List of virtual icebreaker questions. For example, at the start of your meeting, ask your colleagues to click the emoji that best describes their current mood. What is the most significant value our company holds dear? Update: Download a PDF of these questions. Harvard Business Review. Since not everyone may be comfortable with sharing this verbally, ask your team members via a poll. When the groups share their 10 with the other groups, expect that employees will look for commonalities and the virtual icebreaker will generate laughter, comfort, and common ground. This fun game is great for introducing new colleagues or getting to know each other better. Icebreakers are an important part of any training program, as they encourage people to participate from the start of a session, to get to know each other and to feel comfortable working with others. Crowdsource your colleagues’ personal or professional highlights of the last week or month. You pass the jar around and each team member has to remove a lolly from the jar. Icebreakers for remote teams are activities you can do at the start of a virtual meeting to create quick, personal connections with your co-workers. During periods of stress like the coronavirus pandemic, employees want to work from home and telework with their virtual teams. 12 Funny Icebreakers To Start Your Zoom Meetings, Happy Hours & Dates Off Strong. You’d have a coffee and a natter in the office so why not have a virtual coffee? Ice Breaker Activities for Small Group Counseling. We actually started doing this as a weekly activity in our #random Slack channel. For Swedes, however, it is much more than that. Ensure that your icebreakers take into account unique perspectives and accommodate diversity. Some are virtual. Learn More → Workplace diversity games help individuals understand that for all the differences that may be present between people in a workplace, everyone shares a common humanity. They make employees feel closer to each other as they share laughter even in a remote meeting. This way, you can be sure that everybody will participate and that their answers will be honest. For recurring meetings, come up with a different fun poll each time, here are some for your inspiration. Set up a new tradition and ask your team one random question each week or month. When facilitating introductions or breaking the ice initially in a meeting, help participants get to know each other by sharing a brief fun fact or a funny story. As mentioned early, diversity can inhibit team performance. Virtual icebreakers will help. Another similarly popular activity is “Take a picture of your shoes” that is equally hilarious. You can then open a discussion about all your anti-highlights and what you learned from them. Changes Goal. We since learned so many cool new things about one another! It’s about taking a break from everything for a while and enjoying quality time with friends or colleagues over a cup of coffee or tea. Including an ice breaker or mixer at each meeting is a quick, easy and fun way to actively get members acquainted with each other. A few activities to liven up your classroom instruction. These fun icebreakers can be performed anytime, anywhere, no matter the distance! Then, ask them to share a story behind the picture (if it’s not a secret!). That is the goal of icebreaker activities, after all. Give them a little task such as: “You have 25 seconds to fetch something yellow,” or “Get the weirdest thing in your apartment, then bring it back to show us”. Every teammate answers the question with only one word or sentence. Virtual Icebreakers to build rapport and drive engagement. Diversity Activities and Ice-Breakers. These photos also make nice content for your social media, internal newsletters, or Slack channels! Icebreaker: If You Could Choose Just One, Which One Would You Choose? Get everyone on their webcams to stand up in the room where possible (sitting down is fine) and follow along with the instructions. Group Size: An ideal group size for virtual icebreakers would be around 15-20 people or lesser. Which city/state/country are you from? As you kick off your meeting, ask your teammates to post their top moments in an open text poll. Diversity training is a key part to ensuring a respectful and productive work environment that everyone enjoys working in. Put your improvisation skills to the test. Try a fun quiz with questions about your team. Virtual Icebreakers to Use in Remote Meetings, Virtual Icebreakers Help Build Relationships, Ask People to Share a Funny or Embarrassing Story, A Favorite Team Building Icebreaker for Meetings, Ask Attendees to Use the Chat Feature of Your Remote Software, The Five of Anything Icebreaker for Team Building, Icebreaker Questions for Meetings at Work, Your Favorites: An Icebreaker to Use With Any Topic, Find Icebreaker Activities for Meetings, Training, and Team Building, Top 10 Ways to Make a Remote Meeting Effective, Improve Teamwork and Cooperation With the Five of Anything Icebreaker, Fun Questions to Use as Ice Breakers in Meetings. At the beginning of your Zoom call, run a word cloud poll on Slido with a question “Where are you joining us from?”. She gave us 5 minutes to fulfill 20 tasks such as: When the time was up, we got back together on Zoom and shared funny stories behind the objects that we brought. Platform. They can also help people see through the perspective of others and thus lead to ways to overcome the barriers. Last Updated on November 5, 2020 . virtual happy hour icebreaker questions; And more So, check out our list of virtual icebreaker questions. For example, ask the employees to name their five favorite vegetables, five favorite flowers, or five favorite restaurants. Zoom Icebreakers! And, you’ll also need to require that the commonalities they identify must have nothing to do with their work or body parts (for example, we all work at Stillwater, we all have a mouth.) They can also help to improve communication, stimulate creative thinking, build internal networks, and introduce new recruits to their co-workers in a fun, engaging and positive way. What's hot. Open your meeting with a question such as: “In one word, how would you describe the past week/month?”