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These icebreakers can help break the awkwardness that is often felt in virtual meetings due to the lack of visual clues and a sense of connection with others. Icebreakers can help participants relax and create a lighter and more familiar atmosphere. Often, the difference between a fun virtual icebreaker and a cringe-worthy one is the level of closeness between your team members. Some icebreakers are best reserved for team members who have worked together before. If you try to force closeness with personal questions posed to meeting attendees who have never even met, it can create awkwardness and embarrassment instead.
You can also do it on the spot, giving people a minute or two to search for an image at the beginning of the meeting. With so many people working remotely, this is a fun and easy way to start conversation about where people are located and what their current work environment is like. Ask everyone to take a photo of the view from their closest window. Each person can take their turn showing off their photo and explaining their circumstances.
Engaging Virtual Ice Breakers for Your Team
For example, hunting for bugs is a great way to create an outdoor scavenger hunt for kids or adults. They can take a picture of the first bug they come across, which might not take long. Being outside will refresh everyone so they’re more energetic https://remotemode.net/blog/15-effective-icebreakers-for-virtual-meetings/ for whatever’s next on their daily calendar. This allows for deeper connections, broader perspectives, and hey, it makes for an incredibly fascinating meeting. Just remember to keep the shares short and sweet to keep the momentum going.
Gartic Phone gives you a short time frame to sketch photos based on other players’ prompts—and can result in some hilarious artwork. And if you want better meetings, you MUST send this article to your meeting planner. However, when you’re working with a large group, it can be challenging to find icebreakers in which everyone can participate. Everyone loves food so you can ask everyone on the team to share their favorite food. A different alternative to starting a Zoom meeting with laughter is playing read my lips. A person in the call (you select who) needs to say what they think you say.
What are some other fun virtual icebreakers (if not using Zoom)?
Give your colleagues a thought-provoking question to ponder, then pair them randomly using breakout rooms (check whether your video conferencing tool allows for it). If you’ve ever experienced the real thing, you surely know that it’s as much fun as it is nerve-wracking! It involves dealing with various challenges, finding codes, and completing puzzles in order to “get out of the room”. Then, he displayed people’s submissions on the screen and the team guessed who is who just from the three brands. It’s fun to identify people, plus everyone gets to share something about themselves. You’ll definitely learn a lot of interesting stuff about each other.
- Plus, it’s always good to brush up on your team’s name recognition skills.
- For this virtual icebreaker, people can share music recommendations by sharing which song they have on repeat these days.
- With that in mind, here are 13 fun ideas to help break the ice and get everyone connected.
- Most people love talking about when they interacted with or were close to a celebrity.
This icebreaker is an easy-to-set and entertaining hybrid activity for large groups. The point is to get to know coworkers better, and it’s similar to the game “Would You Rather? ” in which participants must choose between two hypothetical scenarios.
examples of 1:1 ice breakers for direct reports:
Plus, it’s always good to brush up on your team’s name recognition skills. To play this fun game, have everyone in the group stand in a circle. Go around the circle and have each person say their name and an adjective that describes them (e.g., “I’m John and I’m outgoing.”). After everyone has introduced themselves, have the group try to remember as many names and adjectives as they can.
An icebreaker is an activity, event, or game that is designed to break down social barriers, make others feel more comfortable, and facilitate social interaction. Icebreakers are usually performed at the beginning of a meeting or team session and involve a group of people. When people hear “meeting icebreaker,” they think of ”bonding exercises.” In this post I share 15 meeting icebreakers that are anti-boring and easy. If you manage a remote team or are a part of one, you might have conducted or experienced an ice-breaking session. Virtual meetings get easier and a lot of fun with the right icebreakers. The Human Knot is a classic icebreaker that is perfect for large groups.
Start an emoji check-in
A would you rather virtual icebreaker question is guaranteed to spark a lively discussion at the start of your meeting. Starting a meeting or presentation can be challenging, as it can be difficult to engage your audience and encourage communication. They can help to break down barriers, get people talking, and create a positive and energetic atmosphere.
You might get surprised to see the similarities (or differences) you have with your peers. Instead of meeting one another in a conference room, phone calls, video chats and instant messaging are the key ways to communicate and collaborate. If you want to make it more playful, turn this activity into a competition by giving people a set amount of time to find more obscure/unique items.
Fun Ice Breaker Questions for Virtual Meetings
To prepare this game, compile a list of well-known movies, books, real-life people, fictional characters, or popular expressions. During the meeting warm-up, ask them to describe their item using only emojis. Prepare a few hypothetical scenarios and ask your team members to choose which one they’d prefer – or ask them to come up with questions on the spot.
- Here are the top 10 show and tell questions to help break the ice.
- It’s hard to draw a perfect picture with a mouse, so it levels the playing field and makes everyone laugh.
- A would you rather virtual icebreaker question is guaranteed to spark a lively discussion at the start of your meeting.
- Or someone else might hold up an empty bowl and say, “I haven’t had time to do dishes yet.” It doesn’t have to be something profound.
Collect three statements about each of your colleagues – two of them should be true facts and one should be a lie. Tell your colleagues to provide a lie that’s not so obvious so as to make it harder for others to guess. You may open your meeting with this question, either via word cloud or an open text poll, and wait for your team members’ submissions. It’s much more fun and you’ll spark creativity among your colleagues. Word association icebreakers are an excellent way to foster creativity and get to know each other better in a fun and meaningful manner. Additionally, it improves one’s capacity to create practical questions to solve problems.