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Meetings

35 Best Icebreakers for Your

Virtual and Hybrid Meetings
Katy Mrvova
September 13, 2021
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A
good icebreaker can save your meeting from an awkward
silence at the start, get people talking, and help you loosen
everyone up before you get to the business.

We’ve collected for you these 35 awesome virtual icebreakers and

team-building activities. All tried, tested, and enjoyed by our team –
even the introverts!
But first, let’s be clear on what virtual icebreakers are and why it’s
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good to have them in your arsenal.

What are virtual icebreakers?

Virtual icebreakers are small interactive activities that are used
for lightening the mood, typically at the start of a meeting.

They are great conversation starters – they help energize people,

drive lively discussions and encourage the participants to be more
active throughout the meeting.

With online and hybrid meetings, icebreakers can help make your
video conference call more personal and allow your colleagues to
get to know each other better and enjoy some social time.

From quick icebreaker questions to longer ice-breaking games – pick

your favorite ones!

1. Quick icebreaker questions

2. Short virtual icebreaker activities
3. Icebreaker games & Team building activities
1. Quick
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icebreaker questions
These are great rapid-fire questions to energize your participants
and kick start a conversation.

#1. Mood barometer: How are you feeling

today?

The classic “So, how are you folks doing?” usually gets you only a
couple of reluctant answers. Ask your team how they are in a
different way this time – try it with a poll.

For example, check the overall energy in the room by running a

rating poll such as: “On a scale of 1-7, how are you feeling today?”
Or, “What’s your energy level today?”
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Everyone can contribute and so you’ll take an instant pulse check on

how everyone is feeling before the meeting.

Use the poll results as a discussion starter: “I can see that not
everyone is feeling at their best. Does anyone want to share their
thoughts?”

#2. Would you rather…?

A would you rather question is a guaranteed icebreaker that will

spark a lively discussion at the start of your meeting.
Simply ask your participants a thought-provoking ‘this or that’ poll
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question with two options to choose from. Then, drive a discussion
around how people voted and why.

Here are some of our favorite would you rather questions:

• Would you live in the Arctic or in the Sahara Desert?

• Would you rather be always overdressed or underdressed?

• Have 2 meter long legs or 2 meter long arms?

• Time travel back to the past or to the future?

Read also: 101 Would You Rather Questions to Cheer Up Your

Meetings

#3. Quiz question of the day

Or, why don’t you start with a little guessing game? Everyone loves
quizzes and so a little brain teaser at the beginning of your meeting
will get your colleagues nicely energized.

This is an ideal icebreaker for recurring meetings. If you and your

team meet regularly, you can turn this into a tradition and run one
quiz question at the start of every one of your meetings.
How to pull this off?
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Simply create a quiz poll question in Slido and mark one option as
correct. You can use our integrations with Google Slides and
PowerPoint to insert the poll directly into your slides.

What’s more, you don’t even have to think up quiz questions. Our
‘magic cube’ random question generator will do that for you.

#4. Where are you joining from?

If your teammates are scattered around the world, kick off your
meeting by sending a virtual hi to each one of them.

At the beginning of your conference call, run a word cloud with the
question: “Where are you joining from?”

This is one of the best virtual icebreakers for large meetings or

virtual events – the more locations, the better the word cloud will
look.
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As your colleagues post their locations, give them a special shout-

out.

Read also: 33 Word Cloud Examples For Your Meetings

#5. In one word, how would you describe…?

You can also use word clouds to pick up your team’s thoughts and
feelings. Open your meeting with a question such as: “In one word,
how would you describe the past week/month?”
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This is one of the icebreakers that will help you take a pulse check of
the overall atmosphere in the team and detecting possible
downturns – especially handy in a virtual setup.

Or, you can even try something different like: “If you were to
describe our company in one word, what would it be?”

#6. Good old times

If you need a guaranteed conversation starter, try a question that

brings back childhood or teenage years memories – they provide an
inexhaustible source of amusement.
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You can use word clouds here as well.

• Which was your favorite candy you were hoping to get when
trick-or-treating? (A perfect icebreaker to use before
Halloween.)

• Which music band was your favorite growing up?

