This icebreaker poses that age-old question of what we would do if stuck on a desert island while asking your team to think about what they would need to survive. 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 ice breaker questions in breakout rooms or in smaller groups and to tailor the specific questions to fit the team I’m working with. In remote meetings with large amounts of participants or you are very short on time, asking people to speak up and share on camera can be tricky. Chat Waterfall is an effective way of getting contributions from large groups and avoiding cross-talk.
So, a great way to energize meetings is by completely changing its structure. A great ice breaker for zoom meetings is simply asking each participant to share a fun fact about themselves. These teams require icebreakers that encourage people to learn more about each other's roles and expertise. To do this, you can ask team members to share a project they've worked on in the past or describe a challenging problem they've solved. This way, everyone can appreciate each other's skills and accomplishments. It works best in teams that know each other fairly well because it may involve some vulnerability, especially if someone’s “low” for the week is intense.
Before your call, ask the team to come up with something they can sell to the group. Employees will take turns proposing their ideas, and the group can vote on whether or not they would invest. At the end, the team can vote on their favorite presentation. For an added challenge, you can set a time limit for each speaker.
You’ve probably seen companies using Caption This to encourage their audience to interact with their content. Well, it also works brilliantly as a fun virtual icebreaker. Now that you understand what ice breaker questions are and their many benefits, let’s look at some excellent examples icebreakers for virtual meetings you can use in your next virtual meeting. A bit like stand-up – do them wrong and you can fall flat on your face. Whether it’s two truths and a lie, or being asked to state “an interesting fact about yourself”, there are some icebreakers that make your team die inside a little.
This will help everyone feel more comfortable and connected, even though they live miles apart. Each person can bring one thing to your next conference call that they want to talk about. Whether it’s something on their desk, across the house, https://remotemode.net/ or an object they just bought, show and tell is an easy icebreaker activity that’s stress-free. Playing an online version of Scattergories with remote team members is easy. Find a free website with the numbered die and category list.
The more connected your teammates, coworkers, or employees feel, the more effective and productive the group becomes. When kicking off a virtual meeting, we have additional work to do in order to position the session for success. When working remotely, our attention is often split between windows, laundry and what meeting is coming after this. Connection is harder in a virtual environment where it’s more challenging to fully engage with others or easily read body language. 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”.
