Six Remote Energizers to Boost Your Next Meeting

Remote Energizers to increase engagement in the meeting

Imagine you’re in a remote meeting. Someone is presenting slide after slide of data and business jargon. You feel your eyes getting heavy as you start to nod off, so you check your email and refill your coffee. Finally, the presenter asks if there are any questions, followed by a long awkward silence. Sound familiar?  

Remote meetings can be awkward and boring, but they don’t have to be! Remote energizers are a great way to get people moving, wake people up, and create more engagement.  

When to run a remote energizer 

If you’re facilitating a meeting or workshop, a remote energizer is a great way to get participants energized and engaged. You might run an energizer at the beginning of your meeting (especially if it’s early in the morning, or post-lunch), or in the middle of a meeting if you notice people are losing interest.  

Some participants might feel that energizers are silly or a waste of time, but they can be great for team building by creating a fun, shared experience between team members. They can feel awkward, but we encourage everyone to get comfortable being uncomfortable—you rarely get to new and innovative solutions if you don't try new things. 

Why run a remote energizer 

Run a remote energizer to:   

  • Create a shared experience and connection 

  • Build trust and psychological safety between team members 

  • Increase energy and engagement 

  • Improve focus 

  • Explore new ways to experiment and try new things 

  • Have fun! 

Tools to run a remote energizer 

There are many different energizers you can run with your team, and most don’t require many tools.  

Tools: 

  • Remote video conferencing tool (Zoom, Microsoft Teams) 

  • A facilitator to run the exercise 

  • A timer 

  • Virtual whiteboard tool, depending on the exercise (Mural, Miro) 

  • Online chat tool (Slack, Microsoft Teams) 

Remote energizers to try with your team 

There are a lot of different energizers you can run with your team. Here are a few ideas to get you started.  

Names in the air 

This is a quick, easy exercise that you can run with a large group. All you need is a video conferencing tool: 

  1. Ask participants to turn on their webcams. 

  2. Ask participants to write their name in the air first with their right hand. 

  3. Ask participants to write their name in the air with their left hand.  

  4. Last, ask them to write their name in the air with both hands at the same time. 

Rock paper scissors tournament 

This is easier to do with a smaller group if you’re in a remote session. All you need is a video conferencing tool.  

  1. Start with two people squaring off. 

  2. The winner goes on to play the next person on the team. 

  3. Keep going until there’s one winner. 

Name That Sound 

You can run this exercise with a large or small group, and all you need is audio.  

  1. Ask everyone to turn their webcams off. 

  2. The facilitator will choose someone, and ask them to imitate a sound (an airplane taking off, a siren, an animal, etc.)  

  3. Participants guess the sound. 

Scavenger hunt 

There are a variety of ways to play this game, but this is an easy way to play if you have a large group. All you need is a video conferencing tool. 

  1. The facilitator puts together a list of items before the session 

  2. Start the game with everyone on screen, cameras turned on. 

  3. During each round, the facilitator will announce an item you must search your house for, and set a timer. 

  4. The first person to return with the item, and visibly show the item wins 10 points. 

  5. Everyone else that finds the item (within the time you set), and shows it on camera gets 5 points. 

  6. The facilitator can decide how many rounds to play, or how many points to play to 

Shake Down 

This is a fun energizer to wake people up and get them moving by asking the group to shake out their bodies.  

  1. Start with eight shakes of the right arm. 

  2. Eight shakes of the left arm. 

  3. Eight shakes of the right leg. 

  4. Eight shakes of the left leg. 

  5. Continue with a round of four shakes of each limb, then two, then one. 

  6. End with a cheer or virtual high fives. 

GIF Challenge 

Kick off a remote meeting with this fun challenge. This works with a large or small group, and all you need is an online chat tool or virtual whiteboard. 

 

  1. The facilitator posts a question or statement. 

  2. Ask participants to find a creative GIF to respond to the question or statement. For example, you could post “Current Mood,” or “How are you feeling about this challenge?” 

  3. You can run multiple rounds and ask everyone to vote on their favorites, or just run one round if you’re short on time.  

Try it! 

Have fun and experiment! The whole idea is to get people energized and ready to collaborate and engage. Try different energizers and exercises with your team to see what works for you. Your team will be surprised by how much fun meetings can actually be, and how much more effective teams are when you can keep energy and momentum going.   

Struggling with low participation in your meetings or workshops? We can help!

We help plan and facilite workshops and meetings structured to increase engagement and outcomes.

Serene Mirelesremote collaboration, remote facilitation, energizers, workshops, facilitation, design thinking