Make Virtual Meetings Fun! Five Great Ice-Breakers and Game Ideas.

The serious nature of COVID-19 has created a situation where most meetings are now done remotely rather than in person, with the use of virtual meeting apps like Zoom or Webex. Despite this, there are lots of opportunities to add a bit of fun and entertainment to meetings. We’ve created a list of great virtual meeting games and icebreakers to help your meetings start with energy and enthusiasm!

“Favorites”

We all have a favorite season, a favorite food, or even a favorite amusement park or ride. Let the creative juices flow with this fun game, where meeting attendees are asked every meeting to name one of their favorite… anything! You can ask everyone to name their favorite pet, their favorite Disney cartoon character, or favorite sitcom. These questions will lead to lots of fun discussions and the opportunity to better get to know people on the call, especially team-members who you work with day-in and day-out. It’s a great way to bond over the phone and learn more about everyone.

“Trivia”

Just because most people don’t regularly watch Jeopardy doesn’t mean they are not fans of trivia! Some of the most popular board games are trivia games and they a great way to incorporate some fun into your meeting and even learn a thing or two! You can have “themed trivia,” where questions and the trivia revolve around subjects relevant to your industry. For example, if you’re in the hospitality industry like we are, you can have a weekly trivia game where you ask questions and share facts about hotels, such as “Which hotel chain has the most hotels in California?” If you’re DMO, you can ask questions relevant to the city you’re promoting, such as “What is the longest street in Los Angeles County?” This game can be both fun and educational.

“Work-Family Feud”

Split your meeting participants into two teams or “work families” and have your own round of Family Feud! You can borrow questions from the Family Feud Answers archive online at http://familyfeudanswers.net/ and have an entertaining game with your team that revolves around any question. There’s a reason this game show has lasted for over four decades! It’s because it’s a lot of fun – and it can now be easily implemented into your meeting! You can even have a Fast Money round with quick questions and answers, with Monopoly money!

“Guess Who?”

We’re not modeling this one after the popular board game, but instead creating an opportunity to for meeting attendees to guess who another person is on the call, based on a fun fact! Each person has to write a fun fact and submit it to the meeting moderator before the meeting starts. The moderator will read each fun fact, and team members on the call have to guess who the person is that wrote the fun fact.

“Show and Tell”

Every meeting, for five minutes, someone can present a unique skill or craft they have to the rest of the team. For example, one team member may be skilled at creating custom jewelry and can present his or her creations and talk about their hobby to the rest of the team. Another person may collect model airplanes and talk about his or her love for aviation. This is a great opportunity to learn not only about fellow meeting attendees and team members but also about particular hobbies. This is great for team meetings.