Picture this: you walk into a room filled with strangers from various backgrounds, and the awkwardness is palpable. Your meeting participants are about as well-acquainted as a penguin is with the Sahara. So, how do you transform this chilly gathering into a warm, welcoming gathering? The answer is simple: meeting icebreakers!
These creative activities are like social defrosting agents, designed to remove awkward silences and stimulate lively conversations. With the power to break down barriers, inspire laughter, and foster a positive atmosphere, quick icebreakers turn meetings from frigid affairs into hotbeds of collaboration.
Read on for a treasure trove of meeting icebreaker ideas that will put everyone at ease, including icebreaker questions for when you need some quick-and-easy defrosting!
What Is an Icebreaker?
An icebreaker is a fun and engaging activity, game, or exercise that helps people connect and learn about each other when they're meeting for the first time, don't know each other well, or need to get more comfortable with each other. Icebreakers shatter social barriers, encourage lively interaction, and create a feel-good atmosphere, setting the stage for smooth sailing and enthusiastic collaboration. Often used as the opening act in internal meetings, workshops, or events, icebreakers will have your group chatting, laughing, and connecting in no time.
Icebreakers for Meetings In Any Setting
Not all icebreakers are right for every situation. Corporate meetings call for icebreaker games for adults that bring out everyone's sense of humor while still keeping things professional. The icebreakers below are perfect for any meeting, be it in-person or virtual.
1. Find Your Similarities and Differences
This activity is best done in small groups, so if your meeting is larger, break into small groups for this one. The goal is to find 3 similarities everyone in the group has in common and one thing that's unique about each person. If you're hosting a larger meeting, bring your small groups together at the end to share the similarities and differences they discovered.
2. Have You Ever?
It's always interesting learning about the experiences your peers have had (or not had) in their lives, and "Have You Ever?" is a great icebreaker game that helps unearth these nuggets. This game can be played either by having one leader who asks questions or having everyone take turns asking a question.
Questions should be appropriate, and the goal is to see how many or how few people have had an experience. For example, you might ask, "Have you ever ridden in an airplane?" Everyone who has will raise their hand. The best questions are those that you think will apply to everyone but actually leave a few people out. You might be surprised how many of your colleagues have never left the country, for instance!
3. How's the Weather?
This is a fun way to ask participants how they're doing while making things fun and engaging. Going one at a time, participants describe how they're doing using weather as a metaphor. For example, you might say, "Today I'm cloudy with a chance of sunshine in the afternoon," or "It's hurricane season over here." If you have time, you can respond by asking questions about what's making someone's day so good or gloomy, helping everyone connect on a more personal level.
4. Two Truths and a Lie
A classic icebreaker game, "Two Truths and a Lie," asks all participants to think of two true statements about themselves and one lie. One at a time, participants share their answers, and it's up to the group to determine which is the lie. This helps everyone learn something new about their fellow attendees and adds an element of fun as people try to come up with convincing lies.
5. Find 10 Things in Common
Depending on the size of your meeting, you'll want to split into smaller groups for this one. The goal is to find 10 things everyone in the group has in common. That's a lot, especially if you're in a large group, so everyone needs to think hard to brainstorm general things that are true about everyone. You might be surprised by how many things you have in common—or learn that some things you thought were common don't apply to everyone!
6. Would You Rather?
This is a fun game that presents participants with two options—either both desirable or both undesirable—and asks them to make a choice between the two. For example, "Would you rather only ever eat breakfast for dinner or dinner or breakfast?" You'll be surprised how many people disagree, and each question can lead to some entertaining conversations!
Depending on the size of your group, this can be played either by having one leader asking all the questions or having everyone take turns asking a question.
7. Just One Word
To begin the activity, select a topic or theme related to the meeting purpose, such as a recent project, a current event, or a company value. Once you’ve decided on the theme, ask each participant to think of one word that describes their thoughts or feelings about it.
As each participant shares their one-word response, the group can discuss their perspectives and insights. This activity encourages open communication and helps attendees learn about each other's perspectives on the topic or theme. It also provides an opportunity for participants to practice their active listening skills and learn how to express their thoughts and feelings in a concise and meaningful way.
The One-Word Icebreaker can be adapted to suit different settings and purposes. For example, it can be used as an icebreaker activity to help team members get to know each other better or as a brainstorming tool to generate ideas and insights on a particular topic.
