It’s a lighthearted way to learn more about each other’s work environments. Get visual with this activity and have participants express their current feelings or reactions using emojis. Ask participants to use emojis to convey how they feel about the upcoming meeting or a specific topic. Ask a “Would You Rather” question, such as “Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible?” Participants take turns sharing their choices and reasoning. Ask each participant to briefly describe how they’re feeling at the moment, whether it’s happy, excited, tired, or something else.
- The ensuing discussion reveals much about individual personalities and decision-making styles.
- This method is perfect for those who may be less comfortable speaking up or being on camera.
- Employees mostly stick to their immediate teams and are uninterested in communicating with other people at work.
- For example, 93% of workers say their physical wellbeing impacts their work productivity, according to The State of Work-Life Wellness 2024 report from Wellhub.
This thought-provoking icebreaker asks participants to imagine they are stranded on a desert island and must choose only a few items to bring. It’s a fantastic exercise for uncovering personal values, problem-solving approaches, and what individuals prioritize under pressure, all within a hypothetical, low-stakes scenario. This highly interactive icebreaker leverages a shared digital space to get creative juices flowing and build immediate collaborative rapport. Participants use a shared whiteboard to simultaneously draw, write, or sketch their responses to a creative prompt.
This is one of the best virtual icebreakers for large meetings or virtual events – the more locations, the better the word cloud will look. Our list of 35 different virtual icebreakers and team-building activities for 2023 have all been tried, tested, and enjoyed by team Slido – even by the introverts among us. From the simple, revealing nature of Two Truths and a Lie to the collaborative chaos of a Virtual Scavenger Hunt, each activity serves a distinct purpose. Are you trying to energize a team before a heavy brainstorming session?
If you’re looking for team games for work that bring out everyone’s competitive side, try Pictionary, office scavenger hunts, or quick-thinking word challenges. This ice breaker activity offers a structured way to build connections by easing participants into more meaningful conversations. It begins with light, fun questions and gradually moves toward topics related to personal growth and professional values. This progressive approach establishes psychological safety, making it an excellent choice for newly formed or merged teams needing to build trust. A Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a high-energy ice breaker activity that gets remote participants moving and sharing a piece of their personal environment. Participants are given a list of items or categories and a short time limit to find them in their home or office.
For monthly meetings, have people share a personal or professional achievement from the past month from their personal or work life. Split attendees into small groups and give them a short list of household or workspace items to find in under two minutes. The race to grab everything the fastest will add a touch of playfulness to virtual communication. The game won’t only be a fun activity to fill your meeting time, but it’ll also let the employees learn more about each other.
It is entertaining to break the ice and build connections in virtual meetings. These last 15 virtual icebreakers are a bit more elaborate and focus on the virtual team-building aspect of your meetings. Sometimes, icebreaker activities get a bad rap—some people may believe that they are wasteful and take away valuable time from the core agenda of a meeting. However, effective icebreakers can actually improve meeting productivity when coworkers are more engaged and participatory. Others have suggested that icebreakers are superficial, too, meaning people don’t really get to know one another.
Zoom Bingo
You can use a Slido word cloud for that, but instead of words, your participants will submit an emoji. This works best with larger meetings and events when a large number of emojis gets submitted. 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. Simply ask your participants a thought-provoking ‘this or that’ poll question with two options to choose from.
Games are one of the most effective ways to build trust, break the ice, and create shared experiences within a team. They give people a reason to collaborate, communicate, and laugh together outside of day-to-day work. Whether your team is meeting for the first time or has worked together for years, a well-chosen game can energize the group, surface hidden talents, and strengthen relationships. Icebreakers for virtual team meetings are short, interactive activities designed to help remote employees feel more connected before diving into work. There’s no set time for a team-building game—it all depends on the activity and how engaging you want it to be.
Distribute a list of items or clues and set a timer for participants to find the items or scenarios from their photos or files. The first to share all items wins, creating an enjoyable and competitive atmosphere. Icebreaker games are a fun way to build collaboration, trust, and creativity.
