The worst part of most introductory meetings is when you go around in a circle, say your name and job title and answer something mundane about yourself. We call these icebreaker questions because the atmosphere in the room is frozen over. Instead of icebreakers, you should play a game. When facilitating, ask individuals questions and make sure everyone has a chance to share. Here’s an example of a game for a company-wide meeting with people from different places.
Today, we’re going to start this meeting with a game. We must break the ice because we don’t know each other well.
Round 1: For each question, get into a group with people who have the same answer:
- Where do you currently work?
- What is your job title?
- What’s your favorite time of the workday besides lunch? First thing in the morning? Late morning? Early Afternoon, Late Afternoon?
Round 2: Now, we have numbers from 1-10 on the wall. It’s a scale with one as the lowest and ten as the highest. As you’ll notice, there isn’t a number seven, so that answer isn’t allowed. Please stand by your answer to these questions:
- How would you rate the current company culture?
- How would you rate our company’s relationship with clients?
- How would you rate our improvement from this year to last year?
- How would you rate how easy it is to explain what the company does to strangers?
Round 3: Write down your answer on the notecards provided and then get into groups with people who have the same answers:
- What is the biggest challenge our company faces?
- What is the thing that our company does best?
- What company outside of our own do you admire the most?
- What are you most excited about with our company in the next few years?
Before you sit down, say hi to a couple of people you haven’t talked to yet. Maybe offer them some Icebreaker gum or Icebreaker mints.