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I've been nominated by my boss to do the icebreaker at our area meeting tomorrow and am at a loss as what to do. I hate these things and it's always the same crappy ideas that come up when you Google search.
Any suggestions? We're all GMs for a chain of French restaurants if that helps and it needs to be something fun because I imagine it may be the highlight of the meeting!
Elephant impression.
Unless it's very cold.
Shots.
We’re all GMs for a chain of French restaurants
Shrugging competition?
What did you learn this week - start it with something light hearted
Do some research, you might have kids the same age and doing exams, stuff like that. But, be warned, nothing worse thank ****y-really-not-funny conversation starters. Be natural if at all poss.
get a set of oversized playing cards and do 'play your cards right' higher lower nothing for a pair...
We did "what would you write your PhD on?" at a meeting once, actually learned loads about people I knew comparatively well.
“what would you write your PhD on?”
paper?
Last time I posted a Modern Toss it got removed cos of swears! (probably the same one)
Funny though 😀 - as was martinhutch's gif
3 things about yourself one of which is false.
Did this at the start of a safeguarding course, broke the ice nicely. The instructor then pointed out that we'd all given him info that an abuser could use as a way of starting to groom us.
Ice froze over a bit at that point, but an effective means of making us think.
Everyone gets one piece of a jigsaw - you have to work together to find who has pieces that match your one to complete the picture.
paper?
There you go, that tells me:
a) you have a shit sense of humour and
b) you're old, because you didn't default to "a computer"
To get them talking, rather than ask them to introduce themselves say that have to intro the person to their left. it forces conversation without being the usual "tell us something interesting about yourselves" stuff.
Show them pictures of your last holiday.
Seriously....
That happened to me once, entered a meeting to be welcomed by another DeptHead who started showing us his holiday pics.
We soon put a stop to that and chatted away about work very quickly indeed.
There you go, that tells me:
a) you have a shit sense of humour and
b) you’re old, because you didn’t default to “a computer”
a.) Famed for it. Ask anyone on here
b.) ...which, in a dramatic twist of irony, i wrote and posted on a computer.
Have a CD of your favourite band on loud as everyone walks in the room,
when it’s start time, turn it off and muse “ so what do you think of that music ?”
and before they answer ,
” **** it, I like them, right on with the day “
straight into the agenda
........ if nothing else they’ll be grateful they don’t have to take part in some ice breaking shit
There are simply too many good suggestions in that film...even not including the vast amounts of C&H
Fancy dress?
Can’t believe no one here has suggested keys in a bowl.
Bare knuckle boxing.
b) you’re old, because you didn’t default to “a computer”
Get with it grandad. iPad.
A local surgeon accidentally projected some quite specialist grot instead of his powerpoint presentation a few years ago, it certainly got the room talking.
Two truhs and a lie can be fun if people get into the spirit of it.
Can’t believe no one here has suggested keys in a bowl.
So how are the editorial meetings over there?
Powerpoint Karaoke was probably the most entertaining one I've ever done. Basically prepare some random slides (with some potential for collective hilarity, of course, 2 per attendee). Each attendee then has 4 minutes where they have to ad lib (they don't get any prep time, and don't see the slides first) the presentation that goes with their 2 slides with you flipping over to the next slide at the 2 minute interval.
Other participants score them for content and timeliness the winner gets some tacky gift.
I think I had "What was the last album you bought?" on a course once. Good cos it gets people going 'oh it was the best of the 80s off Amazon' and you know they're not worth talking to 😀
Definitely something for me to look at orangespyderman, thanks.
We all know each other as we've been working with each other quite a while and have an area meeting at least every couple of months followed by beers so all of the getting to know each other stuff has been done to death.
We've definitely done the truth & lie thing more than once so I don't think any of us have anything interesting still to reveal!
a.) Famed for it. Ask anyone on here
b.) …which, in a dramatic twist of irony, i wrote and posted on a computer
Oh I know, was only kidding!
so all of the getting to know each other stuff has been done to death.
We’ve definitely done the truth & lie thing more than once so I don’t think any of us have anything interesting still to reveal!
Then no ice breaker is needed, take the 15 minutes back. Done.
So how are the editorial meetings over there?
- you’ve seen our spine lines? You haven’t seen the ones we can’t print 🙂
Nudity.
It certainly breaks down barriers...
Photo opportunity!
Buy some small Lego kits and break the attendees up into teams. See which team builds the kit the fastest. Only takes a few mins and everyone likes Lego.
I was literally just about to suggest "big box of Lego," that's an even better idea.
How many people? Some ideas are fine for ~5 but tougher if there's 30.
Quick jigsaws can be a good option.
What super power would you like to have?
Get all the morning papers, and some scissors. Everyone has to find a headline, and a photo to go with it. 5 mins, and then a reveal of the photo with the headline.not necessarily the right one factually. Several times we've had pmsl quality combinations.
How many people, BTW?
What's the purpose of the meeting? Often helps with icebreaker activities.
If you already know each other and it's some shitty meeting you have to plod along to then how about "we can have an icebreaker or finish 15 mins early. Which is it?"
If there is no purpose to the meeting then don't go. If the outcome is already defined then don't go and just ask for the speakers notes.
"Meetings - the alternative to work."
I once got a load of famous quotes, political, sports and such and then their 'owners' and got two 'teams' to match them up.
Buy some small Lego kits and break the attendees up into teams. See which team builds the kit the fastest. Only takes a few mins and everyone likes Lego.
A colleague runs a part time business as corporate Lego team building and problem solving. That icebreaker would cost £500+vat...