Employee Engagement Ideas Your Team Will Love
Make an impact by picking activities that will invite genuine conversation, lighten the mood, and help team members connect. You can do the same for your virtual teams if you want them to bond without the restrictions of official meetings. It’ll be like an outing that they can enjoy at the end of the working week. Remember that creating a culture of connection is vital in a virtual environment to foster a sense of community and engagement between employees. Even if they’re doing their work, your employees may be feeling detached and unrecognized, which is bound to affect their productivity.
Here are some riddles that’ll show you the competitive side of your employees. The teams can communicate with the acting member through online chat, and you can add some rules to make the game harder. Because no one could leave their houses during the pandemic, a lot of virtual bars started popping up. Instead of chatting with your friends online, you could set up a virtual bar, where everyone can have a drink and chat with their friends across the screen. All you have to do is prepare the meeting’s agenda and use a visual collaborative platform.
This will create a spectrum of popular thoughts and opinions on the left and more extreme ideas on the right. Anything from changing the line up order to swapping shoes with someone or changing your hairdo is fair game. After about 45 seconds, team A turns back around and gets 5–10 minutes to find out what’s changed. Sometimes the best way to bond with a team member or a group of team members is to grab coffee at a nearby cafe and get to know each other outside of a work context.
For instance, knowing a teammate transitioned from a creative field to a data analytics role can provide valuable context for their unique problem-solving approach. It frames professional history as a story, making connections more authentic and meaningful. This dynamic icebreaker mimics the structure of speed dating, rapidly connecting theinstantalks.com participants for short, one-on-one conversations. It is exceptionally effective for large groups, conferences, and remote teams where organic interaction is challenging. Participants are paired up for brief, timed chats before rotating to a new partner, ensuring everyone meets multiple colleagues in a short span. The virtual escape room provides an interactive and engaging experience where individuals work together to solve puzzles and challenges.
Each participant reveals an interest or experience, like a hobby or favorite travel destination. When someone else identifies a common interest or experience, they engage in a conversation about it. You can create a great mindset and team attitude by starting meetings with a little gratitude. Encourage participants to express gratitude by sharing something they are thankful for in their lives. This can promote a positive outlook and create a sense of gratitude within the group. This one will get the creative and artistic juices flowing as participants use simple drawings or sketches to represent their current moods or emotions.
There are plenty of online platforms that offer whiteboards for everyone to draw their ideas. It’ll be just like a real brainstorming session, minus the commuting time and bad coffee. If your team members are familiar with each other to an extent, you can create a fun group trivia quiz.
Participants join instantly from their phones — no app download, no account creation required. Allow everyone five minutes to take a photo, send it through and upload it, and then another five minutes to share stories. Employees are asked to present and briefly share a book they’re reading, recently enjoyed thoughts, or a favorite passage.
Quick team-building activities for work—like icebreakers or problem-solving challenges—are perfect for 15- to 20-minute sessions during meetings. More structured group games for team building, such as escape rooms or workplace Olympics, work best when given 45 minutes to an hour to fully engage participants. Even when working remotely, teams can still stay connected with fun virtual team-building games. Team games for work, like digital Pictionary, online trivia, and creative problem-solving challenges, bring everyone together no matter where they are. Platforms like Kahoot, and Jackbox offer corporate games that make virtual collaboration more engaging. Virtual escape rooms and storytelling exercises are also great ways to break the ice and keep remote teams in sync.
Yes, virtual icebreakers can work well for large meetings when designed for scale. You can do this by arranging polls, breakout rooms, or quick chat-based activities. The goal is to create light interaction without overwhelming participants. Virtual icebreakers and games offer fun ways to connect remote teams and serve as practical tips for managing remote employees. They boost morale, improve team dynamics, and create a healthy communication network among the team. “Would you rather” is a pretty fun virtual icebreaker game, but it needs some preparation if you want to come up with creative questions.
