Branch out from the traditional idea of an icebreaker by using these fun ideas with your coworkers during an upcoming conference call. Your team can do the same thing with a picture or meme as a visual prompt. Ask them to caption it while a timer counts down during your next meeting, or email their captions before the meeting starts. icebreakers for virtual meetings Either way, everyone will have a laugh and show off their creative skills. This is another excellent option for large groups because the words can come from anonymous coworkers. You can prompt them by explaining how your office hero is a specific team member who always meets their deadlines or rocked a presentation last week.

Crowdsource your colleagues’ personal or professional highlights from the last week or month. There will be a lot to talk about, maybe even some arguments about which candy or which movie is https://remotemode.net/ the best. You’ll start a meeting with some laughs and get your colleagues in a good mood before a meeting. After people submit their answers, ask volunteers to share how they voted and why.

People Also Ask These Questions About Icebreaker Games

With groups where trust is high, ask each team member to share one of the most recent photographs on their phone and tell a story about it. For best results, pair these questions with Chat Waterfall, call on people to speak or break people into smaller groups to talk among themselves. Dropping a question into a group without structure or clear rules of engagement can be met with an awkward silence. I prefer to use these kinds of questions in breakout rooms or in smaller groups and to tailor the specific questions to fit the team I’m working with.

• Using icebreaker questions at the beginning of virtual calls is one of the best ways to create a relaxed environment for your team.
• If you have a larger team, activities or games are sometimes the best options since they will allow for natural opportunities to break out into smaller teams or subgroups.
• Yes, my family called me Sasa because my little sisters couldn’t say “Vanessa.” And I lived in China during college.
• See how well your team members know the organization with a simple trivia game, and reward the winners with kudos (or maybe even a little swag?).

If you want PG, work-friendly “never have I ever” questions, we’d suggest starting here. But if you’re looking for some cheekier ones for a group you know really well, try this Oprah-approved set. Ask people to hold up 1 or 2 fingers to cast their votes, or encourage them to vote in the chat. Some questions might be more contentious than you think—and the debate will help get your guests ready for more discussion. Your guests will feel way more relaxed after they see you pretend to be a snake, or your boss miming their household chores.

Reflect on a video game

However, these meetings come with a growing problem of Zoom fatigue and so companies are looking for ways to make their meetings more interactive and have a social element to them. 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. Games have competitive natures and can bring more joy than icebreaker activities and questions. If you have a large team, you can divide them into groups or play the game individually to energize your team members and break the monotonicity.

It continues with a round of four shakes of each limb, then two, then one, ending in a big cheer. A good energizer when time is limited and the main aim is to get people moving. Participants are given a list of items to choose from and must work together to decide which items will help them stay alive. Light, energising exercise that helps the group to observe the other people on the call. Start by getting the whole team on camera and ask everyone to observe other team members closely.

Don’t laugh

In this virtual ice breaker for Zoom, get people into pairs and invite them to find the most interesting or unexpected thing they have in common. This can work effectively with people who know each other well or people meeting for the first time, but be sure to highlight the need for a unique or unexpected thing in common. One of the quickest icebreakers I’ve ever run, Shake down is as simple and effective as they come and it has the bonus of encouraging physical activity among your virtual team! Begin by asking the group to stand if they’re able and then shake each of their limbs eight times in turn.