After people submit their answers, ask volunteers to share how they
voted and why.

There will be a lot to talk about, maybe even some arguments about
which candy or which movie is the best. You’ll start a meeting with
some laughs and get your colleagues in a good mood before a
meeting.

#7. Rank your favorites

Similar to the previous icebreaker, you can engage people in

ranking their favorite things, whether from their childhood or not –
the possibilities are endless.
Use a ranking poll question, add as many options as you wish, and
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let your participants rank them.

Here are some ideas:

• Rank these 90s movies from your most favorite to your least
favorite.

• Rank these Christmas movies from a must-watch to the most

passable one.

• Rank these Harry Potter movies from the best to your least
favorite.

After your participants are done voting, display the chart with the
winners and the runner-ups. Expect a lively discussion – people tend
to passionately root for their darlings!

#8. Say it with an emoji

Here’s another way to get a sense of how your team members are
feeling – let them express it with emojis. For example, at the start of
your meeting, ask your colleagues:

“Which emoji best describes your current state of mind?”

You can use a Slido word cloud for that, but instead of words, your
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participants will submit an emoji. This works best with larger
meetings and events when a large number of emojis gets submitted.

Here are some other ideas for emoji icebreakers:

• Describe our team with an emoji.

• Use an emoji to describe your ideal vacation.

• Which emoji do you use most frequently?

This is an ideal icebreaker if you’re looking for a simple activity that
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anyone can participate in, for example, as you’re waiting for others
to join the meeting.

Read also: 80+ Best Poll Questions To Ask Your Online Audience

2. Short virtual icebreaker activities

These are great if you want to surprise your participants with a fun
little activity and enjoy some bonding time.

#9. Draw your mood

Instead of verbally asking your colleagues how they are at the start
of your meeting (which often results in a half-baked ‘fine’, or ‘okay’
here and there), ask them to draw how they are. It’s much more fun
and you’ll spark creativity among your colleagues.

During our recent Brand Team meeting, our colleague, Sabine,

shared a Zoom Whiteboard with us and asked us to draw our
current mood on it. So we channeled our inner Basquiat and came
up with something that remotely resembles art. But it was so much
fun, we swear!
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Here’s how to set up Whiteboard in Zoom:

1. Click ‘Share Screen’, choose ‘Whiteboard’ and click ‘Share’

2. Tell each participant to click ‘Annotate‘ in the upper panel
3. Pick any type of annotation tools you like – drawing, shapes,
texts – you name it!

Note: Are you running your meetings in a hybrid setup? Then make
sure that each of your on-site team members joins the video
conference from their own device so they can participate in the
activity.
#10. Highlight of the month
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Here’s a great way to lift people’s spirits. Crowdsource your

colleagues’ personal or professional highlights from the last week or
month.

Thanks to this icebreaker, you can see what other people have been
up to, and have experienced, and you can celebrate some of your top
moments.

As you kick off your meeting, ask your teammates to post their
highlights in an open text poll. Then, display the highlights on the
screen, and give a shout-out to each one.
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It’s good to remind people of all the remarkable work that they’ve
done. For example, in our Slido marketing team, we share highlights
as part of our monthly all-marketing meeting.

#11. Unsung heroes

This is not only an icebreaker but a morale booster as well. And we

all need that now and then, especially when working in isolation.

Give kudos to the heroes in your team. Kick off your meeting with a
word cloud poll such as: “Who was your silent hero this month?”
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Acknowledging people for the effort they’re putting in is a

wonderful way to start a meeting. Expect lots of hearty “awws”.

💡 Tip
Combine the word cloud with an open text poll, so that people can
also leave a heart-warming message for their nominated silent hero.

#12. What are you thankful for?

This ice-breaking activity is ideal, for instance, before Thanksgiving

or as a morale booster during special team meetings.
Ask people to submit what they are grateful for or who from the
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team they would like to thank.

You may open your meeting with this question, either via word
cloud or an open text poll, and wait for your team members’
submissions.

Then, display people’s submissions on the screen and ask your

colleagues to share what they put in and why.

It’s a nice bonding moment and helps you start the meeting on a
positive note.

