After a year of Zoom meetings and hybrid events, your team may be ready to get back together for full in-person events, or maybe you’re already there. If you’re in the throes of planning your next corporate meeting, you may want to kick start the conference with some excitement and laughter to really warm things up.
We recommend starting it off with a fun and interactive corporate meeting ice breaker!
What is an Icebreaker?
Icebreakers are often used at the beginning of a meeting or team session to help people feel more comfortable. They usually involve a group and are designed to initiate social interaction.
There are several advantages of ice breakers. First, as the name implies, they break the ice and get people talking. Second, they even the playing field so that no one is in competition but rather view each other as peers. Third, they allow relationships to be created within your team, which is always beneficial.
Corporate Meeting Ice Breakers
Here are seven examples of corporate meeting icebreakers that can be as enjoyable as they are effective.
1. Ask questions
The quickest and easiest way to break the ice is to simply start the meeting with a fast Q&A session. Tell attendees upfront that they have 5-minutes to get to know their peers. Tell them to do a power-round with the folks seated nearby and give them some suggestions to get going.
Asking questions is an excellent way for your team to find common ground. A few examples of fun questions to ask are:
“What’s your favorite movie?”
“Do you have any pets?”
“What’s the last TV show you binge-watched?”
“How long have you worked at the company?”
Come prepared with some feeder questions to fuel the fire of conversation.
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2. Show & Tell
Another corporate meeting ice breaker is called “What’s in Your Bag?” where each person brings an item and has to describe it. For example, you could have a team bring something they’ve created for the company, like their favorite recipe or old work of art.
This corporate meeting icebreaker will get people talking and give them insight into what each person values. You may consider prepping your meeting attendees with this fun game, so they can be prepared to really show off something special to them.
3. Scavenger Hunt
One fun way to break the ice is usually something like a scavenger hunt, where people are spread out in different areas and given tasks they need to complete before they go back to the office.
Give small groups a list of locations, and have them take as many selfies as they can in the allotted time. For this one, you should have a prize ready for the winning team!
4. Paper Airplane Game
Who doesn’t enjoy making paper airplanes? Bring out the competitive spirit with this fun activity.
Pass out blank sheets of paper to each person attending the meeting. Then ask everyone to write an interesting fact about themselves and fold it into a paper airplane. Then, everyone launches their paper airplane.
Finally, everyone picks up a paper airplane, reads the fact, and tries to guess whose airplane it is.
Encourage folks to share something unique about themselves to make this game even more challenging and engaging.
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5. Birth Map
Where were you born?
Place a map and pins in front of a large conference room before a big meeting. Then, as people walk into the room, ask them to place their pin where they were born or raised. Then, have folks guess who was born where.
6. How Do You Feel Today Scale – Prepare for laughter!
It’s an internet trend we can get behind, mood boards! These hilarious meme-style images are used to describe how you’re feeling in that moment, from sad to glad. You’ll find these “how do you feel today” scales ranging from wacky and strange, to heartwarming and cute.
Ask your meeting-goers how they feel using the scale of your choice, and you’ll not only get to know how they’re feeling, but you may also get a smile out of them, too.
7. Get Outside
Whether your team is outdoorsy or not, getting outside BEFORE the meeting is a great way to warm them up and get them ready for a day inside. Consider a short round of golf, a hike, or a nature walk first thing in the morning.
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At the Inn at Virginia Tech, we love helping plan informative, educational, relational, and sometimes just plain fun events. So bring your team together while building camaraderie; reach out and let’s help plan an unforgettable in-person experience.
