8 Great Business Meeting Icebreakers

Icebreakers are a great way to bring people together for many different reasons including team building, getting to know each other, business meetings, and just breaking the ice. It has been shown that icebreaker activities before a business meeting or any type of gathering will help loosen everyone up and also make them feel more relaxed. In addition, employees will learn more about each other. Choosing the right icebreaker activities for your business meetings and events is important because it will help bring your employees and other employees together. Below is a list of some of the most popular business icebreakers around. Try using one or all of these at your next monthly meeting and you will notice a difference in the way your employees communicate and work together.

1. One Word Icebreaker

This one word icebreaker is a great activity for any business meeting, event, or training. You can easily incorporate this into your plan and it does not take a lot of planning at all. First, take the topic that you are talking about whether business, pricing, etc. and then divide the group into smaller groups of 4 or 5 people. Ask them each to think about one word that describes the topic you are talking about.

Example: one word about pricing or about business.

This will help to spark questions and conversations throughout each of the smaller conversations as everyone tries to learn and understand why people chose the words they did.

2. Worst Job Icebreaker

This is a great icebreaker for any business group or meeting because participants can connect to one another. Almost everyone has held a job in their life that they would deem the worst job ever.

To play this icebreaker, you will go around the room and ask participants to describe their worst job ever. Each person will explain what they consider their worst job and you will find that others agree or have held similar positions.

This is a great way to break the ice and also bring employees closer together as they learn about one another.

3. Meet Your Team Leader Icebreaker

This is a unique and also great icebreaker for any business meeting or event because it introduces you to your team leader or the person giving the instruction. This is a fun way for participants to get to know the person who will be teaching and informing them.

To play this icebreaker, the team leader or person in charge of doing the training or speech will need to write three statements on the board about activities such as:

“I learned to swim when I was 4”
“I have traveled to China” and
“I swam with dolphins in Australia”

Two of the statements need to be true and one false. Participants will then ask questions and the leader will answer them. The participants will then vote and try to guess which two statements are correct based on the answers given.

4. Getting to Know Each Other

This is a great icebreaker that is used in many different situations from business meeting to school and so on. This icebreaker allows you and someone else to get to know each other and then explain what you learned about the other person to the group.

To play this icebreaker, participants will be broken into groups of two. Once this is done each person will take about 2-3 minutes and ask questions of the other person such as, their favorite animal, favorite hobby, etc. After about 5 minutes, each person will let the group know about their new friend.

5. Shoe Icebreaker

This icebreaker is a little bit different and you may have not heard about it but it makes the list because it is a clever idea and also helps people to become less stressed.

To play participants will need to take off one shoe as they enter into the conference or meeting room. They will leave their shoe by the door. Once all of the participants have entered and left their shoes, the leader will pass out the shoes to each person in the room. The leader will then go around the room and each person will have to find the rightful owner to the mystery shoe they have. Once they find the owner, they will then introduce themselves to the person.

This icebreaker will help employees unwind and also have some fun.

6. Paper Airplane Icebreaker

This is another list maker because it allows employees to relax and also ease the stress that business brings on sometimes. This icebreaker will help employees get to know each other through a quick and simple game.

To play this icebreaker, each participant will write their name and then two things about them on a piece of paper. The information written on the paper should be something that no one knows about them. Once they have done this, they will then fold the paper into an airplane. All participants will throw the airplanes in the room.

To continue playing, each participant will then pick up an airplane that has landed near them and open it. They will read the information about the mystery employee and then find that person.

This is a great way for employees to get to know each other.

7. Nice Sayings Icebreaker

This is a good icebreaker for a group of employees who work together on a regular basis or know each other. If the employees do not know each other than this activity will not work out.

In this activity, participants are encouraged to say something nice about the person sitting to their left. The leader will go around the room and each person will say something about the person next to them in reference to their working abilities.

This is a great way to strengthen a team or even a group of employees who share the same work area.

8. Observation is Key

This is a unique and fun icebreaker that will help each person interact with someone new and also test out how observant each person is.

To play this icebreaker the leader will need to divide the group up into pairs of two. Once that is done, each participant will introduce themselves to their partner. You will instruct the two people to turn around and face back-to-back. The participants will then change 5 things about their appearance and turn back around. The other participant will then need to guess what was changed.

Your employees will be surprised at how observant they think they are but find that they are not. This is a great icebreaker because it offers a challenge to each individual.

(Participants can change things about their appearance such as: taking off a shoe, removing an earring, styling their hair different, etc.)

Final Thoughts on Business Icebreakers

Icebreakers are a great way to divide up any business meeting or training. They also allow for people to get to know each other even if it is something as simple as a name. Icebreakers are a great way to bring employees together and watch them connect on the same level whether they share the same qualities or personality traits. Each icebreaker is intended to help people loosen up as they may be nervous about an upcoming meeting or even worries about spending time with people they do not know very well.

As the leader of a group, you are responsible for making sure that your participants feel comfortable and they learn something while they are in the meeting. Completing icebreakers will create a memorable experience and your employees will take away more information than they would if there were no icebreakers.

To be able to successfully use icebreakers in your meeting you must always make sure that you have a general idea of your audience. This will help you prepare the best icebreakers for the group. Icebreaker one may not work for all groups but icebreaker 5 is a perfect one for any event. It is up to you to determine what icebreaker to use based on what you know about your employees.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the icebreakers need to be fun, engaging, and also light. If the icebreaker is too complicated or detailed then no one will enjoy it. The idea behind all of these is to get your team laughing and having a good time while still learning something new about each other.

You can incorporate other things into your icebreaker such as props or even offer a reward for the group that wins or does the best. This will promote more participation and also give your employees and incentive to play.

All of the icebreakers above are great for getting to know each other and will be a fun way for you to engage your business meeting and group. Remember to have fun with each icebreaker and make sure that your employees are also having fun. You will notice that your employees will work better together and also form friendships after the meeting.

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