Virtual Icebreakers: Fun Ideas to Kickstart Your Meetings

Virtual icebreakers are a great way to make your virtual meetings more engaging and productive.

When you work from home, it can be harder to connect with your team members. Virtual icebreakers help bridge the gap by encouraging better communication and collaboration, whilst boosting team morale and productivity.

Everyone gets to participate, and suddenly, the meeting feels a lot less like work and more like a social event. This is especially important for remote teams who might not get to interact face-to-face often.

You don’t need to spend a lot of time or resources on these activities. Simple ideas like an emoji check-in or a quick trivia quiz can make a big difference.

Types of Virtual Icebreakers

Here are some virtual icebreaker ideas that are great for a variety different occasions; to help your remote team connect, promote conversation, teamwork and a sense of community.

Short Virtual Icebreakers

• Emoji Check-In: Ask team members to share an emoji that represents how they feel.
• Quick Polls: Use a poll to ask a fun question. For example, “Tea or coffee?”
• Virtual High-Five: Everyone gives a virtual high-five to a colleague.

These activities take only a few minutes but help break the ice effectively.

Fun Virtual Icebreakers

• Pictionary: Play a virtual drawing game. It’s a fun and creative way to engage.
• Trivia Contest: Prepare trivia questions. Divide everyone into teams for some friendly competition.
• Show and Tell: Each member shows something interesting from their home.

These icebreakers are great for bringing smiles and laughter to your meeting.

Unique Virtual Icebreakers

• Two Truths and a Lie: Each person shares three statements, two true and one false. The team guesses which is the lie.
• Geoguessr: Use online tools to guess locations around the world from street view images.
• Virtual Scavenger Hunt: Set up a list of items for team members to find in their homes.

These activities can make your virtual meetings memorable.

Quick Virtual Icebreakers

• Nickname Round: Everyone shares a nickname they had growing up.
• One-word Stories: Create a story where each team member adds one word at a time.
• Would You Rather: Ask “Would you rather” questions to kickstart conversations.

These icebreakers are fast and easy, perfect for starting the meeting quickly.

Virtual Icebreakers for Large Groups

• Breakout Rooms: Divide the group into smaller rooms to discuss specific topics.
• Conference Call Bingo: Create bingo cards with common phrases or actions seen in virtual meetings.
• Virtual Networking: Host a speed networking session where people chat in pairs.

These activities ensure everyone gets a chance to participate and connect.

Virtual Icebreakers for Zoom

• Zoom Background Contest: Have a contest for the funniest or most creative Zoom background.
• Name That Tune: Play a few seconds of a song and have participants guess the title.
• Funny Stories: Ask everyone to share a funny story from their week.

These icebreakers work perfectly within the Zoom platform.

Easy Virtual Icebreakers

• Icebreaker Questions: Ask simple icebreaker questions like, “What’s your favorite book?”
• Slack Prompts: Use Slack to share daily prompts or questions for team engagement.
• Chat Over Coffee: Schedule a casual coffee chat session where everyone can join in for a relaxed talk.

These activities require minimal setup and can seamlessly fit into your regular meetings.