25 ice breakers for virtual meetings

The larger your group, the harder it will be to create an activity that everyone can do together. You could hire a DJ to pump some jams and dance on screen. Then encourage everyone to bop around to the music for a few minutes.

Choose two questions and ask them to answer the questions on their paper. Keep the advice flowing with a new topic daily or several times throughout the day. Conferences can be intimidating for introverts and people who don’t know ice breakers for large virtual meetings anyone yet. Because of that, consider taking steps to help these attendees feel relaxed and welcome. Ask attendees to describe their weather with an emoji in the chat box or take a poll asking them what season is their favorite.

Why check-ins should be part of your team meeting culture

Something is endearing about letting people show off their knowledge on specific topics. This game allows pairs to work together to guess the answers in a friendly competition with other groups. Then, gather all of the cards in a basket, shuffle https://remotemode.net/ them around, and have each person pick a card. Go around the table and have each person read the card they pulled aloud. The team can work together to guess who wrote the card and share some laughs about their reasoning behind their guess.

It can be anything they want, but some people will get in, and others won’t. For added fun, ask the group to mime the word instead of saying it. Working from home or at the office, headphones with the right type of music can be lifesavers. Is that it can be awkward to kick off conversations, develop relationships, and generally socialize when you’re doing so over the phone or during a Zoom meeting. Have each meeting attendee select a random nearby object. It could be a pen, a paperweight, the clock on the wall, a shoe—anything everyone can see.

Virtual Meeting Ice Breakers

Plus it translates well to hybrid work, giving remote people a low-stakes invitation to speak up. Here’s a list of 100 questions designed to help everyone get to know each other. Or for more established teams, try making your questions specific to the goals of the meeting. This game is a virtual twist on the classic game of Consequences. Prepare a list of words in advance and share one with each team member. Start the game by writing an opening sentence on your virtual whiteboard.

  • Virtual meetings are becoming more and more popular in the workplace.
  • Then they can add it to the chat in your Microsoft® Teams or Zoom call.
  • If you’re familiar with breakout rooms, you’ll appreciate this one.

These icebreakers can effectively introduce leadership concepts and commence leadership training programs . This icebreaker provides everyone with an opportunity to see things differently and prepare well for the meeting (Bell, n.d.). Everyone eats, and the majority of the people are fond of eating; hence this icebreaker is a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other better (Bell, n.d.). Sardines is like hide-and-seek, but somehow the opposite. This icebreaker requires one person to hide, and everyone must find that person and stay hidden with him or her. To play this game, designate groups and let each group pick how they will act out rock, paper, and scissors with their bodies.

Why Remote Teams Should Use Ice Breakers

This is a great way of spotting what each member of your team values the most and keeping track of important moments. The best ice breaker question is the one that sparks a conversation and is either entertaining or thought-provoking, but always respectful (ice breaker examples below!). Because everyone is dealing with the anxieties and stresses that coronavirus may be causing, it can be a good idea to start off a virtual happy hour with a check-in. It may seem passé to ask how anyone is doing right now, but, at the very least, it’ll give everyone space to air any grievances or just commiserate in each other’s company. Some of the best ideas at work are generated when casually chatting with colleagues in the break-room. The virtual water cooler is a great substitute for the physical version.