If you’re using Hive, you can easily enter a Zoom meeting with a group by using the “/zoom” command in all meetings. You can easily turn your icebreaker into a “sweat-breaker” by hosting a short “deskercise” training session. There are plenty of great deskercises, so feel free to mix it up each week with different activities—try strength one week and cardio the next. Before the meeting starts, we review the cards and list five to six tailored questions for each participant.
Pair & Share
Apart from the ever-popular game of trivia, Bored has games in which you roast your colleagues, or play a game of accusations and deception. Recently, they launched ‘Icebreakers’ to help teammates get to know each other better by answering questions that are unconventional and fun. This virtual icebreaker is ideal for small teams (or done in groups) because people might not be willing to talk in front of larger crowds of people. This is an ideal virtual icebreaker if you’re looking for a simple activity that anyone can participate in, for example, as you’re waiting for others to join the meeting.
Choose your favourite
You can have video chats, share updates in real time, and easily communicate with colleagues with messages and comments. Try these virtual icebreakers to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere for your new team member. About two years ago, I wrote a post about icebreakers and to this day — and 35K views later — I continue to receive comments, “likes,” and questions on the topic. For “Show and Tell,” participants choose an item from their home that holds personal significance. They then share this item with the group via their webcam, explaining why it’s important to them.
They remind us that nobody is superhuman and that every team member has struggles and stresses. We like to add a subheading to our meeting notes template and invite attendees to add their thoughts before the meeting starts. Encourage your team to share and chat about their thoughts after the meeting in async chat, too. For example, two employees agreed that working with their dogs is a non-essential but essential part of their work environment. Some colleagues may feel uncomfortable sharing their zen time with the team, so make sure you give everyone the option to switch off their microphone and camera.
- Give each group member 3-5 minutes to tell the rest of the group about it.
- For the last 8 years, she has been collaborating with brands and businesses to tell their unique story and develop their verbal identity.
- Remote workers need certain personalities and skills to build solid relationships and foster collaboration.
- For an added challenge, you can set a time limit for each speaker.
To make sure everyone stays engaged and included, include exercises that can be done sitting or standing. For example, copy the 4-minute strength desk-out we used when we hosted one of our all-hands meetings. What we love about this game is that it relies on perspective—and perspective is everything. For instance, it might be a cozy blanket, a mini snack fridge with different types of treats, or a coffee mug with their dog’s face on it. All of us desk-dwellers have that one “non-essential” item in our workspace that we just can’t give up. So have your team go around and share that one thing they can’t live without.
#19. Team trivia quiz
If you need a guaranteed conversation starter, try a question that brings back childhood or teenage years memories – they provide an inexhaustible source of amusement. If your teammates are scattered around the world, kick off your meeting by sending a virtual hi to each one of them. Ask your team how they are in a different way this time – try it with a poll. This can be a fun way to introduce favorite kinds of music, with potentially hilarious outcomes.
When was the last time you randomly bumped into someone in a hallway in your office and shared a good chat with them? Or, had a deep conversation about life, the universe, and everything with a bunch of colleagues in a kitchenette or by the watercooler? Take advantage of one of the visual collaboration tools such as Mural. We tried it recently during our Brand team meeting and it was an hour well spent – productive, creative, and fun.
There will be a lot to talk about, maybe even some arguments about which candy or which movie is the best. You’ll start a meeting with some laughs and get your colleagues in a good mood before a meeting. Simply ask your participants a thought-provoking ‘this or that’ poll question with two options to choose from. Mural is the visual work platform that allows all kinds of teams to do better work together — from anywhere. Team members get aligned faster with templates, prompts, and proven methods that guide them to quickly solve any problem.
Set a timer for your meeting and start the official part once it goes off. Additionally, you can give people a set time limit to answer a question, such as 30 seconds. Virtual ice breakers with more than 10 participants can become unwieldy and time-consuming. Get to know your colleagues a little better, and take a sneak-peek into their home work stations. This is a classic icebreaker that can easily icebreakers for virtual meetings be played virtually.
- Fellow helps your team build great meeting habits through collaborative agendas, real-time notetaking, and time-saving templates.
- Experiencing fun either in job-related activities or socializing with coworkers boosts job satisfaction and lowers employee burnout.
- Ask attendees to select an object nearby and share it on camera, offering a brief narrative about its meaning or why it intrigues them.
- For monthly meetings, have people share a personal or professional achievement from the past month from their personal or work life.
- The next, team member number two, will introduce participant number one then themself.
- You can send unlimited messages, enabling your team members to chat as much as they want, whether they’re talking about work or their favorite foods.
So, help your team set aside a moment to be present for the meeting at hand by hosting a quick group meditation session. Encourage your team to let go of distractions, put their notifications on silent, and experience one minute of pure zen. Ask each team member a trivia question and list out the possible answers. Gather questions and riddles before your meeting – at least as many as the number of online team members. Group Mad Libs is a fill-in-the-blanks activity where teammates build a short story in pairs. It’s tough to get a sense of who your colleagues are without a little IRL time.
Observe people’s reactions to get a feel of their comfort level and build from there. With Miro’s free template, you can host a virtual team-building activity to connect with your colleagues and get to know each other in a relaxed and comfortable setting. You’ll break down communication barriers, improve your company culture, and remove any feelings of isolation. You can create multiple choice trivia questions, personality questions or prediction polls and relate them to your industry if you wish.