We are all driven by play
At Pop CoLab, we design better ways for teams to connect through team-building and team-development experiences shaped around the team and its unique play style.
The simplest way to describe what we do is that most organizations have someone looking for team-engagement ideas. Maybe the team has gone bowling, done an escape room or brought in a guest speaker. Those can be great, but eventually someone has to figure out what to do next, find out what the team might enjoy, source it, book it and organize everything.
That’s the person we support.
Playful Approach, Serious Results
Our work is playful on purpose.
Every experience we create is built on a real purpose: to help people build trust faster, think more creatively, and work better together. We just make it feel like the best part of your day.
Play With Purpose
Play isn’t the opposite of serious work.
We design experiences that do something. Workshops that break old patterns. Team challenges that build real trust. Keynotes that leave people thinking differently long after they've left the room.
We work with corporate teams, private groups, and curious humans who know that the best ideas don't come from another slide deck; they come from the moment when people stop performing and start playing.
Discover Your Play Style
We all experience play differently. Developed by Dr. Stuart Brown and the play science team at the National Institute for Play, these six play styles help us understand how we naturally connect, create and feel energized.
At Pop CoLab, we use the play styles to design experiences that offer different ways to participate, helping everyone feel included while making room for each person’s unique way of playing.
Creators
You find joy in making, building and bringing ideas to life through art, stories, music, cooking, design or hands-on creation.
Explorers
Curiosity drives you. You love investigating ideas, trying unfamiliar experiences and discovering what might be around the next corner.
Competitor
Challenges energize you. You enjoy games, puzzles and opportunities to improve, test your abilities or work toward a win.
Organizer
You enjoy bringing structure to chaos. Sorting, planning, collecting, coordinating and connecting people can all feel like play.
Dreamers
Your imagination is your playground. You enjoy stories, fantasy, role-playing and becoming absorbed in other worlds and possibilities.
Movers
You experience play through your body. Dancing, hiking, climbing, sports and other physical activities help you feel energized and alive.
Take the Play Quiz
The Building Blocks
Environment
For people to truly engage, they need the right environment.
The environment is everything. The space. The people. The leadership. The culture. Before anyone can truly engage, they need to feel like it's safe to do so. Safe to try something, say something, be something other than their work persona. We design experiences that address all of it, not just the room you're in, but the conditions that make real participation possible. Because one size fits no one, and the right environment fits everyone differently.
Self-Awareness
Knowing how we play can help us play with others.
Before people can play together well, they need to understand how they think, react, communicate, and what energizes them. That’s why self-awareness is a big part of our work. We use tools, reflection, and playful frameworks to help teams better understand themselves and each other.
Why Pop CoLab
We know not every team connects the same way. Some people learn by doing. Some through conversation. Some through creativity, humour, movement, or challenge.
Our approach makes space for different personalities, different energy levels, and different ways of engaging, so more people can actually take part.