There's about 12 of us, my boss has been pretty useless and still hasn't sent out the agenda, skipping the icebreaker not an option as she sees it as a necessity. Attendance isn't optional unfortunately.
The last meeting we had she was soul crushingly negative all the way through, made us all feel useless, then we went for beers and she got so smashed we had to take her to the hotel she was adamant she had a booking for. Luckily they had a spare room as they'd never heard of her.
Another good one jonv, I like that.
How about a bored game
Give everyone a piece of paper with an animal written on it. They don’t show the paper to anyone else. They then need to arrange themselves in order of size using only the sound that the animal would make. Simple, inoffensive and can be fun.
I'd like to take credit but Danny Baker / Kelly invented it. Like them, you can add speech bubbles and other accoutrements to the pictures to finish them off. "We fear change" was a recurrent theme
Shots.
Can’t believe no one here has suggested keys in a bowl.
Russian roulette - winner gets everyone cars
If a meeting needs an ‘ice breaker’ then surly something is wrong within the organisation?
Game of "who would you fire?" Or "I hate you because?", "How the **** has my life come to this" or "why does a little piece of me die every day"
Famous person, fictional or real, alive or dead. Their name on a post it. Post it on forehead. That person can only ask yes no questions of the group to establish who they are.
Get themselves into birthday / company start date / north-south geographic location order without talking.
If you don't like working there you could always play truth or dare?
Famous person, fictional or real, alive or dead. Their name on a post it. Post it on forehead.......
then you all have to tell them whether its someone you would shag, marry or avoid.
If a meeting needs an ‘ice breaker’ then surly something is wrong within the organisation?
I disagree. My manager and my peers are a good bunch of people, and the organisation is efficient. The icebreaker is just a 15 minutes "quarantine" from daily business and is useful though we all know each other well and function well as a team. We don't do it for meetings, but we do do it for extended offsites (whether physical attendance or Skype)
I actually pity anyone in an organisation where spending 15 minutes on something a little bit social, a little bit different to daily business is perceived as being something inherently wrong with the organisation.
Would you ever describe your job as fun?
Breakdancing competition. Big bit of Lino and a ghetto blaster and away you go.
Mime off. Who can do the best trapped in an invisible box or pulling on nonexistent rope.
Ask people to share their worst ever sexual encounter.
Nobody wants to do this crap, just get on with the meeting.
I generally walk out of this sort of thing but I am a miserable ****.
If the meeting includes a number of men who are 45+ then ask them the single most inflammatory qutesion that you can ask when older men are gathered together.
"Without resorting to Google, name the actors who played The Magnificent Seven"
Most will get 4, some will get 5.
There'll be heated debate about Lee Marvin.
One smart arse will pull Horst Buchholz out of the bag.
No one will get Brad Dexter.
I've started several punch-ups in pubs by throwing in this particular verbal grenade.
Nobody wants to do this crap, just get on with the meeting.
+1 Also, if the meeting needs scheduled coffee breaks then it has gone on too long and is a waste of time.
Nobody wants to do this crap, just get on with the meeting.
+1 Also, if the meeting needs scheduled coffee breaks then it has gone on too long and is a waste of time.
+2, its not 1998 anymore.
Honestly,
Any meeting where there is an icebreaker timetabled is a meeting I won't be going too.
Just have a solid agenda with measurable outcomes and get on with it.
+1 Also, if the meeting needs scheduled coffee breaks then it has gone on too long and is a waste of time.
Just have a solid agenda with measurable outcomes and get on with it.
If you have 6 hours of meeting you'll be glad of some breaks, and the facilitator will probably be glad of an ice-breaker to get you away from whatever was in your mind when you set off for work.
Not all subjects can be "sorted out" in 30 minutes, and many can't be sorted out in 8, 9 or 10 30 minute meetings. Sometimes you just have to sit people in a room for long enough to get an outcome, and if the subject is challenging, contentious or complicated (or all 3) that can take some time. Some of the most solid agendas and measurable outcomes I've ever seen have been in 4+ hour sessions.
Some meetings are a waste of time, but thinking everything can be sorted out over the phone or in an hour or two at most is naïve, in my opinion. You'd be an idiot if you spent 4 hours deciding which pasty you want in Greggs, and how much you think it is worth, but you'd be a bigger idiot to agree a price and house purchase in 30 seconds, so why is the idea that some topics take time so strange to you?
Any meeting that take more than an hour is wasting time. Icebreakers? Utter piffle and exactly the sort of reason why meetings last more than an hour
Yes, dead right TJ.
The meeting I was in that negotiated a massive purchase of another company, discussing everything from the process of measuring value of current inventory to transitioning of working rights and practices - could have been wrapped in under an hour.
You do talk absolute bollox sometimes.
Yeah. But did you have an icebreaker...
No because it would have made the meeting go over the hour, and upset TJ.
If you have to the news paper one sounds about right..can't believe no ones mentioned taking the drunk boss back to a hotel.
“facilitator”
Yeah, get in the sea.
Naked Twister.
Ended up with images from movies in a slideshow then in 2 teams everybody had to come up with the funniest dialogue (but making it relevent to our company) and perform against each other.
Everybody had good fun and plenty of laughter before the next 5 hours of facts & figures.
I took donuts as well. That definitely helped.
Inspired by this:
I was literally just about to suggest “big box of Lego,” that’s an even better idea.
Indoor Firewalking.
10 metres of barefoot walking over Lego.
Should be enough swearing to break the ice.
Ask people to share their worst ever sexual encounter.
A corporate orgy?