Virtual meetings need a bit more sizzle, especially after almost two years of exclusive online meetings. The truth is, since Covid-19 started, the online meeting space has significantly transformed how people interact. To keep your team motivated and excited, you need to engage in some ice breakers activities.
Why are ice breakers important?
What is an ice breaker, you ask? According to Susan Heathfield, an HR and management consultant, an ice breaker is an activity or game designed to welcome attendees and warm up the conversation among participants in a meeting.
Virtual meetings are only as effective as the level of participation. If the attendants are cold and gloomy for whichever reason, the online meeting may not be successful. That's why you need to use ice breakers to stir up meeting attendants and get them to a high spirit mode.
For people already familiar with one another, creating a rapport online may not be a hassle. However, it can be frustrating to engage total strangers, especially when meeting online. In this case, one or two ice breakers can quickly ease the meeting environment.
Ice breakers are the best tools for introducing people, especially strangers. People form mental ideas of who others are before talking or engaging in physical activity. Through ice breakers, you quickly learn about other people, which helps to clear any doubts.
Overall, ice breakers help break the communication barrier and warm up the setting for smooth flowing conversations. That being said, what ice breaker ideas for virtual meetings can you try out? The good news is, there's not one but several ice breaker ideas you can use to warm up your virtual meetings.
Ice breaker ideas for virtual meetings
Below, we've put together online meeting ice breakers you can use whenever you have a meeting.
1. Two Truth and a Lie
This ice breaker idea is more suitable for people meeting for the first time. The activity involves requesting one participant to write three things about them. The first two should be true, while the last one should be a lie.
The fun comes in when other meeting participants have to guess which of the three things is a lie. In addition, the sweet spot for this ice breaker is between three and five minutes. After that, the participant should reveal what the lie was in the things they listed.
2. Trivia Game
The trivia game ice breaker is best suited for people who already know each other. If you hold occasional virtual meetings in the afternoons, probably over the weekend, this will suffice as a great ice breaker idea.
The trivia game ice breaker involves writing questions in a text box on a blank board. You can choose to provide choice answers next to the questions or let the members guess what the answers could be. You can also change the rules to involve groups instead of single participants.
3. Quick Questions
To use this ice breaker idea, you first need to develop a series of questions to ask the meeting participants. Some good examples would be questions like: If you were an actor, who would you be? Or what pet best describes you?
Any fun and exciting questions will work well for this ice breaker idea. Participants are expected to provide answers on sticky notes, after which you can compare them.
Conclusion
Virtual ice breaker ideas go a long way to create an enabling environment for online meetings. Visit our website to learn more about how incorporating our products can help you go beyond basic virtual meetings or start your free trial today!
About the Author
Priyanka is a customer centric and data driven Product Marketing Manager with a diverse experience. At BlueJeans, she is responsible for driving marketing strategy for the BlueJeans Meetings platform focused on go-to-market activities and product messaging. Prior to BlueJeans, Priyanka was responsible for driving strategy and direction for multiple product families at Fujitsu, intimately involved in creating optimal GTM strategy to achieve business goals. Priyanka has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and an MBA in Marketing & Business Analytics from SMU in Dallas, Texas. Outside of work, Priyanka loves spending time with her family and traveling the world.
