YouTube Team Beach Picnic for 55 at Tower 28, Santa Monica

In October 2024 a YouTube team of 55 took a weekday afternoon to get out of the office and onto the sand. The group wanted to walk rather than arrange transportation, so we set up on the beach at Lifeguard Tower 28 in Ocean Park, the southern end of Santa Monica and an easy stroll from Google's Venice offices. We have hosted YouTube and Google teams at this same spot before.

The seating mix was built around the group: pillow seating at low tables for 30, plus banquet chairs at high tables for 25 so that some of the senior leaders had a chair. Two canopies sheltered four buffet tables, where Mendocino Farms delivered and set up lunch ahead of the 1pm start.

The event ran from 1pm to 4pm, with a full lineup of beach games including cornhole, ladder toss, Spikeball and bocce ball. A premium Bose speaker with a microphone handled music and gave the team a way to address everyone at once, which is useful for any group mixing a team outing with a few words from leadership.