#13. Team photo

A list of virtual icebreakers wouldn’t be complete without a group

photo! This one’s as much fun through a video chat as much as it is
in real life. And you can repeat it time and time again by taking a
different picture each time — make funny faces, bring in your pets,
do a crazy gesture, be creative.

Take inspiration from our Customer Care Team!

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💡 Tip
These photos also make nice content for your social media, internal
newsletters, or Slack channels!

#14. Guess whose desk?

Get to know your colleagues a little better, and take a sneak-peek

into their home work stations. This icebreaker is a mixture of ‘Guess
who?’ and a house tour.

Collect pictures from your colleagues of their desks at home and add
them into Slido multiple choice polls with a question: “Can you guess
whose desk this is?” and give several options.
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Then, once at a meeting, let your colleagues guess away!

#15. Weekend photo contest

A slow start after the weekend? Run a quick weekend photo contest
to get your teammates talking. Tell them to share a cool photo from
their weekend – for example in a Slack channel.
You can then put people’s names in a Slido multiple choice poll and
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have your colleagues vote for the best shot!

#16. What’s the last picture that you took?

Similar to the previous icebreaker, this one is probably even more

fun: Ask your colleagues to go to their phones, and dig out the last
photo that they took. Ask them to either post it to your Slack channel
or simply show it to the camera. Then, ask them to share a story
behind the picture (if it’s not a secret!).

It’s a sweet little activity to make people talk and get to know one
another better.

#17. Random question of the week

Here’s another one from the ‘Get to know your colleagues better’
virtual icebreakers. Set up a new tradition and ask your team one
random question each week or month.

For example:

• What’s the most useless thing you have in your home?

 • What would your superpower be if you had one?
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• What one thing should everybody stop doing right now?

• What’s one song or artist that you’re embarrassed to admit you

like?

We actually started doing this as a weekly activity in our #random

Slack channel. We’ve since learned so many cool new things about
one another!

3. Icebreaker games & Team

building activities
These are great get-to-know-you games and longer team-building
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activities that will both entertain and bring the team closer together.

#18. Home scavenger hunt

Get your colleagues out of their chairs. This icebreaker is fun and
you’ll all get a chance to move around a little. Give your teammates
a little task such as: “You have 25 seconds to fetch something
yellow,” or “Get the weirdest thing in your apartment, then bring it
back to show us”.

You can even take it a little further and play a full-scale virtual
scavenger hunt. We recently played it in our Brand team and it was
so much fun. Our colleague, Nadia, gave us 5 minutes to fulfill 20
tasks such as:

• Take a picture of a view from your window and post it to Slack

• Find something smaller than your fingernail

• Bring the softest thing you own

• Change your Zoom background to your favorite movie set

• Bring an item that’s older than you are

And on a hunt we went.

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When the time was up, we got back together on Zoom and shared
funny stories behind the objects that we brought. We shared some
good laughs together!

#19. Team trivia quiz

Using virtual icebreakers during your meetings also helps you get to
know your colleagues better.

Try a fun quiz with questions about your team. Collect interesting
facts about each team member, then let other colleagues guess away.
We’re sure you’ll dig out plenty of fun stuff!
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We run this type of quiz when we introduce a new team member, or

as a holiday fun activity.

Read also: 7 Awesome Quizzes for Your Virtual and Hybrid

Meetings

#20. Zoom background challenge

Share some laughs with your teammates on Zoom. Before your next
all-hands or town hall meeting, set a theme and ask your colleagues
to pick a virtual background image that, for them, represents it best.
Get creative. Favorite movie scenes, 80’s disco, memes, dream
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vacation places – the possibilities are endless.

Seeing each other’s backgrounds will break the ice and give you
something to talk about during the first minutes of the call.

But Zoom virtual backgrounds do more than just entertain. They’re

also great for hiding a messy kitchen behind you, or a trespassing
family member!
If you need inspiration, visit this huge library of virtual backgrounds
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by Canva, or get more quirky ones here.

💡 Tip
You can also let your colleagues vote for the best background
through a Slido poll.

#21. Two truths & one lie

This fun game is great for introducing new colleagues or getting to

know each other better. Collect three statements about each of your
colleagues – two of them should be true facts and one should be a
lie. Tell your colleagues to provide a lie that’s not so obvious so as to
make it harder for others to guess.

