Meeting icebreakers can be an excellent way to increase workplace communication. Icebreakers are designed to break tension in the room, inspire creativity and help introduce groups of people who do not know each other very well. Below you will find examples of seven icebreakers.
Getting to know one another
- A popular meeting icebreaker for getting to know one another is Two Truths and a Lie, where everyone has to write down or think of two truths and one lie about themselves to share with the group. This can provide for some hilarious, and interesting results as the group tries to determine which statement is the lie.
Break the tension and relax
- Fear in a Hat is an excellent meeting icebreaker to use in groups of eight to 20 people. Everyone gets a sheet of paper and writes down a fear that they have about work, an upcoming project, or just the overall week, month or year. Everyone places their fears in a hat anonymously and then the different scraps of paper are pulled out and discussed as a group.
- The ghost game is excellent for moving the mind away from day-to-day work activities and on to a fun brain-stimulating activity. Ghost game is word game where individuals take turns adding letters to a word fragment without ever spelling out a word.
- Sometimes, getting up on your feet and moving around can be very beneficial in a work environment. Human rock, paper, scissors is a great meeting icebreaker that forces people out of their usual sitting position. Split into two groups and give each group time to time to decide whether they will be rock, paper, or scissors. Then have the two groups face each other, and at the count of three, have each group take on a human version of what equates to rock, paper, or scissors.
Inspire creativity and ideas
- Telephone Pictionary is just like it sounds a combination of telephone game and Pictionary. One person writes down a phrase on the first page of a booklet. The next person then attempts to draw the phrase, the third person writes a phrase interpreting the image, and this goes on until the booklet is returned to the original phrase creator.
- Story starter requires you to have a handful of ways to begin a story, such as “Once upon a time I…” Everyone chooses a story starter and completes it with one or two sentences. The entire group votes on the most interesting one.
- React and act is similar to charades where individuals act out a specific event, such as winning the lottery, using gestures, words and facial expressions. The rest of the group has to try to guess what action caused the reaction.
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