Tasting sessions
Whenconsumed
responsibly, a good wine
neverfails to be an excellent
social lubricant.
Sincelargegroupgatherings arestill discouraged,takeyourtastingsessions online.All youwill
need isto select anddistributeyourwines, hireasommelier service to explainthewines, andyou
areall set togo toleavea memorableexperience whenyouhostthe nextwebsession.
There’sotherbenefitstoa VirtualWineTastingtoo—havinga formattoanonline event helps
remove anyawkwardnessandallowsparticipantstohavea morecasual,funexperience thana
traditionalwebinar,forexample.

6. When we first came up with the concept of doing aVirtual Wine Tasting as a waytoreach potential new clients andengage with our
existing ones, there wasn’t any business offering it in Singapore. Sowe ended up creating the entire event—from sourcing the sommelier,
purchasing the wine, decanting the wine intosmall tasting bottles, creating the tasting boxes anddelivering the boxes tothe participants. It
was a big logistical task. Since then, there’s been a biguptick in demand forVirtual Wine Tastings, sothere areseveral wine shops andF&B
businesses offering wine tasting boxes.
It’s worth checking if they can providea sommelier—otherwise you can findone online (obviously, make sure they know their wine!).
Once the wine has been organised, the rest is easy. You justneed tosend out your invites, choose aticketing platform (we used Eventbrite),
choose which platform tohost the event on (we used Zoom), come up with a format which combines the tasting with yourmarketing
message, andvoilà!
When we created our series ofVirtual Wine Tastings, we also delivered ashort (five minute) presentation in between each wine—this
keeps the audience more engaged, as they know they havesomething tolook forwardtoat the end.
Freddie Heygate
CEO,Asia
“
”
Virtual Wine Tasting:
what it could look like

7. Host Game Nights
Hosting the occasional
virtual games night is
a brilliant way to build team
camaraderie, have a few laughs
and get the competitive
adrenaline pumping.
Gameshaveanimportantplacein thebusiness.It helpspeoplemakeimportantdecisions,
enabling them tobecomebetterstrategists.Italso enhancesbondsbetween teammembersso
thateveryonefeels moreengaged andconnected.Gamesarealsoauseful activityfor
emotionalwellbeing.
Socialdistancingandremote workingwereextremelyhardforpeople, especially to thosewho
live alone.Connectingonline throughgames,therefore,whetherit’swithfamilyandfriendsor
withcolleagues, wasagood waytoeasepeople’sminds during stressfultimes.

8. Game Nights:
what it could look like
Employeeengagement is a priority at Spurwing, even more so inthe remoteworkingenvironment. Since the lockdown
started and ended, wehave hosted a series of game nights and allocated a dinnerbudget during those nights as a treat for
the team. Over quick sketches and hilarious guesses, our latest virtual Pictionary game resulted in renewedvigour and
refreshedenergyfor the workweeks ahead.
Thekeyto a successful game night is in excellent planning. Thereis a designated game master in ourteam and her
responsibility is to think about the format of ourgames and to communicatewell in advance what the rest of the team needs
to prepare for. Duringthe actual game, she sets the pace and ensures everythingrunssmoothly throughthe courseof the
night.
Research has shown that games help with mental and emotional wellbeing and we knowthat the Game Nights we hosted
helped our team in some way. For companies that need support increating fresh and engaging internal communications
activities, you can come to us and we’d be happy to brainstorm some ideas with you.
“
”
AmpyCorpus
Associate Director

9. Keep children entertained
with productive activities
It couldberelatedto yourbusiness,something practicalorjust somethingcompletely
different.Drawonyourcontactsandyourin-houseexpertise:Couldyouraccounts
departmentdoa financialskills training?Could yourcommunicationsdepartmentdo a
creativewriting class?Is someonegood atjuggling – couldtheyputona red noseand
teachcircus skills? If you’dratheravoidthe technicalchallenge ofawebinar,youcould
send anactivitypack,or runacompetition.If it’srelatedtoyourbusiness orESG priorities
it couldalsobea greatmarketingopportunity.Whateveryouchoosetoputtogether,
parentswill appreciatethe 60minutes ofentertainmenttheycan leaveto you.
Parents are struggling
tokeep their children entertained with an
endless stream of new and exciting
activities that they can do at home. Take
the pressure off them, and build
relationships at the same time by creating
activitiesfor children that speak toyour
strengths as an organisation.

10. Engaging children with productive activities:
what it could look like
Colleagues across our organisation havebeen exploring ways inwhich we can connect with our clients virtually and
bea good partnerto them particularly as the novelty of this newsituation falls far behind us. For parents at the
moment thereare plenty of challengesincluding providing childrenwith anendless source of activities that are both
funand productive.
Being a large organization, wehave a wide varietyof talent amongour colleagues and we’ve been drawing onthose
skills. For example, Barclays has long been runningCode Playground, a coding programme for children. Originally
these were held inUKbranches, and thenexpanded into complementaryonlinecontent. Since the start of lockdown
they’vebeen held online every weekdaykeeping kids entertainedand parents happy that theirkids arelearning
(even if they don’t realise it themselves!).
“
”
KateWheble
Team Leader -
South Asia, Events
(Vice President)

11. If you have anyquestions or needsupport on how to engage your employees and
customers better, please reach out to the M&C committee and we will connect you to the
right member who may be able to help.
The Marketing & Communications committee exists to keep
British Chamber members and the broader business
community in Singapore updated with the latest research,
trends and technology in the marcoms sector; to promote
industry best practice and showcase the individual
capabilities of members via Chamber initiatives and
through the development of its own events, seminars and
shareable content.