Fun & Exciting Ice Breaker Ideas for Virtual Meetings

What are the advantages of virtual icebreakers in remote meetings?

It is common for different types of meetings, whether physical or virtual, to begin with, an awkward silence. This issue becomes even more prominent in remote meetings because no one wants to talk over someone else, and it is often not clear in such meetings who is going to speak.

Nevertheless, you can rely on a variety of virtual team ice breaker ideas to bring the team together, remove the communication gap created by remote working, and build great team rapport by helping the remote employees feel relaxed.

In this article, you will get to know different ice breaker ideas for virtual meetings, so keep reading.

Part 1 : What Is a Virtual Icebreaker?

An ice breaker is a game of activity that you can do with the other members of the team to start the conversation and avoid "awkward silence" that might be present in the team. The purpose of these games is to "break the ice" and make the team members comfortable.

Virtual team ice building ideas can be used for both existing teams as well as to introduce a new team member into the team. The only difference between a virtual ice breaker and a physical ice breaker is that ideas for virtual team building are executed online via web chat or video call.

Part 2 : When to Use a Virtual Icebreaker Activity?

Team building is an important part of any business. Other than the traditional challenges of team building, there are many different factors that you now have to consider for virtual team building.

Therefore, when you are exploring different virtual team meeting ideas, you should definitely incorporate a virtual ice breaker activity as part of your meeting agenda.

Generally, you should use virtual ice breakers at the start of a video meeting. Some situations in which executing fun virtual team meeting ideas become important are:

• Team members work remotely from varying locations and don't find enough opportunities to interact with each other.
• There is a lack of communication between the team members.
• A freelancer or an employee from another department is working with your team.
• Develop trust and cooperation between the team.

Part 3 : Fun Ice breaker Activities & Games for Virtual Meetings

Now that you are familiar with the importance of virtual ice breakers, you would definitely want to use these activities in your virtual meetings to ensure team building. Let’s discuss different virtual team-building games and activities in detail.

Some of the fun virtual meeting ideas are:

1Short Introductions

Quick and short introductions at the start of a virtual meeting are a great way of taking the pressure off people and making sure everyone knows each other. This becomes important whenever a new member has joined the team.

However, while executing these ideas for virtual team building, managers and businesses must consider all types of employees and their personalities. Hence, keep the introduction short, including the first name, last name, and anyone important aspect of the team member.

2Show and Tell

Show and tell is a very popular activity. It can be traced back to elementary school, but it can be a lot of fun in virtual meetings as well. It involves showing something to the audience and describing it by providing all the relevant information about it.

You can ask your team members to pick any item and describe it within 1 to 2 minutes. Keep this activity short to keep things moving smoothly in a virtual meeting, but make sure you are encouraging the back stories, as the team is likely to have some interesting stories behind every item they pick.

3Rank Your Favorites

One of the best ways to learn a lot about a person is by knowing their likes and dislikes. Asking the team members to rank their favorites is one of the best fun virtual meeting ideas. There are many different types of rankings that can be done, such as ranking the best 90s movies, Christmas movies, songs, series, games, etc.

Ultimately, when everyone discusses their favorites, there is a high probability that many team members will have similar interests and favorites, due to which they will be able to connect with each other even more.

1Draw Your Mood

A fun virtual meeting idea can be that instead of asking the team members how they are feeling, you can ask them to draw their mood. It is not necessary to use any complicated tool for drawing. They can use Paint or the built-in function of Whiteboard in Zoom to draw their mood. Overall, it can be a very engaging virtual ice breaker activity.

4Show Gratitude

Asking the team members to tell what or who they are thankful for can be a great morale booster, especially during the holiday season. It is possible to ask this question in a virtual video meeting or via text.

As some members might feel uncomfortable showing their feelings on camera, it is much better to do it via text or even poll-based activity.

6Narrate Embarrassing Stories

Asking team members to narrate their most embarrassing stories can be a very useful ice breaker activity. However, it is also important to note that it carries a significant risk of crossing the business's code of conduct, as different people might have a different understanding of the "embarrassing" incidents.

Personal stories provide a direct window into the colleague's experiences, due to which team building becomes easier with such activities. Moreover, diverse groups are able to connect with each other over shared human experiences.

7Take a Team Photo

A group photo is a great ice breaker activity. Taking a team photo becomes even easier in a virtual meeting, so you should definitely use this idea for virtual team building. The picture can be made even more fun by asking the team members to make funny faces or be creative in their own way.

Other than being an amazing virtual ice breaker activity, it is also useful in creating content for social media and other marketing platforms.

8Discuss Highlights of the Week or Month

Discussing the achievements of the team and the role of team members will help make them feel appreciated by the company and lift up their spirits. It can be done by discussing the highlights of the week or month.

It is not necessary to only target professional achievements during a virtual meeting. Instead, the personal achievements of the employees should also be celebrated. It will result in the colleagues interacting with each other and sharing congratulatory messages that definitely act as ice breakers.

Here are some virtual team-building games

Other than the various virtual ice breaker activities, there are certain virtual team-building games that you can play with the team members to break the ice. Most of these are virtual team-building games for free, so businesses don’t have to spend extra financial resources on them.