. Having microphones muted during a video call is a good practice to avoid any disturbing background noises, but it often hinders spontaneous communication between people. Of course, you can always try virtual happy hour icebreakers, too, and bring everyone closer together. Difficulty: Medium. With a good icebreaker, you can set the mood for the meeting, give your online participants a chance to speak, and make them more comfortable sharing and interacting throughout. In this virtual team building game, group members are given a scenario where they’re stranded on a deserted island with seven objects – but they can only grab three. You get the drift. Kick-off your meeting with a word cloud poll such as: “Who was your silent hero this month?”. This can be achieved through simple questions and icebreakers, virtual karaoke, and larger company-wide virtual events. What one thing should everybody stop doing right now? If you need inspiration, visit this huge library of virtual backgrounds by Canva, or get more quirky ones here. Encourage your teammates to use emoji reactions during your Zoom calls. Make the choices universal so that every employee may have experienced them. Physical and role-playing activities can be a powerful demonstration of diversity and inclusion. Tip: You can also let your colleagues vote for the best background through a Slido poll. Starting a meeting with some laughs will help your teammates feel more connected. Two truths and a lie. As mentioned early, diversity can inhibit team performance. Consequently, your participants feel safe. Collect interesting facts about each team member and then let other colleagues guess away. A slow start after the weekend? In each round, players have to guess ‘Who Said What’ – a simple way for your team to bond over things they have in common. Materials: Bingo cards (emailed to each player), questions and an electronic device. In remote times, it will help you feel less isolated. If you’re looking for virtual ice breakers for Zoom, try this exercise to set the tone without a need for additional set-up or equipment. Acknowledging people for the effort they’re doing is a wonderful way to start a meeting. Duration: 15 to 20 minutes. This can be a great opportunity for an icebreaker. Great remote team builders will foster closeness, improve communication, and boost team morale for your employees. Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site! The Diversity Icebreaker online questionnaire is both robust and versatile and, in this webinar, we will demonstrate multiple ways of using it in the virtual context. Besides highlights, share also some of the failures of the last month. This icebreaker is inspired by my colleague Sabine, who decided that since our team-building trip couldn’t happen this year, at least we’ll make up a cool story of how it went. It is, however, sensitive by nature, as it forces you and your staff to address key issues such as race, gender, religion, sexual preference and politics. 10) Virtual Diversity Bingo. Then, ask them to share with their colleagues. It is strongly encouraged that the facilitator of the activities below has a background or expertise in facilitating exercises that may be culturally sensitive. This is not only an icebreaker but a morale booster as well. It’s a Swedish word often interpreted as “a coffee and cake break”. Looking around is an easy-to-perform energizer with a simple online variation. Diversity training is a key part to ensuring a respectful and productive work environment that everyone enjoys working in. Starting a meeting with some laughs will help your teammates feel more connected. What’s one song or artist that you’re embarrassed to admit you like. Here’s another one from the ‘Get to know your colleagues better’ series. The ice breakers and mixers on the following pages are focused on getting members to interact with people they might not know well, and getting them comfortable with each other. If its true of them, participants will raise their hands or use the raise hand button on your virtual … Virtual icebreakers are small online team-building activities that help you – a meeting leader – to connect with your remote team on a personal level during your online meetings. What's hot. Try an Inclusion Icebreaker! Materials: Bingo cards (emailed to each player), questions and an electronic device. 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 said based on what picture was currently up. Understand your team Uncover your team’s real needs by giving them a safe space to share honest, anonymous feedback. 1. I’ll receive a quick chat message with “Fancy a coffee?” and I’ll reply with “I’ll put the kettle on” Accounting 4. Piotr has also supported our clients with tips and help both prior and during their virtual DI use. 10) Virtual Diversity Bingo. Take Fika to an online environment. While virtual backgrounds may be a way for participants to express themselves, it is important to understand who is being excluded and included with these types of actions. Update: Download a PDF of these questions. You can also use word clouds to pick up your team’s thoughts and feelings. Here are 21 free to use icebreakers for online teaching that you can use. With icebreakers about any topic, the employee retains control of what he or she wants to share with the group. For recurring meetings, come up with a different fun poll each time, I agree that Slido may process my personal information in accordance with Slido, 33 Beautiful Word Cloud Ideas for Your Meetings or Events, 4 Quizzes to Energize Your Virtual Meetings, How Talking About Wins and Struggles Helped Our Team Bond, 3+1 Quizzes for Your (Virtual) Holiday Office Party, 5 Quizzes to Energize Your Virtual Meetings, 15 Fresh Ideas For Your Next Virtual All-Hands Meeting. 