8. Pictionary
This icebreaker activity can be done in person or online if you have the right tools. If you're in person, you'll need a large drawing pad, pens or markers, and cards with drawing prompts. From there, the rules of Pictionary apply!
If you're hosting a virtual meeting, you can use a digital whiteboard or drawing app, where participants take turns drawing a word or phrase related to the meeting topic. At the same time, the rest of the group tries to guess the answer.
To set up the virtual game of Pictionary, choose a digital whiteboard or drawing app that allows multiple users to collaborate and draw together in real-time. Depending on the size and purpose of the meeting, divide the participants into teams or play one at a time with everyone guessing.
9. Codenames
If you have 15-30 minutes, Codenames is a fun clue-giving game that can help teams communicate better and showcase how people think. The great thing about this game is that you can either purchase the tabletop version for in-person meetings or use the free online version for your virtual meetings. If you host team meetings frequently, it's a game that can be played over and over and never gets old.
The basics of Codenames are as follows: participants break into two (ideally equal) teams, and one person from each team is designated the clue giver. Cards with one word on each will be laid out in a 5x5 grid where everyone can see them. A set number of cards will be assigned to one team or the other, and only the clue givers will know which cards are assigned to their own team and the other team. The goal is for the clue givers to get their teams to guess all of their assigned words correctly before the other team by giving one-word clues that could be associated with any number of cards on the table.
To make things more difficult, there will be cards on the table that are not assigned to either team as well as one "assassin" card—if a team incorrectly guesses the assassin card is assigned to their team, they lose the game.
As an example, a clue giver might see the cards "Fire" and "Water" are both assigned to their team. To get them to guess both of these cards, the clue giver might say "Element, 2" to indicate two of their assigned cards are elements. If their team understands the clue, they'll choose the associated cards. Each team takes turns giving clues and guessing associated cards until one team identifies all of their cards or the assassin is triggered.
10. Trivia
Trivia is a fun activity a lot of people enjoy in their free time, so it's a great way to get people engaged in your meetings. You can take pretty much any angle for trivia, from popular music or TV shows to classic literature or even company or industry-related trivia. Have participants work together in teams, or if your meeting is small enough, people can shout out answers at will.
11. Company Jeopardy
Similar to trivia, test participants' knowledge about your organization or industry by playing Jeopardy! Set up the game with different questions worth different points based on their level of difficulty (such as 1-5). Break questions into categories, such as questions about your company's leadership team, questions about your company's products or services, etc.
Establish your teams, then each team will take turns choosing a category and question difficulty. If they answer correctly, they earn points based on the difficulty (a question with a difficulty level of 5, for instance, would earn them 5 points). The team with the most points at the end of the game wins!
12. Hot Seat
If you host recurring meetings, a hot seat icebreaker can be a great way for colleagues, clients, and partners to get to know each other over time or throughout the life of a project. Let's say you're meeting once per week. At each meeting, one or two people will be in the "hot seat" for a few minutes, at which point everyone in the room will get to ask them one question.
You'll learn so much about each other during this game—including who's most comfortable speaking in a group and who's a bit more reserved.
13. High and Low
This activity works best later in the day. Going one at a time, everyone in the meeting will share their highest point in the day (the best part of their day) and their lowest point in the day (the worst part). This can help highlight the successes in your team or positive stories while also offering an opportunity to lift each other up by addressing the negative parts of your attendees' days.
14. Silver Linings
Help your team find the silver lining in a less-than-ideal situation! Taking turns, everyone will share one negative experience they've had recently. Then, they'll share the silver lining they took away from the experience. For example:
Negative experience: "I recently lost my credit card and had to cancel it and get a new one."
Silver lining: "My new credit card number was way easier to memorize!"
15. Share Your Favorite Photo
We all have so many photos on our phones, but many of us have some favorites. If you were asked to share your favorite photo, which would you pick? If you're meeting in person, ask everyone to pull up their favorite photos, then take turns sharing with the group and explaining why it's their favorite.
If you're meeting virtually, have everyone spend a few minutes getting their photo pulled up on their work device, then have them share in a chat or share their screen.
Icebreakers for In-person Meetings
If you're looking for icebreakers for meetings taking place in person, these engaging icebreaker ideas are perfect for creating a welcoming and interactive atmosphere. While you could arguably play some of these games virtually, they're best suited to in-person meetings.