Next, put all of the collected statements into Slido multiple choice
polls, or you can make it a live quiz.
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💡 Tip
Don’t forget to ask the person who the poll is about to share at least
one story behind the statements.

#22. Struggles sharing

Sharing is caring – and that should apply for both the good and the
bad. Similar to sharing highlights (see point #10), it’s important to
also give our attention to things that didn’t go so well; things that we
can learn from, and move forward together.
It makes for a great team bonding experience.
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Depending on the setup you’re in, divide your colleagues into

smaller groups (if you’re in an online setup, use breakout rooms)
and ask them to discuss their struggles. It can be both professional
or personal.

Using an open text poll, encourage your team to share their failure
or struggle into Slido as well so that people can see that they’re not
alone in being imperfect. You can then regroup and open a
discussion about lessons that people learned from their failures.
As a leader, don’t forget to contribute as well. Showing vulnerability
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is also a form of strength.

Read also: How Talking About Wins and Struggles Helped Our Team
Bond

#23. Show & Tell

Inspired by the classic kindergarten exercise where kids bring an

object to school and describe it to their fellow pupils, show and tell is
a great activity for getting to know the team better.

Tell your colleagues to bring an object that has special meaning to

them or that is tied to an exciting story. Give each group member 3-5
minutes to tell the rest of the group about it.

This icebreaker is ideal for small teams (or done in groups) because
people might not be willing to talk in front of larger crowds of
people.

💡 Tip
Don’t forget to give people enough time to think about their story
and prepare for the short presentation. Not everybody is happy with
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improvising.

#24. Guess who?

This is another great get-to-know-each-other-better game, inspired

by our Head of User Research, Neil Sharman.

In one of the meetings, he asked everyone to anonymously submit

into Slido three brands they know they ‘love a bit more than is
logical’.

Then, he displayed people’s submissions on the screen and the team

guessed who is who just from the three brands. It’s fun to identify
people, plus everyone gets to share something about themselves.
You’ll definitely learn a lot of interesting stuff about each other.

💡 Tip
It doesn’t necessarily have to be about brands. It can be music
bands, hobbies, movies, etc.

#25. Coffee time

Have you heard of Fika? It’s a Swedish word often interpreted as ‘a
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coffee and cake break’.

For Swedes, however, it is much more than that. It’s about taking a
break from everything for a while and enjoying quality time with
friends or colleagues over a cup of coffee or tea.

Take Fika to an online environment. You can call it however you like
– virtual watercooler talks, virtual happy hour – your choice.

But be sure to schedule an informal team catch-up from time to time

just to chat with your teammates about something other than work.
In remote times, it will help you feel less isolated.
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#26. Visual brainstorming

Good productive idea exchanges make for great virtual icebreakers

too. Instead of just shouting ideas at each other, try visual
brainstorming.

Take advantage of one of the visual collaboration tools such as

Mural. We tried it recently during our Brand team meeting and it
was an hour well spent – productive, creative, and fun.
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We set up a virtual whiteboard, and each of us was supposed to

write our ideas on little stickers that we then posted on the board. It
nicely simulated a real-life brainstorming session.

#27. Meet up in a virtual bar

If remote work or Covid restrictions don’t allow you to enjoy an

after-work beer with your colleagues, why don’t you go for a virtual
alternative?
In our Brand team, we recently tried Kumospace – an immersive
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video chat that allows you to ‘meet’ your colleagues in a virtual bar
(or other space), move around, or create smaller chat groups.

Oh, and don’t forget to get a drink. The app will even remind you
when it’s time for a refill!

There are other apps that provide immersive team experiences, for
example, Topia. With this one, you can even design your own virtual
world. It’s good to have a change of scenery, isn’t it?

#28. Never Have I Ever

While you’re all hanging out together in this virtual bar (see point
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above), why don’t you play a game? If you’re familiar with Never
Have I Ever, you surely know how much fun it is – especially with
more juicy questions. It’s simple: Each of you will hold out your
hand so everyone can see your fingers.

