Just having more meetings isn’t the answer (in fact, it can even make the problem worse). The key is to build intentional and meaningful collaborative experiences into your work. These experiences can take many forms, but one effective approach https://remotemode.net/ is to use icebreakers to kick off a meeting. The key element to better teamwork, whether in person or remote, is connection. The more connected your teammates, coworkers, or employees feel, the more effective and productive the group becomes.

  • There’s just something about a mug that brings me a feeling of warmth besides the drink inside of it.
  • If you end up with an odd number of employees, have a facilitator pair up with the remaining employee or have one team form a group of three.
  • This one really only works if you’re using a web conferencing tool that allows you to upload images for backgrounds, such as Zoom or Google Meet.
  • Ask your employees to create a news headline of what your company will be doing in five years and publish them on your intranet.
  • A virtual circle of appreciation allows your employees to recognize each other and helps them feel more appreciated.
  • Each person can take their turn showing off their photo and explaining their circumstances.
  • If you can encourage your employees to get their kids and pets involved, even better.

Everyone else in the group then has to try to guess which of the three things is the lie. This offers teammates a way to share a personal (and probably funny) story without much risk, and gives everyone a chance to talk about not only themselves but their friends. Have everyone introduce themselves, and then share a short (1-2 minute) origin story behind one of their friendships. Two Truths and One Lie is among the best virtual team icebreakers for teams. Charades are appropriate for teams of all ages, thus, a handy icebreaker activity for employees and students. Tie your workplace’s mission into your next icebreaker activity by creating an acronym about it.

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Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to create your icebreaker questions is an easy way to generate a ton of new ideas without taking up a lot of time or brainpower! Fellow’s new AI meeting assistant will create fun ways to engage your team and automatically add them to the meeting agenda. Since these icebreaker questions are added as part of the collaborative meeting agenda, attendees can quickly view the questions and think of their answers ahead of time. This list of engaging virtual ice breakers will have your team bonding and building a successful rapport. For even more ideas to connect you and your virtual team, check out our popular article about virtual team building activities. Connecting while remaining physically apart can be difficult, so adding a few virtual icebreaker activities is a must!

  • With employees working remotely, sometimes accomplishments are overlooked.
  • For example, someone might hold up a framed photo of their kids and share a little about them.
  • As you can see, virtual icebreakers don’t have to be awkward.
  • It’s fun to find out that a colleague is watching the same show as you, just be careful with spoilers!
  • Similar to a virtual book club, a virtual movie club will also give your employees a shared experience they can connect over.
  • And people might assume it’s true she has a dog because that’s a relatively common thing, but you might find out she actually owns a pet snake.

They can bond over the game like they’ve known each other forever, which probably sounds good for your team. If you want to create the questions yourself, you can use a Bingo card generator, icebreakers for virtual meetings but it’s always easier to download ready ones. The participants should ask the opposing team questions from the Bingo cards, and when a member of the team matches, they can mark the square.

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As a rule of thumb, if you have 10 or more attendees, divide into breakout rooms for icebreakers. Plus, the small group setting makes it easier for introverts and more passive employees to speak. Because these ideas will warm up your group and get the conversation flowing, making virtual meetings way more fun and productive. For this exercise, have your team introduce themselves and then describe one dish that they love, and what it means to them. This is an easy way to get people talking, and again offers insight into people’s personal history, likes and dislikes, and even ways of working. Also, a shared digital space can help make this even more engaging — and even educational (new recipes, anyone?).