Virtual icebreakers: 42 fresh activities from top facilitators

HeySummit is the easiest way for creators and educators to grow their audience, authority and revenue with professional online events created in minutes, not weeks. If you’re not quite there yet, consider checking out speaker directories to find a passionate expert in your industry to lead your meeting or event. Having a pro at the helm can really elevate the whole experience. This reassures individuals that they are not alone in their habits or opinions, which can help them find common ground with others in the group. This is a classic example of engaging attendees by asking them to put their hands up in response to a question.

Press pause on proceedings, and have them write down any worries, energy levels, or anything that’s taking up too much space in their mind. Small groups are the perfect setting for relaxed, meaningful conversation. These icebreaker questions are designed to get everyone talking, sharing stories, and building connections—without putting anyone on the spot. Done right, they can create connections between participants and get people in a productive mindset.

Leadership activities that encourage employee engagement

While icebreaking works wonders for new staff, sometimes they do need a little encouragement to step out of their shell. Creating a “fast facts” activity might help to alleviate some of this pressure. Ask your teams to just briefly think about the most interesting or surprising fact about themselves. Maybe they lived for a while in a super-obscure country, or have a surprising passion outside of work.

• Tired of awkward Zoom meetings where no one wants to talk and ideas go unheard?
• If you never agree on which is the best, great—that means you’ll have to keep looking.
• As much as staying connected to conduct business is critical during this unprecedented time, so are the relationships that you build with your team and other coworkers.
• You can remind everyone to respect each other’s ideas and opinions, avoid interrupting or dominating the conversation, and adhere to the time limit.

For instance, you could mention your favorite movie or TV show. This not only makes your introduction more engaging but also helps your attendees find common ground with each other. Some become secondary parents, so mention them in an icebreaker activity. The conversations focus on some of the most remarkable people who helped your coworkers become the successful, thriving individuals they are today. Ask your coworkers to talk about a skill a team member next to them excels at.

Color check-in

Also, singing has been shown to mediate fast social bonding. Bonus points if people have good stories about why they selected their songs — or particularly memorable performances. Ask your teammates to share the celebrity that people say resembles them most, and include an image reference if possible. With a visual platform, you could also gamify the experience by having everyone vote anonymously for the most convincing doppelgänger.

While the word’s origin is disputed, I like to think of its physical equivalent. An icebreaker is a type of boat that breaks the ice to allow it to keep cruising along smoothly, so it doesn’t get stuck in one place. 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. They can gather their ideas and feedback in one spot, allowing them to see the big picture of any project and act decisively.

Have a Backup Plan for Virtual Ice Breakers

Once you’re back in the main room, debrief, or ask people to share the best moments from their stories. In three-to-four person breakouts, have the group tell a story, where each person says one sentence at a time. Play some energizing dance music and put random participants in the Butter Spotlight, one at a time. The person in the spotlight needs to do a dance move and everyone else has to follow their lead by copying the move.

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• Then ask everyone to share, either in the chat, verbally on in breakout groups.
• We set up a virtual whiteboard, and each of us was supposed to write our ideas on little stickers that we then posted on the board.
• Crowdsource your colleagues’ personal or professional highlights from the last week or month.

Whichever approach you choose, icebreakers are meant to be a fun opportunity to get to know your team, while at the same time having a measurable, positive impact on team performance. The key element to better teamwork, whether in person or remote, is connection. The more connected your teammates, coworkers, or employees feel, the more effective and productive the group becomes.

And in the call you can put the song with no lyrics and the first person who guesses it wins. Or, you can do a round where each member puts a song and you all answer, that way you also participate in the game. In the first place, sometimes, especially when the week is starting, people want to have a quick meeting and get started with their work. Additionally, doing other exercises tends to be time-consuming if you have a big team. By encouraging interaction and collaboration, they can help in building stronger relationships among team members.

Let’s delve into the reasons why ice breakers are an indispensable part of virtual meetings in today’s work environment. Experiment with different types of ice breakers to find what works best for your team and objectives, and don’t hesitate to get creative and have fun along the way. Group tasks are excellent virtual meeting ice breakers that create opportunities for team bonding and encourage participants to tap into their creative juices. They can also lighten the mood and foster a more inclusive atmosphere in remote meetings.

Contrasting genres and debut decades could result in plenty of laughs. Get creative and have fun while keeping the conversation light. There are numerous websites where you can make a poll and get a private link for it. Your coworkers could answer the survey in real-time during a meeting or before a conference call. Your team members might attend trivia night in their hometowns or play it with their families.

Before the meeting, tell everyone in the team to pick a picture that has meaning to them. The idea is that each member shares the story of the picture during the meeting and why it matters. It can be from your wedding day or the day you presented your thesis or adopted your cat. A different alternative to starting a Zoom meeting with laughter is playing read my lips.

In this virtual game, you’ll use the idea of a genie that can grant three wishes as the basis for a small group discussion. In breakouts, invite your team to share the three wishes they’d make and why. A companion method to the above, Guess the Desk asks that participants take a photograph of their workspace and anonymously post it to the group.

The game can reveal many interesting things about teammates you may not otherwise hear, like hobbies, favorite foods, childhood or travel experiences, etc. Screenshare Would You Rather with your team and enjoy the game. Remember, the goal is connection, not perfection—so have fun with it and let the conversation unfold.

Tips on Doing Virtual Ice Breakers Right

Before your session, you can plunk everyone’s photo into a Miro board, mural, or Butter whiteboard. You can then either ask them to draw clothing on themselves, or you can give them a bunch of clip-art clothing items to choose from. Depending on the group size, you can decide whether participants share each other’s superpowers verbally, in chat, or on a whiteboard.

The second version is for teams who want to explore how they are working together as a team. Next, ask everyone to add a coloured dot to each dimension based on whether they’re crushing it or have room to improve. We set up a virtual whiteboard, and each of us was supposed to write our ideas on little stickers that we then posted on the board.

Show appreciation for answers, build on them with follow-up questions or personal connections, and transition smoothly into your main content ice breakers for virtual meetings or activity. The right icebreaker can transform a classroom into a welcoming space where students feel seen and heard. These questions are designed for teachers and educators to help students engage, connect, and ease into a new school year or semester. Older adults have a lifetime of experiences to draw from—and often enjoy reflecting, storytelling, and connecting through shared memories. These questions help spark meaningful and lighthearted conversations.