We've worked with over 600 organizations. Healthcare systems, senior living operators, Fortune 500 companies, architecture firms. And while every team is different, the team leaders have similar issues they are facing - you’re not alone!
We love our free consults and want HR leaders and team organizers to know they are part of a community addressing many of the same issues. Before anyone asks about logistics or pricing, they tell us what's actually going on. Here are the six things (and the key 7th thing!) we hear most and why they matter more than any event agenda.
1. "We need something different. Our team can tell the same old thing is coming."
This is the most common starting point. The person planning the event has already done the motivational speaker, the panel, the escape room, the trivia night. Their team showed up, sat politely, and forgot about it by the following week.
The issue isn't that those options are bad. It's that when people know what's coming, they stop engaging before it starts.
What we've found is that novelty paired with substance is one of the strongest engagement levers out there. An experience that surprises people, that asks them to participate in a way they didn't see coming, creates an openness that carries through the rest of the event. And honestly, the planner who books something genuinely different earns internal credibility too. Leadership notices. The team thanks them. They have fun themselves! That part matters more than most people admit.
2. "Our people are burned out, and the typical wellness stuff isn't landing."
We hear this constantly in healthcare and senior living, but it's everywhere - especially in places that may have had recent RIFs or consolidation. Burnout is the spoken and unspoken backdrop to most of our conversations, and the standard responses (resilience webinars, mindfulness apps, wellness stipends) aren't moving the needle.
Gallup's most recent data backs this up: only 32% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, and fewer than one in five are extremely satisfied with their employer. Another PowerPoint about self-care isn't going to reverse that.
What HR leaders tell us is that their teams don't need more information about burnout. They need a moment where the weight lifts. Shared laughter does something a wellness seminar can't: it changes the emotional state of the room without naming it as a wellness intervention. People walk in exhausted and walk out feeling lighter. That shift isn't trivial. It's often the thing people remember most about the entire event.
3. "We need to bring together people who don't normally interact."
Multi-site health systems, multi-office firms, distributed teams, and even places where people work 10 feet away from each other have the same structural challenge: people work in silos. When they finally come together once or twice a year, the programming has to break those walls down fast.
This is harder than it sounds. Breakout sessions may reinforce existing clusters, happy hours help extroverts and leave everyone else by the bar, and icebreakers may feel forced or played out.
What actually works is a shared experience that puts everyone on equal footing. When the senior VP and the newest hire are laughing at the same moment, hierarchy flattens. Inside jokes form across locations and roles. Research from Stanford's Graduate School of Business found that laughter triggers the release of oxytocin (the hormone behind social bonding and trust), and that people who share laughter reveal more about themselves and report higher relationship satisfaction afterward. Practically speaking, 45 minutes of shared laughter can build more genuine rapport than two days of structured networking.
4. "We want real skills, not just a fun hour."
This comes from L&D and Organizational Development leaders care about impact and want to justify the investment (justifiably!). They're not against fun, they just need the session to deliver something that holds up in a debrief that aligns with business goals.
This is where the improv methodology underneath the laughter matters. Listening, adaptability, presence, communication. These aren't soft add-ons. They're the leadership competencies that show up in every performance framework, every 360 review, every post-offsite action plan.
A McKinsey conversation with Stanford researchers Aaker and Bagdonas found that leaders who use humor are seen as 27% more motivating, their employees are 15% more engaged, and their teams are twice as creative. Those aren't soft outcomes. They're the same metrics L&D is already tracking.
The difference is delivery. When leadership skills come through humor and shared experience rather than a lecture, people retain them. They remember what they felt. That's not a theory. It's how memory works.
5. "We need something that works for everyone, not just the extroverts."
This is an underrated issue that we love to be part of the solution for. The person saying this has been burned before. They booked something that left half the room watching while the other half performed. Introverts checked out. Skeptics rolled their eyes. Feedback was split.
Inclusive design isn't a talking point here - it's a strategic and insightful decision. Sessions that rely on volunteerism or put individuals in the spotlight will always alienate part of the audience. Sessions designed around group participation, affiliative humor (laughing with, never laughing at), and low-stakes creative exercises bring the full room along.
Harvard Business Review's research on workplace humor makes the same point: the type of humor matters as much as its presence. Affiliative humor is consistently linked to stronger trust, higher job satisfaction, and greater organizational commitment. When everyone participates, the experience actually becomes shared. That's not a small thing and that's the whole point.
6. "Our mission is care, but we rarely turn that inward."
This one is specific to healthcare, senior living, mission-driven organizations, and some of the more forward thinking HR leaders we speak with. Places that exist to serve others, where the cultural identity is built around compassion and connection. But their own internal events often feel transactional: a catered lunch, a service award, a speaker who doesn't know their world.
The disconnect is felt even when it's not named. The people who give everything to patients, residents, and families deserve to feel that same quality of attention directed back at them.
When we hear this from HR leaders at health systems, the conversation isn't really about event programming. It's about identity. Investing in a shared experience that reflects the organization's values back to its own people says something about what that organization actually believes.
7. "We just want our people to laugh together."
Sometimes the ask is that simple! No framework, no learning objectives, no transformation agenda. Just: our team has been through it, and we want to give them a room where they can laugh.
We love this one. Not because it's easy, but because it's honest. And honestly, it's harder to deliver than it sounds. Getting a room full of professionals to genuinely laugh together, not politely chuckle, not nervously giggle at a forced icebreaker, but actually laugh, requires real skill. It requires reading the room, meeting people where they are, and creating something that feels safe enough to be spontaneous.
That's the part most people don't think about when they picture booking "something fun" for their team. A comedian doing a set at the holiday party is entertainment, yes, although potentially polarizing and also may run the risk of roasting or critical comedy.
But a room full of people laughing with each other, not just at someone on stage, is meaningful and lasting connection. The difference is enormous, and it's felt immediately.
The other thing worth saying: wanting your team to laugh isn't a small goal. It's not the lightweight option. Shared laughter is one of the fastest ways to remind a group of people that they actually like each other. And for teams running on fumes, that reminder can carry more weight than any strategic offsite session on the agenda.
What These Team Issues Have in Common
All seven point to the same thing: a need for real connection. Not manufactured engagement and not another checkbox on the annual calendar. Connection that changes how people feel about the team they're part of.
The organizations that invest in this, whether it's a keynote, a workshop, a virtual session, or a full offsite, consistently tell us the same thing afterward: that was the moment their team came alive.
If any of this sounds familiar, we'd love to hear what your team is navigating.
Schedule a free 20-minute consultation with Laughter On Call and let's figure out what the right experience looks like for your people.