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. The activities/exercises listed were not created by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion staff. Instructions. Remote work can be a lonely business. Remote/Virtual Delivery: There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library. Bonus: 5 virtual team icebreakers Do an intro video. Check up on your teammates’ work-from-home attire. Tell them to share a cool photo from their weekend, for example in a Slack channel. Here is a list of short virtual ice breaker questions you can use as bonding activities in virtual meetings or conference calls. The goal of virtual team building is to create strong teams that are working remotely. Your employees’ favorites and least favorites are limited only by your imagination. Expect lots of hearty “aw-s” and “oh-s”. Of course, you can always try virtual happy hour icebreakers, too, and bring everyone closer together. By doing this exercise, you will not only know your team members are still there, but you will have engaged them and received useful feedback. Or, you can even try something different like: “If you were to describe our company in one word, what would it be?”, Find more inspiration here: 33 Beautiful Word Cloud Ideas for Your Meetings or Events. Additional questions you can employ include: When you are working remotely, you are looking for quick, simple ways to bring employees together. During this icebreaker, one person reads a list of statements of varying experiences or values (such as raise your hand if you’ve gone skydiving, were a star athlete in high school, prefer dogs over cats, etc…). Why not try these virtual icebreakers to kick off your remote meetings? Virtual Icebreakers to build rapport and drive engagement When working in a team setting, it definitely helps to get to know your co-workers before working on a project together. You can increase participation and get feedback by asking your team to enter responses into a chat to create a virtual icebreaker. They’re quick and fun questions, intended to lighten the mood, start conversation, and get everybody talking and participating from the very get-go! Before choosing which virtual ice breaker you should use. They’re also great for hiding a messy kitchen behind you, or a trespassing family member! Many of us have experienced online meetings to be dull and unenergetic, with many video screens off. But it was so much fun, we swear! Virtual meetings can sometimes start with a few minutes of stiffness or awkwardness. With a good icebreaker, you can set the mood for the meeting, give your online participants a chance to speak, and make them more comfortable sharing and interacting throughout. You want to use icebreakers that draw a successful contribution from every participant. Take a picture of a view from your window and post it to Slack, Find something smaller than your fingernail, Change your Zoom background to your favorite movie set, Click ‘Share Screen’, choose ‘Whiteboard’ and click ‘Share’. For example, instead of clapping when celebrating something, shake hands in the air. It’s a sweet little activity to make people talk and get to know one another better. We shared some good laughs together! Start your Equal Opportunities and Diversity training course off with these Icebreakers, energisers and short exercises and bring some fun into your training session. If you are looking for an icebreaker that you can use in a Zoom, Webex, GoToMeeting, Skype or Google Hangouts meeting or even via text or smartphone, these recommended virtual icebreakers and team building activities require little to no preparation. List of virtual icebreaker questions. It’s popular folklore that people love wearing PJs all day long during a home office. In fact, this pandemic is making employers rethink the amount of time that employees spend in the office. Which office are you joining from? Here is a list of short virtual ice breaker questions you can use as bonding activities in virtual meetings or conference calls. It’s pretty simple. Then, at the beginning of your meeting, ask your team to guess which one of the statements about this colleague is a lie. Or would you rather watch a video? PS: Don’t forget to ask the person who the poll is about to share at least one story behind the statements. Showing vulnerability is also a form of strength. Does anyone want to share their thoughts?”. What would your superpower be if you had one? Sharing is caring – and that should apply for both the good and the bad. Feel free to take or leave the “lie.” The appeal of this icebreaker is in its getting-to-know-you emphasis. This is not a time for business as usual and you need to give serious consideration to helping each other stay focused, happy, and productive. Many of us played similar icebreaker games like this in school. You can use any question to make this virtual icebreaker both helpful and a comfortable way to kickstart the conversation at the beginning of a meeting. When working in a team setting, it definitely helps to get to know your co-workers before working on a project together. In … As a leader, don’t forget to contribute as well. Not all meetings nowadays are in-person. For example, in our Slido marketing team, we share highlights as part of our monthly all-marketing meeting. As your colleagues post their locations, give them a special shout-out. Workplace games should have few props involved and should be able to take place in a structured amount of time. ITHave you used this … A sample question for a meeting about marketing is, “How can you use social media for marketing more effectively?” You can also ask more general questions like, “What’s rocking your world today? Virtually any topic works. Objective: To promote team bonding. Show your colleagues that you care and ask your team how they are. Even if it’s just as pitiful as the one we produced during our recent Brand team meeting (see below). They’re quick and fun questions, intended to lighten the mood, start conversation, and get everybody talking and participating from the very get-go! This icebreaker is good for virtual meetings because it takes only a small amount of time, while producing great results for your team-building goals. 3. This is completely understandable when, alternatively, they could increase their risk of catching the disease and spreading it by going to work. By the end, the word cloud will create a nice collage of all the different places. She has covered HR for The Balance Careers since 2000. You may use any topic that is unrelated to religion, politics, sex, or any potentially polarizing or controversial topic. Platform. Warm-ups and icebreakers can make a difference. For example, ask employees to share their favorite city, food, fruit, flower, museum, vacation, book, movie, animal, or bird. Marketing 2. Business Development 3. ; Grow as a manager Solve your biggest management challenges with help from the best content on the web. To express love or happiness, do a little heart symbol by putting both hands together or a simple thumbs-up. 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