Stop us if you've heard this before - your virtual meeting has just started, but a network of silent boxes shocks you. Everyone navigates in their pajamas, without knowing who the zoom algorithm is going to talk to, which means you're talking about it all and day with their heads.
Wow, what can you give a giant digital ax to split virtual ice cream into tiny ice cream pixels? Not to worry, these 10 virtual icebreakers are exactly what you need.
Take a look at the top 10 freeze-breaking tools for virtual meetings that can really get your meetings right. We'll also look at when, why, and how to make sure your meeting is fruitful and enjoyable.
In this post we cover ...
Why use icebreakers for virtual meetings?
5 benefits of using icebreakers for virtual meetings
When are icebreakers used for virtual meetings?
10 best virtual icebreakers for meetings
Icebreaker # 1: Where are you from?
Ice Breaker # 2: Which image or GIF best describes your mood?
Icebreaker # 3: How would you like to get involved?
Icebreaker # 4: Share an embarrassing story
Icebreaker Number 5: Virtual Doodles
Icebreaker # 6: Pop Contest!
Icebreaker # 7: You've done it!
Icebreaker # 8: Spin the wheel
Icebreaker # 9: Take a movie
Icebreaker # 10: Old Man Shui
All-in-one unblocker for virtual meetings
Why use icebreakers for virtual meetings?
There was a time when personal icebreakers were viewed as a "fun way to start a meeting". It used to take about two minutes before the meeting turned into two minutes of cold and hard work.
The good times have changed. Warm-up activities like this are assuming a much greater significance as research continues to reveal their benefits. And when meetings became online in 2020, the importance of virtual icebreakers became more apparent.
Let's take a look at some ...
5 advantages of ice breakers for virtual meeting
Better Interaction - The most famous feature of icebreaking is that it allows the attendees to relax before the real session begins. Encouraging everyone to be present at the start of the meeting sets a precedent for the rest of the meeting. The people who participate in the start of the meeting are likely to be busy all the time. This is crucial in a virtual meeting where shutdown is very easy.
Better brainstorming - Participants are not only more interactive, but are also more likely to present their best ideas. One of the main reasons your representatives don't share their best ideas in face-to-face meetings is because they're tired of judgment. Online software that enables attendee anonymity and works with Zoom can get the most out of everyone.
Playground Leveling - A virtual icebreaker meeting that gives everyone a say. It helps overcome boundaries between different job titles or between different cultures in today's global environment. It allows even the quietest participant (the one whose camera was off and the microphone mute) to come up with great ideas that will spark engagement for the rest of the meeting.
Encourage teamwork from afar - your team may feel completely detached from co-workers if they have been away from the office for several months. There is nothing better to stimulate teamwork online than a virtual icebreaker game. You can do this with team-based tests, activities, or open-ended questions that get people back in action together.
We'll give you a better idea of your team - some people are more used to working from home than others - that's a fact. Icebreakers for virtual meetings give you the power to assess the mood in the room and adjust the rest of the meeting accordingly.
When are icebreakers used for virtual meetings?
A man lying on broken ice
Icebreakers for virtual meetings leave your team as cold as broken ice.
There are a few scenarios where breaking the deadlock for virtual meetings can take advantage of some of the benefits just mentioned.
At the beginning of it all, the meeting - yes, really, everything, meeting. The activities of the first five minutes of a meeting are so helpful that you are not online every time your team gets together.
With a new team - Zoom meetings with a group of strangers are truly terrifying. If your team is going to be together for a while, you need to break the deadlock as quickly and effectively as possible.
After corporate mergers - there is always hostility in the air when two teams of two different companies are forced into a surprise partnership. Having a steady supply of virtual icebreakers for meetings during your online meetings helps remove doubts about the "other team" and draw everyone to the same page.
Closer - Who says icebreakers need to start a meeting? Well, they actually should, but they can finish a few, too. The fun icebreaker at the end of the meeting breaks into the action-packed atmosphere of the past 55 minutes and gives your actors a reason to feel positive.
10 best icebreakers for virtual meetings
Here is a list of the 10 best virtual meeting icebreakers we came across. These are different from introducing a team to each other or getting to know each other again, but they are all just perfect for an online workplace.
Side note: Most of these icebreakers can be built for free with AhaSlides. With AhaSlides, you can operate icebreakers from the desktop while your team engages remotely from their phones or phones.
Icebreaker # 1: Where are you from?
Icebreaker very easy to break ice in this icebreaker list. What country are you from? A person can have a say in his hometown or current place of residence.
This way, everyone gets a little basic knowledge of their employees and gives them an opportunity to communicate through shared geography (“You're from Glasgow? This is where I live now!”). It's great for adding an instant feeling of togetherness to your meeting.
How do I do it?
A word cloud on AhaSlides to locate the participants.
The word cloud slide is a great way to display short answers and identify the most popular answers.
On AhaSlides, you can choose the type of word cloud slice for that icebreaker. After you suggest the question, participants submit their answers to their devices. The size of the answer in the word cloud depends on the number of people who wrote that answer so your team knows better where they all came from.
Ice Breaker # 2: What image or GIF best describes your mood?
For starters, this is a fast, fun, and visual activity. Offer your attendees a selection of funny pictures or GIFs and have them vote on the image that best describes how they are feeling.
Once they decide whether to feel more like Arnold Schwarzenegger drinking tea or a collapsed Pavlova, they can see the results of their vote at a table.
This will help relax your team and remove some of the serious and tiring nature of the meeting. Not only that, it also gives the medium an opportunity to measure overall levels of participation before the brain's exciting action begins.
How do I do it?
A picture selection slide in AhaSlides, where participants choose the mood represented by the image that best describes how they feel.
You can see how the room feels in the image selection slide.