One of you will read questions such as: “Never have I ever gone
skinny dipping.” Whenever one of you has done it, he or she will put
one finger down.

This icebreaker activity is awesome for getting to know your

colleagues better and have a good laugh together while sharing
funny stories behind each finger down!

If you need inspiration for Never Have I Ever questions, find 250 of
them here.

#29. Donut friends

When was the last time you randomly bumped into someone in a
hallway in your office and shared a good chat with them? Or, had a
deep conversation about life, the universe, and everything with a
bunch of colleagues in a kitchenette or by the watercooler? Before
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we can enjoy this again, try Donut.

Donut is an app for Slack that randomly pairs two or three

colleagues together for a scheduled video call. You can make use of
that time however you like: Have a virtual coffee, a peer learning
session, or a chat about a book that you recently read.

Source: Donut.com

The best thing is that it gets you together with teammates with
whom you wouldn’t normally talk or interact on a daily basis. A nice
way to foster new friendships in the workplace, isn’t it?
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#30. Online escape room

Need a full-scale team-building activity? Try virtual escape room. If

you’ve ever experienced the real thing, you surely know that it’s as
much fun as it is nerve-wracking! It involves dealing with various
challenges, finding codes, and completing puzzles in order to “get
out of the room”.

It’s an ultimate team bonding experience – if your teammates love a

good game, they’re going to be fans. There are plenty of escape room
platforms out there, for example, Escape Live. You can choose from
various different session types or themes.

#31. Virtual wine tasting

Even if you’re remote, you don’t have to give up the good old wine
or beer tasting sessions. Sure, it’s a bit harder to pull off in a virtual
setting, but not impossible. Just agree on a brand or type – or buy a
different wine each, so you can tell each other about the subtle tones
you’re getting!
Our People team has recently done a wine tasting Zoom call and it
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was a great team bonding experience.

It lets you enjoy some informal time with your colleagues, which,
amid all the meetings is a nice change. Plus, you get to indulge in
some fine beverages, what a treat!

#32. Pair & Share

This is a great icebreaker that allows for more intimate

conversations among your teammates. If you’re familiar with
breakout rooms, you’ll appreciate this one.
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Give your colleagues a thought-provoking question to ponder, then

pair them randomly using breakout rooms (check whether your
video conferencing tool allows for it).

Next, allow all groups a couple of minutes to discuss the topic before
coming back to the main room to share what each pair talked about.

This is a great alternative to the ‘turn to your neighbor’ kind of

exercise – it’s interactive, and allows for more in-depth discussion
between people. Introverts will appreciate this, as it feels more
comfortable to share something in a pair, compared to the whole
team.

#33. Online games

Online team-building games are fun and social – they encourage

interaction among coworkers and help bring back the camaraderie
of a physical office.

The waters of the internet are full of options, but to inspire you, we
recently discovered Bored – a suite of Slack games for remote teams.
You simply add the tool to your company Slack and play fun games
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with your colleagues right in the Slack channel.

Source: bored.social

Apart from the ever-popular game of trivia, Bored has games in

which you roast your colleagues, or play a game of accusations and
deception. Recently, they launched ‘Icebreakers’ to help teammates
get to know each other better by answering questions that are
unconventional and fun.

#34. Name that sound

Looking for a more sophisticated guessing game? How about
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guessing the sounds? This is one of the most challenging virtual
icebreakers, but it’s ultimately very satisfying!

It’s simple. You turn your cameras off, leaving only audio on, and
then you make some sort of a sound close to the mic so that your
colleagues are able to hear it, and guess where it comes from.

Here are the instructions:

#35. Group storytelling

Put your improvisation skills to the test. This icebreaker is inspired
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by my colleague Sabine, who decided that since our team-building
trip couldn’t happen this year, at least we’ll make up a cool story of
how it went.

She created a slideshow of random travel pictures, started a story,

and then called on one of our teammates to follow up on what she
had said, based on what picture was currently up.

We took turns in telling crazy things we did during our imaginary

trip and let me tell you, it was some ride!

Ready to break the ice at your

meetings?
We hope you’ll try one of these virtual icebreakers at your next
online meeting. Let Slido help you connect with your teammates,
wherever they are.

Try Slido for free

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