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Ice Breaker Activities for Meetings

Meetings, especially long ones, can sap the energy of its participants, driving creativity and productivity right out the window. To avoid a nonproductive meeting, facilitators need to employ ice breakers. Ice breakers are activities designed for people to get to know each other and to get rid of inhibitions that become barriers to communication. Ice breakers will also energize any meeting.

Six Degrees of Separation
- Six Degrees of Separation is one of the ice breakers from the free e-book "Creative Icebreakers, Introductions, and Hellos, for Teachers, Trainers, and Facilitators" by Business Training Works. This exercise aims to properly introduce the participants to each other by focusing on commonalities. The facilitator gives each member a pen and a piece of paper. She will then divide the group into pairs. The participants then create a list of five to 10 details that they have in common with their partners. After completing their list, the partners split up and look for people look who have also finished and pair up with them. The goal is to find as many people as you can with whom you have something in common. The facilitator should allot 20 minutes for the entire activity. After the time is up, the person with the most people on his list wins. This ice breaker helps in forging a feeling of sameness among the participants and is particularly effective when participants come from different areas or backgrounds.
Give It A Chance
- Charlie Hawkins, the author of ̶0;First Aid for Meetings,̶1; suggests the following activity. Facilitators should bring soft toys to the meeting. When somebody makes a suggestion and someone else shoots it down, everyone can opt to throw a teddy bear or a plush ball on the quasher while shouting, ̶0;Give it a chance.̶1; This activity offers people a format in which to express their opinions. Furthermore, it not only provides an extra-dimension of fun to the meeting, but it also enforces open mindedness amongst the participants.
The Business Genie
- The facilitator of the meeting will need a prop bottle for this ice breaker. He will then pass the bottle around and ask the participants to imagine that there is a genie in the bottle. The catch is that the genie can only grant three wishes, each focusing on specific areas of a participant's company, like the boss, co-workers or work environment. Each participant will narrate her wishes and how it will change the business. This particular activity should be fruitful in that it can help reveal what each member really thinks should change for real developments to happen in the office.

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