16. Meet Your Match
This game can be played in a number of ways, but the gist is that everyone is assigned a word that matches or is the pair of someone else in the room—but no one knows their own word. The easiest way to do this is to write down the words on pieces of paper and tape them to each person's back. The words should all be nouns that are things (not a person or place) to keep things simple.
Going around the room, participants will ask questions about their assigned words and try to find their match. For example, one person might have "Peanut Butter" on their back, and they ask questions that lead them to figure out what they are—or get close enough. They might find out they're a food and that they go on a sandwich. From there, if they spot "Jelly" across the room and guess they're peanut butter and their match is jelly.
17. Jenga Interviews
Anyone with a Jenga game can play this by writing work-appropriate questions on each of the blocks. Play as usual, but each time someone successfully removes a block, they answer the question on their block. Questions can be anything but should help participants get to know each other on a more personal level (while still being work appropriate).
Need some inspiration? Check out the bonus icebreaker questions at the end of this post!
18. The Name Chain
This icebreaker is great for meetings where most of the room is newly acquainted. Not only is it a fun way to break the ice and get people comfortable, it serves to help everyone learn the names of the people around them. Start off by gathering everyone in a circle (or something resembling a circle), and decide who will start the game. The person to begin will simply say their own name. The person next to them will then say their own name followed by the first person's name.
This is where it gets tricky. The third person in line has to say their own name, the second person's name, and the first person's name, creating a name chain. As each person takes their turn, adding more and more names to the list, it will become quite a challenge to remember everyone's names. This means everyone needs to be paying attention the entire time to get it right. By the time you circle back to the person who started the chain, they'll take one more turn (you didn't think they'd get away with only remembering their own name, did you?) and have to recite everyone's name in the circle.
19. Get to Know You Bingo
This is a popular icebreaker game that's all about learning fun facts about others in the group. It's played like Bingo with a 5x5 board, and the goal is the same—to connect five in a row—but each box, rather than a letter and number combination, holds a fact that could be true about anyone in the room.
For instance, boxes might be filled with details like, "I'm an only child" or "I prefer tea over coffee." Participants move about the room chatting and trying to find someone who identifies with a fun fact on their sheet and marking down names when they find a match.
Participants can only write a person's name once (so they can't write Bob's name down for being an only child and preferring tea, for instance), and they cannot write their own name down. Once someone has written down names in boxes that form five in a row, they win the Bingo game!
20. Speed LEGO Building
This is a super fun activity as long as you have enough LEGO bricks for everyone in your meeting (and aren't too worried about misplacing or giving them away). You can take this activity in a lot of directions depending on what you want to get out of the activity. Here are some fun ideas for LEGO building icebreakers:
- Speed building: Ask everyone to build the same thing, and see whose turns out the best and most complete!
- Timed free-form building: Let everyone build whatever they'd like, but put a time limit on it so things can't get too extravagant. You might be surprised by some talented building in your group!
- Collaborative building: Give each person about one minute to begin their LEGO build, then have everyone pass their build to the person on their left. Each person will add a few bricks (either a set number or within a set amount of time) before passing it on again. Once each build gets back to its original creator, everyone gets to see what became of their initial projects!
Another way to make an impression with this icebreaker is to let participants take their builds home with them. People love office freebies, and a LEGO project they built themselves is a fun memento.
21. What, Where, or Who am I?
This is played similarly to Meet Your Match, but in some ways, it's a bit trickier. Everyone will have a word taped to their backs that's either a person, place, or thing, and they will not know what their own word is. They'll ask questions while moving about the room, trying to determine what, where, or who they are.
Participants must ask questions with "yes or no" answers. For instance, they might reasonably start by trying to determine what type of noun they are by asking, "Am I a place?" If the answer is yes, they can start asking more specific questions like, "Am I smaller than a country?" or "Am I in the Southern Hemisphere?"
As you decide on the word options in advance, make sure you're selecting people, places, and things most people would be likely to know. Obscure historical figures no one's heard of or city names people can't pronounce should be avoided.
22. The Human Knot
The "Human Knot" is a classic team-building activity that promotes teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. In this activity, participants stand in a tight circle and grab the hands of two different people, making sure note to hold the hands of the people standing immediately next to them.