1Among Us!

Among Us! is one of the most popular mobile games to be released in the last few years. It gained massive popularity during the pandemic. You will find Among Us to be one of the great virtual team building games because it is completely free, and up to 10 people can play one round.

The gameplay involves the team working together to find the imposer and eject them from the game before they kill every team member. Therefore, playing this game will trigger instant communication between the team members in the game as well as outside the game.

Among Us is currently available only for Android and iPhone smartphone users. However, the good thing is that you can use a powerful screen mirroring tool – AirDroid Cast – to mirror the game on your PC and enjoy it on the larger screen without any lags.

2Charades

Charades is one of the most popular virtual team building games. It can lift up the mood of everyone on the team and help them stay productive throughout the year. The rules of the game are quite simple. The participants have to remain silent and let the performer enact the situation displayed on the board and let the other team members figure out the message.

Many popular virtual charades are present for both desktop and mobile phones, such as Heads Up! You can easily enjoy this game online and even use AirDroid Cast to share the screen with some of your colleagues when you are playing in large groups.

2Ladies and Gentlemen

Ladies and Gentlemen is another popular game for both physical and virtual team building. It can be used to test the attentiveness of the team members and help them stay alert while also maximizing interaction with other team members.

The gameplay revolves around paying attention to the words and making sure words with the same letter as your gender are selected. In other rounds and variations of the game, the leader of the group can choose male or female, he or she options to increase the difficulty level. This entire game becomes even more enjoyable when a member shares the screen with the entire group using AirDroid Cast.

3Would You Rather

Would You Rather is a highly interesting virtual ice breaker game for remote employees? It involves the players asking weird questions and asking turns to answer them. >

Some interesting questions that can be asked are would you rather have four legs or four hands, or would you take spend an entire year without Facebook or Instagram? Many other such questions can be curated to have an amazing virtual team ice breaking session.

4Pictionary

Pictionary is a classic game in which players have to identify the words or objects represented by the drawings made by other players. It is one of the best virtual team building games because all the team members can get involved in it.

Most the video conferencing tools like Zoom have a whiteboard on which you can make the drawings and let your colleagues guess the words. Another way is to draw different objects on Paint and share the screen using AirDroid Cast and have a great meeting.

Part 4 : Best Ice breaker Questions for Virtual Meetings

Virtual ice breaker questions are the basic questions that you can use to get to know your colleagues better. The purpose of using ice breaker questions for virtual meetings is to enhance communication with remote employees and increase engagement.

Some of the best ice breaker questions for virtual meetings are:

1. What was the name of your first online alias?
2. Do you read any engaging blogs?
3. What YouTube video did you most recently watch?
4. Which song would you be able to listen to repeatedly?
5. What movie has a wonderful illustration of "teamwork"?
6. Which would you prefer: working with dessert or from the desert?
7. What was your favorite outfit when you were a kid?
8. What drink do you usually have at work?
9. What did you want to be when you grew up?
10. Which would you choose: a flexible schedule or a flexible location?
11. What have you created from scratch?
12. Do you have any tips for boosting productivity?
13. What aspect of working remotely shocked you?

Part 5 : Final Take

The bottom line is that there is a large collection of virtual team ice breaker ideas in many different forms that you can use to increase communication in the team. The best way to do it is to play engaging virtual team building games because they involve constant communication and allow colleagues to interact with each other in a fun manner.

The benefits of virtual ice breaker games are further enhanced by using a screen mirroring tool like AirDroid Cast, through which you can share the screen with your remote colleagues and have a great time playing the games.

Part 6 : People Also Ask about Virtual Icebreakers

What are Virtual Icebreakers?

Elsa

Virtual icebreakers are activities or games that are designed to make the remote teams at ease and make every member comfortable with each other. Conversation starters, small mobile games, board games, and introductions are some of the many examples of virtual icebreaker activities and games.

What are the benefits of Virtual Ice Breaker Games and Activities?

Elsa

• Welcome the new members and make them comfortable.
• Encourage people to connect with each other.
• Better communication.
• Build team communication and rapport.
• Encourage fun activities to create a comfortable working environment.
• Minimize feelings of isolation in remote employees.

What are some good virtual ice breaker ideas?

Elsa

Some of the great virtual ice breaker ideas are short introductions, discussing hobbies, and games like Pictionary, Among Us, Would You Rather, etc.

How often should you do virtual ice breaker activities?

Elsa

You should perform virtual ice breaker activities on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Avoid using them in every other meeting because you would not want the employees to feel uncomfortable.

How do you perform a virtual ice breaker activity?

Elsa

The exact execution of a virtual ice breaker idea is totally dependent on the activity of your choice. You can do it through virtual video meetings or text-based polls.

How do you play a virtual ice breaker game with the game?

Elsa

Playing a virtual ice breaker game with your colleagues on PC is easy with AirDroid Cast. You can pick any game of your choice, whether on your smartphone or laptop and share the screen with your colleagues through AirDroid Cast to enjoy the game with everyone on the team.