Virtual icebreakers: 42 fresh activities from top facilitators

If they ask, let them know they will find out soon. Sometimes, more than one of your employees may have the same response. Just group them together and let your employees know they get more guesses. Since this pandemic began, employee engagement levels have been in flux. And research has shown that one of the key drivers behind this trend is often a diminished sense of community. If your team is feeling a little worn down or even burnt out, you’re not alone. In the midst of COVID-19, many teams are in the same boat.

The more energy you put into your icebreaker as the facilitator, the more you’ll get back from your participants. Are you trying to create connections, boost people’s creativity, or enter a reflective state? When planning your icebreaker, think about what you’re trying to accomplish in the session. Here are some tips for running icebreakers that will land with your participants. Around thirty minutes before the meeting, send out an email asking for two truths and one lie written down on a piece of paper.

The GIF Game

There’s no skill required here except for enthusiasm and the willingness to improvise as you shred to whatever song is on in the background. Let’s chat and get ready to up-level your engagement. The round ends when someone guesses the correct answer or the timer has elapsed.

It can be personal, for example, their feelings on that day or general condition. Or something less intimate as ‘how was your weekend in 1 word’. This activity is more of a conversation starter than a game. Split your team into pairs and ask them to share something from their bucket list. After some time has elapsed, you can ask each person to present their partner’s item to the group. This forces them to practice their active listening and public speaking skills. Plus, they’ll learn what one another finds meaningful.

Trivia Games

If you have a larger group, you can modify this icebreaker by using breakout groups so it doesn’t take as long to complete. Ice breakers are questions and activities that you can use to help people feel more at ease in a group setting. Suppose your virtual team has already been functioning for some time.

Additionally, doing other exercises tends to be time-consuming if you have a big team. When working remotely, despite virtual water coolers and other company events, sometimes we forget to make time to know our colleagues. We know the basic things about them, but not the icebreakers for virtual meetings interesting ones. Depending on how much time you want to spend determines how big of groups you want, but we’ve done this activity with up to 35 people. It’s also very easy to break people into groups if you aren’t planning on spending minutes doing an ice breaker.

Best Virtual Icebreaker Activities

Also, if you’re looking for warm-ups and energizers, or ice breakers for small groups, we have you covered. The key is to build intentional and meaningful collaborative experiences into your work. These experiences can take many forms, but one common approach is to use ice breakers to kick off a meeting. The Zoom background contest would be a fun and very quick way to break the ice. It’s perfect for meetings where every group member gets to speak, so everyone can see them talk and study the virtual background simultaneously. Another virtual icebreaker classic is quick and fun to play with the team.

Pictionary is a team building classic and for good reason. Scavenger hunts are always a fun team-building activity. By taking it remotely, your employees will also get the benefit of seeing what their coworkers have laying around the house.

Let your book club members know what the book of the month is and give them a few weeks to read it. You could even provide inexpensive eBook copies of the book if your budget allows. Supporting a charitable cause as a team is a great way to strengthen relationships and help your employees make new connections. Awards banquets and parties give you the chance to recognize your employees for a job well done. However, in this virtual awards ceremony, you aren’t exactly recognizing their hard work. Providing an artistic outlet can help relieve stress and give your employees a unique way to connect with each other. For this, partner up your employees and ask them to imagine their partner as an alien.

• The first participant begins by saying a simple statement about an experience they have never done before starting with “Never have I ever”.
• It’s unexpected and can be a great conversation starter, too.
• If you’re using it for true ice breaking purposes, it’s always good to keep groups on the smaller side to help stimulate conversation in a virtual environment.
• “This activity creates a sense of team cohesion by giving the group the chance to bond on a deeper level with one team member at a time,” said Rakesh.
• We love this ice breaker activity because it’s focus is on engaging all team members.

Some virtual meeting platforms allow you to put up a poll right into a meeting. To kick offthe meeting, see how everyone is doing with an anonymous poll. This is a great way to gauge the mood and bandwidth of the group and bring up any issues you need to discuss during the meeting. When you may not have time for everyone to share their answer but still want to learn more about a few people. Playing a game with your staff might sound childish at first, but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of fun now and then — especially if it helps bring your team together. And, of course, you’ll need first-class facilitation skills and techniques you can adapt throughout the workshop or meeting.