Plus, it doesn’t require any real skill or prior knowledge — it’s pretty much just chance, so everyone at your meeting can participate without feeling bad if they lose. When everyone in the remote team has participated, and you’ve had time to talk as a group, you can move on to the rest of the virtual meeting. Usually, it comes to a natural close, and the host moves things along — but make sure things don’t veer off on a tangent too much.
This belief shapes everything we do, and it’s the reason why we chose to go Virtual First instead of hybrid. This checklist provides detailed best practices broken down by days, weeks, and months after joining. You can enhance your remote team even more by gauging their capabilities with talent assessments.
If you have a small meeting coming up, feel free to use the questions as they are or customize them to fit your needs. We love rapid-fire questions because they remove the pressure that comes with trying to think up a perfect answer or question. At Dropbox, one of our key principles is making sure everyone stays on a level playing field.
You can use tools like this for quick pulse checks through emojis or one-word answers. It’s a simple way to ask light-hearted questions and have fun. Establish a psychologically safe remote workplace first to get the most out of your ice breaker questions.
Keep a weekly tally and award prizes at the end of the month or year. She created a slideshow of random travel pictures, started a story, and then called on one of our teammates to follow up on what she had said, based on what picture was currently up. This is a great alternative to the ‘turn to your neighbor’ kind of exercise – it’s interactive, and allows for more in-depth discussion between people. Introverts will appreciate this, as it feels more comfortable to share something in a pair, compared to the whole team. Give your colleagues a thought-provoking question to ponder, then pair them randomly using breakout rooms (check whether your video conferencing tool allows for it).
Fun Icebreakers for the Virtual Classroom
To resurrect our team from zombie mode and inject some energy back into their spirit, we like to introduce a bit of friendly competition with a brain warm-up game. The person who has been working with your team the longest goes first. They choose four random cards and place each one under each situation card. It’s like a cheat sheet for employees to tell us about their personalities, work preferences, values, and unique traits. One trick we’ve used that helps turn up the atmosphere from freezing to warm is asking our team to complete a Working-With-Me template using Dropbox Paper. We knew we had to continue to create meaningful ties across teams as we made the evolution to Virtual First.
For this exercise, have your team introduce themselves and then describe one dish that they love, and what it means to them. This is an easy way to get people talking, and again offers insight into people’s personal history, likes and dislikes, and even ways of working. Also, a shared digital space can help make this even more engaging — and even educational (new recipes, anyone?). Just having more meetings isn’t the answer (in fact, it can even make the problem worse). The key is to build intentional and meaningful collaborative experiences into your work.
- You can also do it on the spot, giving people a minute or two to search for an image at the beginning of the meeting.
- They’re a way to break down barriers and get people talking about both work-related challenges and personal interests.
- Have everyone share a short video of their home, commute to the gym, or favorite store.
- These last 15 virtual icebreakers are a bit more elaborate and focus on the virtual team-building aspect of your meetings.
- Let’s explore 12 engaging ice breakers designed to enhance team closeness.
- Make sure to allow each person to participate and ask the attendees to use the hand-raising feature found in most video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Teams.
Virtual icebreakers are a helpful way to connect and engage your meeting attendees at the start of each call. They can be short games or questions that encourage meeting participants to speak up and be comfortable engaging with the other team members in the meeting. To help prepare your attendees, you should include virtual icebreakers in the meeting agenda so that they can see and think about their answers ahead of time.
fun icebreakers for virtual meetings
- It’s tough to get a sense of who your colleagues are without a little IRL time.
- Even the best ice breakers for virtual meetings can’t fix a poorly structured team.
- Rather than focusing on the ordinary, the “What is on your bucket list?
- Have participants choose an item on the desk and hold it to the camera for everyone to see.
- This icebreaker encourages positive storytelling and can create a sense of nostalgia and connection.
- The host then reads out each fact one by one, and the rest of the group tries to guess which team member the fact pertains to.
Online team-building games are fun and social – they encourage interaction among coworkers and help bring back the camaraderie of a physical office. It’s the ultimate team bonding experience – if your teammates love a good game, they’re going to be fans. There are plenty of escape room platforms out there, for example, Escape Live. You can choose from various different session types or themes.
For instance, last week, we used this method in a meeting with four employees. Additionally, there’s a wildcard that participants can use if they don’t want to answer a question or feel uncomfortable. After this discussion, one of them reached out to keep the conversation going.
Are you trying to find the best answer to “How do you break the ice with friends online? ” First, know the difference between a fun virtual ice breaker and a cringe-worthy one. Because the best answer depends on the level of closeness between those interacting online. I know many hate online ice breakers, especially when these activities are accompanied by background noise. So, imagine being able to select the perfect virtual ice-breaker activities while ensuring a noise-free environment to encourage interaction and strengthen team bonds.
#3. Quiz question of the day
In this activity, participants choose an emoji that they think represents a specific emotion or experience. Then, others take turns guessing the meaning behind the selected emoji— which may even encourage people to share funny stories about when they’ve needed to use those emojis. A team-based trivia quiz engages participants in a lively competition where they test their knowledge across various topics. Organize participants into teams and take turns presenting trivia questions. Teams collaborate to formulate answers, keeping score and declaring a winning team at the end.
For similar ideas, check our full list of Would You Rather Questions. Engageli delivers icebreakers for virtual meetings a dynamic, adaptable, and integrated multimodal learning experience for your learners. To find other ways Dropbox helps teams work together and improves productivity across the employee lifecycle, head over to our HR solutions page. These gestures may seem small, but they pay off in a big way by creating a culture where feeling seen is prioritized and the little (but meaningful) actions don’t go unnoticed.
The rest of the group endeavors to guess the depicted word or phrase, ensuring an entertaining and interactive experience. This icebreaker revolves around sharing a cherished song that has been playing on a loop, followed by a brief explanation of its appeal. By playing a snippet or providing details about the track, they express why it resonates with them. Team members come together to participate in online games, such as trivia or word games, delivering enjoyment and camaraderie. Opt for an online game aligned with your team’s interests and preferences.