You can create this type of virtual meeting easily by specifying the slide type image in AhaSlides. Simply fill in 3 to 10 photo options by uploading them from your computer or choosing from the built-in image libraries and GIFs. Under Settings, uncheck “This question has the correct answer (s) and you are good to go.”
Icebreaker # 3: How would you like to get involved?
Another way you can introduce humor and useful information to your attendees: Ask them what they will do to join the meeting.
This question is open-ended and gives participants the opportunity to write whatever they want. The answers can be fun, practical, or downright bizarre, but they all allow new employees to get to know each other better.
If the nerves of a newcomer to your company are still high, you can choose this question without revealing your identity. This means your team is free to write whatever they want without fear of being judged for their contributions.
How do I do it?
How to communicate with your team and meet through virtual icebreakers
The open slide allows for complete creative freedom and gives you the opportunity to add a little bit of time pressure.
This is a function of the open slide type. This allows you to ask the question and then choose whether or not you want attendees to reveal their names and choose an avatar. Select this option to hide answers until you see them all, then view them in a large grid or individually.
There's also the option to set a deadline in this case and request as many responses as possible that your team can think of in a minute.
Icebreaker # 4: Share an embarrassing story
Here is one that you definitely want to hide your identity!
Sharing an embarrassing story is a fun way to de-escalate your meeting. Not only that, but employees who have just shared something embarrassing with the group are more likely to open up and share their best ideas later in the session. One study found that this hypothetical icebreaker meeting could generate 26% more and better ideas.
In a personal context, this activity can be excruciatingly uncomfortable if no one shows up or no one laughs at the end of the story. However, connect it with an unknown program and all limits will be gone from the window.
How do I do it?
Challenge your team to come up with an embarrassing story for the idea of a virtual icebreaker meeting
You can see the slides open to break the ice one by one.
Another for the open slide, here. Simply ask the question in the title, remove the "Name" field for the participants, hide yourself, and see the results one by one.
These segments contain a response of 500 characters or less, so you can be sure the activity won't last forever, as Janice from Marketing has struggled with regret her whole life.
Icebreaker # 5: Virtual Messing
At this point, you may have heard about some of the great benefits of doodling. We're not talking about drawing rough pictures in science textbooks and passing them on to your friends. No, we're talking about those weird little shapes that come without thinking by your side as your brain processes bigger problems.
Doodles not only make your team more insightful but also give them focus, relieve stress, and improve memory for your meeting.
In the virtual meeting icebreaker field, this is an absolute game changer.
How do I do it?
Drawful is a great deadlock app for virtual meetings
Trang needs to improve the drawing game.
Drawful 2 was one of the many great inventions that originated during the COVID-19 lockdown. Just like AhaSlides, it is an interactive program in which participants register with the room code. Except for this time, they are drawing some really fun and funny ideas on their phones.
Drawful 2 makes its players think outside the box and encourages the fighting spirit that can have a huge impact on your meeting.
Icebreaker # 6: Pop Contest!
Speaking of the competitive spirit, how about a quick test to light those neurons on fire before your meeting? Doing so is perhaps the best way to engage all attendees and laugh in a way that this month's Zoom meeting alone cannot.
Not only that, it's also a great calendar machine for attendees. Quiet rat and noisy mouth both have the same say on the test and may work together on the same team.
How do I do it?
The Quick Test is one of the best virtual icebreakers for meetings to boost team spirit.
There are 3 types of test strips on AhaSlides as well as a classification chip at the end.
We've seen some really cool tests from AhaSlides. The program is perfectly balanced to create a lively atmosphere in remote settings.
Choose from three types of quiz slides (choose an answer, choose a picture, enter the answer) to create any type of quiz for a team with different interests. The Image Test can be great for fans of geography, while the Audio Test will definitely appeal to music.
Choose whether you want to do this as a group test or if you want everyone to compete individually. When a leaderboard appears at the end, praise all of your team members, including those who absorb the quizzes.
Looking for time-saving tests? Check out the 170 general test information here.
Icebreaker # 7: You've done it!
If you prefer to stay away from the competition and pick something completely healthy, try it! You hit the nail on the head!
This is a simple activity where your team praises the team member who recently destroyed them. You don't have to go into the details of what this person did well, just call them by name.
This can be a massive confidence boost for the said team members. They also receive a high degree of recognition for the team, which appreciates their good work.
They installed it to show employees appreciation for AhaSlides
How do I do it?
If you are looking for fast icebreaker tools for a virtual meeting, the Word Cloud Slide is the way to go. Simply ask the question and hide the answers to prevent people from jumping in the cart. Once responses are received, the names of some of the team members in the crowd will be highlighted on the results page.
If you want to engage the team's efforts more closely, you can increase the number of responses each member provides. If the requirement is increased to 5 response entries, members can select who took over from each division of the company.
Icebreaker # 8: Spin the wheel
As a virtual meeting moderator, sometimes you just want the easy ice-breaker who's in charge of getting out of your hands. Well, with a little preparation, spinning the wheel could be the perfect solution.
Create a series of activities or questions for your team and assign them to a wheel. Simply have each team member spin the wheel and do the activity or answer the question the wheel lands on.
If you're absolutely sure you know your squad, then you can go with some really hardcore daredevils. But we recommend some great facts about the personal life and work that your entire team is comfortable with.
Doing it right creates an interaction through excitement and a fun environment through the activities you create.
How do I do it?
Spin the wheel is one of the best virtual meeting icebreakers to take the middleman out of responsibility
Write your own facts or boldness and assign them randomly with the wheel.
As the subject of this deadlock list for virtual meetings, you might have already guessed the software is there for it. It's called Decide the Wheel, and while it may be very simple, it's free and effective in what you strive to do.
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