Once everyone has grabbed hands, the group must work together to untangle the "knot" without releasing hands to end up back in a circle. Do this by stepping over, ducking under, or weaving through the hands of other participants. During the activity, participants must communicate and collaborate to find the best way to untangle the knot. They must listen to each other's suggestions and work together to find a solution. The activity promotes teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills.
23. Welcome to My TED Talk
If you have a small group, this is a great way to let participants share a skill or bit of knowledge, letting everyone get to know them and their interests better. Set a time limit of about 2-5 minutes, and let everyone in the meeting have an opportunity to teach everyone something.
Participants might choose to talk about an interesting piece of history they're passionate about, or they might demonstrate their ability to juggle highlighters and try to teach everyone else how it's done. The important part is that everyone feels welcome to share what they know without judgment or competition.
24. In This Year, I Was...
For this activity, you'll need enough coins for everyone in your meeting, so make sure to check under your couch cushions for this one!
Taking turns, everyone will draw a coin from a jar. Then, they'll read off the year on the coin and share the first memory that comes to mind from that year or something about their lives during that time. For instance, they might say, "In 2015, I graduated from college," or "In 2010, I remember taking a cross-country road trip with my family."
25. The Storytelling Chain
To begin the activity, the organizer can start a story by sharing a sentence or two. The first participant then adds their sentence to the story, and the next person continues the story by adding their sentence, and so on. The story moves around the circle, with each participant adding a sentence until it concludes.
The activity encourages creativity, as each participant must think of an exciting and engaging sentence to add to the story. It also promotes collaboration, as participants must listen to each other's contributions and build on them to create a cohesive and engaging story.
As the story progresses, participants can use their imaginations to introduce interesting characters, settings, and plot twists. The activity allows participants to practice their storytelling skills and develop their creativity while fostering a fun and relaxed atmosphere.
Icebreakers for Virtual Meetings
Virtual events have become old hat for many of us now, so there's no reason why they can't be just as fun and engaging as in-person meetings—especially with these virtual icebreakers! These icebreaker ideas are perfect for bringing people together and breaking down barriers in online meetings, creating a more enjoyable and interactive experience for all attendees.
26. Virtual Background Challenge
Ask participants to set their virtual backgrounds to a place they want to visit or an image that reflects their personality.
For example, a participant might choose a virtual background that shows a beautiful beach with palm trees swaying in the breeze, or they may select an image of their favorite sports team or a painting they admire. Participants then take turns explaining why they chose their backgrounds.
27. Pet Meet and Greet
This one won't apply to everyone, but if you know your group well enough to know the majority have pets, give them a chance to show them off! As all pet owners know, there are very few things we like to talk about more than our pets. Even if participants can't get their furry (or scaly or otherwise) friends on camera, they can share photos to introduce their pets, when they got them, their names, and any fun facts about them. You might be surprised by which of your attendees is a snake parent!
28. Show and Tell
The activity involves each participant selecting an object within their reach that holds personal significance and sharing the story behind it with the group.
The selected object can be anything significant to the participant, such as a family heirloom, a favorite book, artwork, or a souvenir from a trip. Each participant takes a turn to show their object to the group and share the story behind it.
29. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
A home scavenger hunt is a fun and engaging icebreaker activity that adds excitement and friendly competition to virtual meetings. This activity involves providing a list of items or tasks that participants must find or complete within their homes within a set time limit.
To set up the scavenger hunt, the organizer should prepare a list of items or tasks. Make a list that's challenging yet achievable, with items ranging from simple everyday objects to more unusual or specific items.
Some examples of items or tasks for an at-home scavenger hunt might include:
- Find a book that you've read more than once
- Take a selfie with a plant
- Find a kitchen utensil you've never used before
- Find an item that starts with the letter "B."
- Find something that represents your favorite hobby
Once the list is ready, the organizer should explain the rules and set a time limit for participants to complete the scavenger hunt. During the hunt, participants will search their homes for the items on the list or complete the tasks assigned. This activity encourages creativity and problem-solving skills as participants think of unique ways to find or complete the items on the list.
At the end of the time limit, participants can share their findings and experiences with the group. The team or individual with the most items or tasks completed is the winner!
