The Hallmarks of a Great Icebreaker
An icebreaker aims to ignite bonding among group participants and set the stage for a productive meeting. Successful icebreakers may include friendly competition, sharing a laugh, or comparing beliefs, personality traits, and experiences. Because icebreakers create the initial tone for the remainder of your time together, the activity you choose can either make or break your meeting. Unfortunately, icebreakers too often drag on or fall flat. Here’s how to avoid common pitfalls and add some spark with an icebreaker that gets the ball rolling for engagement.
Common Icebreaker Mistakes
The last thing you want to do is kick off your meeting with a snooze fest. Icebreakers should lead-in on a positive note to usher more compelling content to come. If you lose your members during the icebreaker, you’re unlikely to reel them back in when it comes time to get down to business.
Letting one participate monopolize the conversation is a surefire way to send your icebreaker on a nosedive to the ground. We’ve all been there. An open-ended question is asked, and one person overshares or drones on while everyone else waits for it to end. Maintaining a clear structure to your icebreaker helps avoid this issue from the start.
Instead of leaving a discussion open, use voting features, so everyone has an equal chance to participate. If you want to hear from each person in the group, give specific guidelines on sharing. Instead of “tell me about your experience with…” you could try, “give me two examples of a time when you dealt with…” The latter specifies what you’re looking to hear in more concrete terms.
There’s still always a chance that you’ll end up with a talker in the group. If one person goes on too long or starts to veer the discussion off-topic, be ready to step in as the moderator and switch gears to get back on track. There are polite ways to interrupt and move on. Do everyone in the group a favor by preparing to redirect the conversation when needed. A simple “Thank you so much for sharing! It’s time to move on to our next participant” will usually do the trick.
Sometimes the opposite scenario can be worse. If you have a shy group where everyone is reluctant to speak up, the importance of structure is again highlighted. Quiet groups may do better with a little advanced notice on the icebreaker to come. Why not send out the icebreaker and agenda in advance, so your participants have a chance to mull it over and prep their answers before your meeting. Rather than putting people on the spot, allow them to prepare to keep your icebreaker from going cold.
5 Icebreaker Ideas Worth Trying
Optical illusions: Who doesn’t love a good optical illusion? A quick Google search will produce plenty of free optical illusions available online. Share an optical illusion with the group. Then ask them to discuss in the chat box, take a poll, or talk about what they see. Optical illusions provide a great opportunity to remind the group that not everyone sees things the same way, and learning each other’s viewpoints helps expand our individual perspectives.
Personality tests: Ask your participants to take a personality test before your meeting. As your icebreaker, poll the group to see how many people possess specific characteristics. Offer an overview of the different personality types. One of the most popular personality tests is Myers & Briggs. Most people love learning about themselves, so this activity is sure to keep everyone engaged. Drive home the point that each type has valuable traits to contribute to the team.
Zodiac signs: Some people take zodiac signs more seriously than others. Nonetheless, you can host a fun icebreaker by asking each person’s sign and determining your group’s overall make-up. Share a few pros and cons that are associated with each zodiac sign. Let the group share whether they think they fit into their designated label.
Share a photo: Ask participants to share a picture of their favorite pet, their current workspace, a childhood memory, or their graduation. Give each person one minute to talk about their photo. If your group already knows each other well, you could collect the images before your meeting and have them guess which picture belongs to who. Sharing a photo gives everyone a chance to showcase a little bit about themselves. To err on the safe side, be sure to provide clear guidelines on what is and isn’t allowed in the image.
Famous faces: Give each person a celebrity or historical figure to represent, but don’t let them see who they’ve been assigned. If you’re doing this activity in person, you can post the name on the person’s back. If online, send a message to the other group participants to cue them in. Have each person take a turn asking for hints from the group so they can guess who they’re tagged as.
Ask an Insightful Question
Sometimes an icebreaker can be as simple as posing the right question. Here are 15 questions to pick from for your next meeting or workshop:
“If you could travel anywhere for vacation, where would you go and why?”
“If you could meet any figure from history, who would it be?”
“If you had the chance to hang out with a celebrity, which one would you choose?” “What’s your favorite quote or slogan?”
“If you could switch professions, what’s something completely different that you’d like to do?”
“What was your dream job as a kid?”
“Who was or is your biggest role model?” “What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?”
“What is your proudest accomplishment?”
“What’s your spirit animal?”
“If you could travel to any point in time, where would you go (past or future)?”
“What superpower would you like to have?”
“What was your favorite television show or book as a kid?”
“Tell us something interesting about yourself that we don’t already know.”
“What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given?”
Know Your Audience
Icebreakers that work well for some groups will fail miserably in others. Anticipate your group’s dynamics, take into account the setting, and consider your participant’s comfort levels. For instance, an animated round of charades might go over with flying colors in an acting class but could be awkward and off-putting for a board meeting. Avoid putting participants on the spot or leaving room for inappropriate answers by choosing an activity that everyone feels comfortable contributing to.
In addition to knowing your audience, you’ll also want to pick an icebreaker that complements the overall subject matter you’re planning to cover. For instance, if you’re presenting on a serious topic like human trafficking, a joke or a silly game is probably not an appropriate way to start things off. Keep your icebreaker professional, light, and unoffensive as not to alienate anyone or seem insensitive to delicate topics. They say you only have one chance to make a first impression, so make it count with a winning icebreaker.
