It’s an excellent tool for remote teams to check in beyond the surface, creating a culture of empathy and psychological safety. First, invite people to open up the chat in your video conferencing app. Next, ask an icebreaker question, but instruct people not to send their answer until you say so.

Guided yoga or workout session

You can use them during meetings, one-on-one discussions, or even instant messages. Another quick and easy icebreaker question is, “What’s your favorite hobby? This question helps team members learn about each other’s passions and pastimes, allowing them to share their interests and connect on a more personal level. It also provides an opportunity to discover common interests and activities that team members can bond over and discuss during breaks or outside of virtual meetings. Good virtual icebreakers are the ones that make meetings engaging something that participants look forward to attending. They can even provide suggestions for icebreaker virtual team-building activities and games to try at the next meeting, which deepens the interest.

As people introduce themselves, ask them to pick a 1-2 minute anecdote that was embarrassing for them in the past, and what they learned from the experience. For this exercise, have your team introduce themselves and then describe one dish that they love, and what it means to them. This is an easy way to get people talking, and again offers insight into people’s personal history, likes and dislikes, and even ways of working.

Give each group member 3-5 minutes to tell the rest of the group about it. Sharing is caring – and that should apply to both the good and the bad. Similar to sharing highlights (see point #10), it’s important to also give our attention to things that didn’t go so well; things that we can learn from, and move forward together.

Driving alignment through disruption: How teams can thrive in uncertain times

Our People team has recently done a wine-tasting call and it was a great team bonding experience. 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. 💡 TipDon’t forget to give people enough time to think about their story and prepare for the short presentation. 💡 TipDon’t forget to ask the person who the poll is about to share at least one story behind the statements. We run this type of quiz when we introduce a new team member, or as a holiday fun activity. It’s a sweet little activity to make people talk and get to know one another better.

• Instead, everyone should pick a name, city product, or another notable fact.
• We’ll only send you the best articles and resources to helpwith working remotely and virtual team building for your remote and hybrid team.
• Getting your employees fired up for a meeting—online or in-person—is about as easy as getting a dog excited for a bath.
• Whether your team is battling Zoom fatigue, struggling with small talk, or just needs a little energy boost, the right question can transform the vibe.
• Focusing on chain reactions in a company can be useful in an icebreaking session.

They get nervous energy out of the way by kickstarting meetings with participation. Set up a virtual booth where team members can take fun, quirky pictures using props or simple effects and filters. Once everyone has taken their pictures, compile them into a collage or show each one of your pictures during your virtual meeting. Partner in-office employees with remote ones with similar interests and tastes in a pair. Ask both of them to create a list of items that can be easily found and placed within the workspace, like a plant, speaker, earphone, headphone, lamp, etc.

But adjusting the usual meetings, training sessions, and breaks can transform them into value-packed team-building exercises employees won’t try to avoid. Virtual icebreakers can help teams build relationships, break down barriers, and create a sense of camaraderie. They can also help teams become more productive and efficient by encouraging collaboration and open communication. Virtual icebreakers help break the initial awkwardness or tension in online meetings and help employees feel more connected, even when not in the same physical location. Icebreakers are short, interactive activities designed to foster connections, alleviate tension, and infuse energy into virtual gatherings. They serve a similar purpose as traditional in-person icebreakers but are tailored for the digital environment.

Use these remote work icebreakers to help everyone get to know each other. Send your team a link for the geolocation of a spot in a random city. Ensure it’s a city where none of your coworkers live before giving them 10 minutes to find the airport.

• When you plan a virtual meeting, conference, or gathering, it is a great idea to incorporate an icebreaker exercise.
• Ask people to submit what they are grateful for or who from the team they would like to thank.
• A virtual version of this beloved game can be easily set up using a shared whiteboard feature.
• Music has a way of bringing people together, sparking nostalgia, and revealing hidden sides of our personalities.

COMPANY

By comparing the list, mark the items that each of you doesn’t have and gather those items, and match workspace with your buddies. Have participants share the worst advice they’ve received relating to career, college, parenting, etc. Make sure to tell everyone not to share any bad advice received from others on the call (that little warning will be sure to get a laugh too). But to get the best out of your team, you need more than five-minute energisers.

1. How to define good virtual icebreakers?

You can allow attendees to chat about whatever they want or ask them to answer one of our icebreaker questions listed above. Use virtual speed networking software to make this idea easy to implement. Focusing on chain reactions in a company can be useful in an icebreaking session. I mean, all of these new recruits will have a big reaction on your company, right? So hone in and analyse the step-by-step reaction of a fictional event.

Allocate sufficient time

Take turns sharing items from your home on screen, such as a craft project you just completed, an award your child won, or anything else you love. Let’s explore the special benefits of incorporating icebreaker exercises into virtual gatherings. Icebreakers focused on decision-making and problem-solving can help push the boat out and give a healthy challenge to your teams.

Ask your team to pick one to three essentials and ask everyone to explain why they chose them. Someone might show their dog’s favorite bandana because they’d never vacation without their pup. Another team member might reveal a bag of icebreakers for virtual meetings MnMs since they eat chocolate every day.

Ask everyone to share one open tab from their browser that isn’t work-related. A recipe, a news article, a shopping page, or a random Wikipedia rabbit hole, each tab gives a fun glimpse into what everyone’s browsing in their downtime. Put general knowledge to the test in a relaxed, virtual setting and keep tabs on the office quizmaster. Remote team trivia is great for sparking friendly competition in the workplace. Create a light-hearted test to shatter ice in a virtual meeting with some emoji-decoding shenanigans.

Employees share an object from their workspace or a personal item that has a special meaning or story behind it. Bit.ai is an innovative AI-driven knowledge and Document Managment suite designed to empower knowledge workers by streamlining the creation of, documents, wikis, and notes. With an intuitive interface and seamless integration, Bit.ai acts as a versatile assistant to help you collaborate, generate, organize, and visualize your ideas effortlessly. Start with the letter ‘A’ and ask each team member to say a word that begins with the next letter in the alphabet. The catch is, the word must be related to a pre-determined category, such as ‘animals’ or ‘foods’. This game is not only fun but also tests your team’s quick thinking skills.

A warm, engaging start can transform a room full of muted microphones into a vibrant space for collaboration. Games of all kinds are a mainstay in team building, but you don’t have to stick to that virtual escape room. Charitable efforts can have an even greater impact on hybrid and remote teams than on localized ones. People who know their background and community matter to colleagues far away feel more trust and loyalty. The challenge is designed to encourage collaboration, communication, and creative problem-solving, as teams must work together to come up with a design and execute it quickly. It also highlights the importance of prototyping and testing, as teams often need to try multiple designs before they find one that works.

This is the perfect time to get your team members to relax and prepare for the chat. Before you start with the first item in your agenda, here are a few quick ice-breaker suggestions that don’t take more than five minutes nor require physical presence. Here’s a categorized list of 50 icebreaker questions that will have your team laughing, thinking, and bonding in no time. Scavify is the innovativeteam building companythat combines mobile technology with experiential learning to create unforgettable team building events. Our state-of-the-art mobile app is designed to facilitate engaging team building activities, from scavenger hunts to problem-solving challenges.