Six Ice Breakers to Kick off your Next Remote Workshop

How often have you been in a meeting or workshop with people you’ve never met? Introductions are often forgotten, and teams quickly get down to business, skipping any chance to build rapport or have fun. If you work in a company that doesn’t use video, getting to know people, putting a name to a face, and building relationships can be even more challenging. Between Zoom fatigue and meeting overload, many meetings and workshops can feel awkward, draining, and lack human connection.

Ice breakers are a great activity to kick off your next remote workshop, get people warmed up, for teams to get to know each other, feel comfortable with each other, and have some fun!

When to use an ice breaker 

Many people think ice breakers are silly or a waste of time. But when you’re facilitating a meeting or workshop, it’s essential for people to feel safe and comfortable, so they can actively contribute.

Try kicking off your next meeting or workshop with an ice breaker to get people talking. If you’re facilitating your team’s weekly meeting, start with a quick ice breaker question, or if you’re leading a cross-functional workshop, try a team-building ice breaker for people to get to know each other.

Why use an ice breaker 

In addition to getting your team talking, ice breakers can:   

  • Create a shared experience and connection

  • Build trust and psychological safety between team members

  • Get to know each other, and build empathy for one another

  • Get your team used to experiment in a low-risk way

  • Improve remote team engagement

  • Help teams have fun!

Tools to run an ice breaker 

You can run many different ice breakers with your team, and most don’t require many tools.

Tools: 

  • A facilitator to run the exercise 

  • A timer 

  • Paper and writing utensil (this is great whether you’re in person or remote—it can be a much-needed break from staring at a screen!)

  • Remote video conferencing tool if you’re running a remote session (Zoom, Microsoft Teams) 

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

Six ice breakers to try with your team 

There are a lot of different ice breakers you can run with your team. Here are some of our favorites to get you started.  

Awkward Object

The Awkward Object is a great exercise to run to get people to share a funny story and get people laughing.

  1. Each team member brings OR sketches an awkward or embarrassing object they own for show and tell. It does not have to be outrageous, just funny or weird (and safe for work.)

  2. If team members are sketching the object, ask everyone to bring a pen and paper to the session, set a timer for 3 minutes, and ask them to draw their awkward object.

  3. Show the sketch to each other and tell the story behind it. There are almost always a lot of laughs!

First Job

This exercise helps people get to know each other and share something personal. 

  1. Ask everyone to describe their first job using sticky notes and images on a virtual whiteboard, or ask team members to sketch their first job.

  2. Take turns telling the story of your first job.

Would you rather

This is a fun, quick exercise to get people talking and to help people get comfortable using the virtual whiteboard tool that you’ve chosen for your meeting or workshop.

  1. Put these words on sticky notes in two columns on a virtual whiteboard.
    • Hot/Cold
    • Early Bird/Night Owl
    • Sweet/Savory
    • Rewind/Pause
    • Too Busy/Too Bored

  2. Set a timer for 2 minutes, and ask everyone to put a sticky note with their name on their preference.

Alternatively, if you’re running a remote session with a large group, ask everyone a simple “would you rather” question, give them 30 seconds to sketch their choice quickly, and ask them to show their sketch. For example, you could say, “would you rather eat cake or ice cream,” and ask everyone to sketch their choice quickly.

First Car

The first car is a quick, fun ice breaker you can use to help team members get to know each other and share a fun story from their past.

  1. Ask everyone to search for an image of their first car on the web (it doesn’t have to be an exact match), add it to the virtual whiteboard, and put a sticky note with their name next to the image of their car. Set a timer for 2 minutes.

  2. Ask everyone to share what their first car was and a story or memory about their first car.

Alternatively, you could ask everyone to share what their first album was and what format it was—vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD, etc. (My first album was Debbie Gibson’s Out of the Blue on cassette!)

Hero Shot

This ice breaker is great to run at a project kick-off or with a newly formed team. It inspires and aligns the team on a common goal and vision.

  1. Have the team envision beyond the end of the project. There will be an article written about the project’s success. Ask everyone to sketch an image of what success looks like at the end of the project. What was the impact of the project, and what were the outcomes? Set a timer for 5-10 minutes.

  2. Everyone takes turns sharing their sketch and telling the story behind it.

Hopes and Fears

The Hopes and Fears is another great ice breaker to run with a newly formed team or at the beginning of a project. It allows to share concerns or aspirations for a project or the team and helps align on shared goals or concerns.

  1. Ask each team member (in silence) to write 1-3 hopes and 1-3 fears on sticky notes on your virtual whiteboard. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes.

  2. Everyone takes turns sharing their hopes and fears.

Have fun and get to know each other with quick ice breakers!  

Have fun and experiment—try any exercise that will allow you to get to know each other better. Your team will be surprised by the impact of everyone starting from a shared experience—meetings and workshops don’t have to be dry and boring! Creating a fun, safe environment will help build psychological safety, improve remote engagement, and lead to better outcomes for your team.

Are you struggling with a lack of collaboration in your workshop or meeting? We can help!

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Serene MirelesMB Collabremote facilitation, remote collaboration, design thinking, facilitation, workshops, remote meetings, collaboration, innovation