The best part is that it’ll only take 10 minutes or so, depending on your team’s size. Here’s a short virtual icebreaker that won’t involve everybody, so it won’t need much time. Maybe someone met Taylor Swift on their way to get coffee or bumped into Charles Leclerc while vacationing in Monaco. That’s why as an employer, it can be helpful to find virtual icebreakers to get your employees warmed up to each other and create stronger channels of communication.
Handwriting Challenge
Participants are more likely to come up with good ideas, be more creatively confident, and express themselves without fear. For your next meeting, ask team members to dress up in a costume. Leave costume requirements open-ended, or set a theme that asks people to get more creative. To facilitate ongoing connections and conversations, create a chat thread dedicated to the topic, where employees can talk about their interests after the icebreaker.
- After you propose the question, participants will put forward their answers on their devices.
- Play quizzes, get ideas with polls, and brainstorm all together at AhaSlides.
- We´ve provided a list of 10 fun ice breakers for virtual meetings that should give you a good starting point.
This blog post lists the top 15 virtual team ice breaker ideas and which occasions they’re best for. Is the perfect pit stop for you to explore adynamic range of virtual gamesand elevate the fun quotient of your workspace Check out our other blog post with a list specifically for holiday icebreaker questions, with many more ideas included there!
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If you’re looking for other ways to break the ice that go beyond questions, especially in a group setting, mix in one of these spring-themed icebreaker activities! Below is a list of 125 questions and activities you can use at your next springtime event to break the ice and learn about others’ interests, hobbies, talents, and passions! If you’re one of the 323.9 million people who used dating apps in 2021, you’ll understand why having a good opening line to start the conversation is essential. A good icebreaker is so much more interesting than “Hey” or “How are you” Plus, it’s much more likely to elicit a response and set you apart from the other profiles. We’ve broken down the best questions for your first date, dating app conversations, and topical icebreakers to get you on the path from the first date to soulmate. Ask each person to submit a 30-second video with answers to specific questions, such as, “What do you miss about working together in person?
“Users create a copy of the main Google Sheets spreadsheet and then use the color pallet and small squares to recreate a pixel image that has been provided. The spreadsheet is color formatted meaning that if you enter numbers 1-9 in any given cell it will turn that color. The aim is to replicate the original image within the allotted 5-minute time frame. It’s a lot of fun seeing team members scramble to try and get the image as accurate as possible.” Skribbl is a free multiplayer drawing and guessing game where one person draws something related to a chosen word, and others have to guess the word correctly.
A quick journaling session where team members write down thoughts or feelings, helping to reduce stress and share insights. Invent a new, funny handshake that team members can mimic and pass on. A game where one word leads to another, testing how quickly team members can think and how well they understand each other’s thought processes.
Conference Warm-Up Activities
It should last enough time for people to feel comfortable and relaxed enough to easily discuss more important topics later on in the meeting. Do you want to get to know your team on a more personal note? This icebreaker activity is a great way to break the ice by putting your most embarrassing/awkward/awesome/proud moments up front for the world to see. Zoom backgrounds make meetings fun, but they don’t help people get to know each other very well. Location-specific photo challenges could start more personalized conversations because they’ll reveal new things about each coworker. Here’s a list of my favorite icebreakers to avoid having those awkward meetings.
Emoji Reaction Storytelling
At the beginning or end of a meeting, go around the room having everyone share their superpower with the team. For example, you could talk about your ability to connect with strangers or cook amazing meals. If you can’t take advantage of icebreakers for virtual meetings, don’t sweat it! We’ve even added some of our favorite ‘Would You Rather’ questions, which always have the potential to spark great conversation! A virtual scavenger hunt is a fun and interactive icebreaker where employees have to complete a challenge within a limited time. The challenge does not need to be intricate or overly complicated.
- For example, at a corporate kickoff meeting with over 200 employees, participants could be asked to submit one word describing their professional goal for the year.
- Start by asking a general question that prompts other team members, then invite the shy person to participate.
- The way it works, everyone on the team raises their ten fingers, making sure to display them clearly on the screen.
- It can make a virtual team feel more like a cohesive unit and can spark interesting conversations about similarities or differences in working conditions.
- Ice breakers for virtual meetings are not just about fun and games.
We assume you’ve probably played this game already, but still, this is a quick guide for any clueless face out there who’s still wondering what Simon’s gonna say… In this game, if there are six participants, only give a topic for five people. There won’t be much time for them to think, so people absolutely say the first thought that comes up in their minds. Another way of playing this game is to list out something that belongs to the chosen topic in turn in 5 seconds.
examples of 1:1 ice breakers for direct reports:
Icebreakers are especially important for virtual teams that can’t all physically interact with each other. They can reduce the inherent challenges of working in distributed teams in a fun, easy way. Remote team members may not know one another, and may not have shared office space or personal interactions. But a quick virtual icebreaker activity can start things off right! Break down that hierarchical or cultural barrier at your workplace with the classic ‘Wheeldecide’ virtual icebreakers.
For example, you could share a topic that people can read about in your office group. Ask your team members to share their childhood pictures privately with you. Then, post these pictures in the office group and ask people to guess the person. Not only can it be a great ice-breaking activity but also reminiscence people of their childhood memories.
Guess the artist
Fill in the blanks and then read the hilarious, co-created story aloud. Using a virtual whiteboard tool, have the team collaboratively draw a mascot that represents their collective spirit. Each person gets to add one feature (like a superhero cape, a third eye, or mismatched socks) and briefly explain their contribution. The next person in line adds another word, and so on around the virtual room. The team collaboratively builds a story that is almost always nonsensical and hilarious. Recycling a trivia-based icebreaker can be an exciting way to start great conversations.
Ice breakers are simple and fun activities to help people feel more comfortable and energize them before the meeting starts. The phrase “breaks the ice” means to reduce the tension, awkwardness, and silence, especially for the people inside the room who don’t know each other well. They can be as easy as asking a fun question, playing a quick game, or sharing something small about yourself. These ice breakers for meetings are great for boosting energy, improving teamwork, and making meetings more enjoyable.
This game highlights listening and communication skills and can help team members discover common interests with one another. Interview a partner for 5 minutes and then tell the group about them3. This question can show how participants spend time outside of work. Also, it can show their lighter sides, as well as how seriously they take themselves. By choosing a historical, literary, artistic, political, sports, or entertainment figure, this question shows the characteristics and achievements participants value.
A thought experiment where team members choose their preferred direction in time and explain their choice. One member answers quick-fire questions from others, helping the team learn about them in a fun and engaging way. “In this challenge, each member is tasked with summing up their life in an image they have personally taken.
Then let them have a brief conversation about their answer and the learning experience behind it. One of the best initiatives to break the ice for a virtual office is to start by asking a question that facilitates critical thinking. WorkStyle is an online tool that measures employees’ personalities and then generates profiles for each employee and the team as a whole.
If they traveled around growing up, as which place they loved the most. Icebreaker questions can be fun or funny, deep and meaningful—or both. People’s answers can be icebreakers for virtual meetings surprising indicators of values and personality. They can also show team members’ work styles, and how they collaborate with colleagues. To create a similar experience, establish a virtual club or catch-up period for remote workers to discuss updates on their favorite reality shows and more. You can also ask people to suggest their current or past favorites for others to enjoy.
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