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I recently facilitated a large meeting with over 50 people who didn’t know each other. Since the meeting was scheduled for an entire day, I thought that starting out with an icebreaker would a) help people get acquainted with each other and b) loosen up the tense mood when you have a room full of strangers. I didn’t mind spending some time on this activity because it helped to form a foundation of relationships in the room and that was an essential goal of the overall meeting.
I tried this icebreaker for the first time, after experiencing it in a meeting several years ago. I created 20 questions that were a) open-ended but not too complicated, b) not too personal but not about work, and c) thought-provoking yet easy to answer.
You guys—this exercise worked out so well! First, I passed around an envelope with strips of paper for each question. I printed each question a few times so some people answered the same question but no 2 answers were the same. I told everyone that this was an optional icebreaker—and in a room of 50+ people of whom I only knew about 15, everyone participated! I also told them that if they chose a question they didn’t like or didn't want to answer, they could put it back and try again. A few people did this. Ultimately, everyone found a question they were open to answering.
I think that what made this icebreaker a success is that the questions and answers were interesting, funny and unpredictable, yet still within a very professional realm. Also, giving people the option to participate and to choose their question meant that I didn’t get any groans from people who hate icebreakers.
If you want to try this in your next meeting, here are a few of my favorite questions that went over really well.
- What is a good habit that you’re trying to start?
- What does your ideal Saturday morning look like?
- If education were free and time was unlimited, what degree or certificate would you want to get?
- What are the most productive hours of your work day?
- If you could have dinner with a former U.S. president, who would it be and where would you dine?
- What is the phrase you probably over-use at work?
Of course, you could always just use one of these questions for everyone to answer as another way to do an icebreaker. That works in a small group where the answers don’t become repetetive or boring.
Share your successful icebreaker experiences with us below.