30. Change My Mind
While this icebreaker can be played in person or virtually, it's a great virtual option because body language and speaker presence don't impact the outcome. This activity is great for practicing communication skills in a lighthearted, sometimes funny way.
To begin, one person shares a noncontroversial opinion, such as "dunking Oreos is better than twisting." Then, the rest of the meeting attendees have a set amount of time to try to sway the opinion-giver using any convincing arguments they can think of. When time is up, the opinion-giver says whether they've been convinced or their opinion is unchanged. Play this until everyone has had a chance to go or it's time to move on to the next activity.
31. Let's Get Quizzical!
Who doesn't love a good quiz? You can use quizzes in so many ways to break the ice and promote team building, but here are just a few ideas to get you inspired:
- Personality quiz: Have all of your meeting attendees take a personality quiz in advance of the meeting (these quizzes can take up to 15 minutes, so make sure everyone comes prepared). Once you're all together, you can discuss your results, giving everyone a chance to share their strengths and attributes and how they think their personality impacts their work.
- Company quiz: Quiz attendees on their corporate know-how by preparing a quiz that's all about your company. From the number of employees to services and offerings, how well do your attendees know your company?
- Pop culture quiz: Are any of your attendees secretly "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" in their free time? Do you want to know who will always have the answer when you have a question about modern rap music? Pop culture quizzes can be an outlandish and fun way to learn more about participants' interests!
32. Emoji Updates
If you're using a virtual meeting platform that allows the use of emojis, this is a fun way for participants to share a bit about themselves in a quick, silly way. Going one attendee at a time, have participants describe their week using a maximum number of emojis. They might choose to include emojis that depict emotions, activities, their occupation, or otherwise. After a participant shares, others in the meeting can take some time to guess what their emojis mean. This way, everyone gets a chance to share about their week!
33. For Your Entertainment
Books, movies, and TV shows are pretty universally enjoyed—but not everyone watches or reads the same things. Get your meeting attendees to choose one piece of entertainment they watched or read in the last week that they'd like to recommend to the group, and have them give a brief synopsis to entice everyone. No spoilers!
34. Coffee Order
Coffee (or tea) is a huge part of most people's days. Without their daily dose, most people are zombies—and sometimes unfriendly ones, at that! Perk everyone up by taking a coffee/tea/favorite drink break, and have everyone share their go-to drink of choice. Bonus for people who can show off their favorite mugs or tumblers!
35. Name That Tune
Keep things light and fun with a quick musical guessing game. Simply play 10-15 seconds of a song and let attendees guess which song it is. To keep things interesting, play music from different genres and decades, and learn a little bit about your participants' music tastes!
Quick Icebreaker Questions
Want to break the ice a little faster and with a little less legwork? These 20 icebreaker questions for meetings are a great way to get people chatting, help everyone learn a bit more about each other, and get your meeting off to a welcoming start!
36. What is your favorite hobby, and how did you get into it?
37. If you could have any superpower, what would it be, and why?
38. What is the most memorable trip you've ever taken, and what made it memorable?
39. What skill have you always wanted to learn but have not had the chance to?
40. If you could invite one famous person (dead or alive) to a dinner party, who would they be?
41. What is your favorite book or movie, and why?
42. What might people be surprised to learn about you?
43. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go, and why?
44. What is your favorite thing to do on a lazy day?
45. If you could switch lives with anyone for a day, who would it be, and why?
46. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you want with you?
47. What are two things on your bucket list?
48. What is your greatest accomplishment?
49. What group or artist did you see at your first concert?
50. What is the scariest thing you've ever done?
51. What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
52. If you could time travel, what time period would you visit, and why?
53. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
54. If you had unlimited resources, what kind of business or organization would you start?
55. If you could go to school for anything without worrying about money, what would you study?
How Long Should an Icebreaker Be?
Be mindful of an icebreaker's duration. Ensure it takes little time but allows participants to get to know each other and feel comfortable enough to engage in the meeting's main topics. Generally, icebreakers should last between 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the group and the activity itself.
It's important to remember that icebreakers serve as a professional warm-up and can significantly enhance the overall success of a meeting or retreat. Whether it's a small or large group, incorporating engaging icebreakers can break the tension, create a relaxed and positive atmosphere, and encourage interaction and collaboration. So, make icebreakers a part of your retreat or meeting planning to boost productivity and create a collaborative atmosphere that everyone can enjoy!
