10 Ice Breakers to Start a Virtual Training Session in 2022 and Beyond
Icebreakers are an important component of any training program because they encourage individuals to engage right away, get to know one another, and feel comfortable working with others. So, make sure you pick an online training platform that supports some form of icebreaker activitiy or sharing icebreaker questions. Here are some virtual training ice breakers to kickoff your virtual training sessions.
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Table Topics
Table topics are a collection of cards that can be bought online at sites like Amazon. Each card has a conversation-starting question on it, and each pack of cards has slightly over a hundred questions.
They're a great conversation starter or a debate about a particular issue since they allow participants to know one another genuinely. You may select questions related to the workshop's subject.
Instructions:
- On a discussion board, type some of the topics from the card and invite members to jot down their responses.
- Alternatively, divide the attendees into breakout rooms and provide one or two questions to each group so that each individual in the group can respond.
Here are some examples of questions:
- Is it possible to be perfect?
- Where would you like to travel the most, and why?
- Who do you think is the funniest person you know?
- Would you rather spend a week in the past or the future?
- What does the word "peace" signify to you?
- Who do you put your faith in, and why?
- What advice would you offer your 15-year-old self if you had the chance to travel back in time?
- In three words, how would you define your future?
- What does affluence mean to you, and why?
- What can you do now that you couldn't a year ago?
Online tools you can use:
- Breakout rooms
- Whiteboards
- Chats on the internet
'Three Words' Ice Breaker
This is a beautiful warm-up activity, and it may also be used to talk about how important it is to adjust to changing conditions and think on one's feet.
Instructions:
- Have participants agree on a topic at random. Food, pets, and sports are just a few examples.
- Explain that each participant will contribute three words to the tale (and only three words at a time) and that they will take turns.
- Instruct participants to speak the first three words that come to their minds. It makes no difference whether they make sense or not.
- Try to move swiftly from one person to the next.
Online tools you can use:
'Same and Different' Team-building Game
The goal is to get information about other individuals. As a result, this exercise may serve as a terrific icebreaker or a method for members of an existing team to get to know one another and communicate better.
Instructions:
- Divide your attendees into groups of three or more people and assign them to breakout rooms.
- Ask each group to create a list on a virtual whiteboard or visual sticky note of all the intriguing things they share (avoid obvious things like being all males or all females) as well as something distinctive to each member. They will only have 5 minutes to accomplish this task.
- Ask each group to discuss their list with the rest of the class through an online whiteboard after 5 minutes.
Online tools you can use:
'Two Truths and a Lie' Icebreaker
This is a tried-and-true icebreaker that can easily be altered for an online class.
Instructions:
- Ask one person to write three things about themselves, two of which should be true and one of which should be untrue.
- Ask the others to vote on which of the claims are true and which are untrue.
- After the first person has presented their assertion and the group has determined which is untrue, the first person will tell which claims were valid and false.
- Continue until everyone in the group has finished speaking.
- The winner is the person who correctly guesses the most lies. You may also perform it in a non-competitive mode to better get to know one another.
- Because this is intended to be a fun icebreaker, it is an excellent activity to conduct at the beginning of any training or teaching session.
Online tools you can use:
- Poll Everywhere
- Google Forms
- Survey Monkey
- Breakout rooms
Icebreaker: 'Storytelling' | Team-Building Activity
Because of the game's creative and cooperative character, it's a fantastic exercise to utilize as an icebreaker or a team-building activity. It may also be used in an innovative training session.
Instructions:
- Prepare some papers or boards with a set of four photos on each in advance of the training session (you may use MS-Word or construct panels using an image manipulation application).
- Divide the participants into four-person groups in breakout rooms on the training day, and give each group one of the photo files.
- Allow 10 minutes for each group to look at the photographs and construct a narrative that links the four images.
- At the end of the 10 minutes, invite each group to share their narrative on a virtual board and spend up to three minutes telling the story of their photos. Allow other groups to offer suggestions for how the story could have been developed and how the photos could have been used differently.
Online tools you can use:
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'Introducing Each Other' – Ice Breaker
This is an excellent exercise for people to get to know one another and feel comfortable in a new setting. This task can be completed before the session, on their schedule, or during the session.
Instructions:
- Participants should be paired in groups of two.
- Make a list of questions for them to ask each other.
- Request that each couple interview with one another, either through email or in a breakout area.
- When all of the participants are in the same virtual room, each of them will present the person they interviewed.
Online tools you can use:
'Big Lottery Win' Warm-up Activity
This game is an excellent warm-up for participants to get to know one another and think imaginatively. Depending on the number of attendees, participants might debate together or be divided into breakout rooms.
Instructions:
- Tell the participants that they should pretend they've just won the jackpot. They have earned a total of 25 million Euros, GBP, USD, or any other large sum in the currency of the nation they are visiting.
- Give them 5 minutes to write out everything they'd do with all the money. They can jot down as much stuff as they like as long as they do it in under 5 minutes.
- At the end of the 5 minutes, allow everyone to discuss and debate their list.
- You may then arrange the things on the lists into logical groupings if you like, which will organically grow based on: Material items, Family and friends, Luxury, and travel
- Other categories may arise as well.
- Allow the group 5 minutes to debate the list. This is a pretty common occurrence.
Online tools you can use:
'Hope and Fears' Icebreaker
This is a traditional icebreaker that may be used as a reflection tool or to gauge the participants' training expectations. With just a few adjustments, you can turn these sessions into virtual training ice breakers that put people on the hot seat!
Instructions:
- Have participants write down their greatest hope (for the session, the current year, or a specific project) and their biggest worry (for the session, the current year, or a particular project).
- In a face-to-face class, participants differentiate responses by writing each one on a different colored sticky note, for example. You'll have to come up with another technique to distinguish them online. You could, for example, use Padlet or Lino to make virtual sticky notes in a variety of colors.
- Read all of the hopes first, then the worries, and talk about it.
Online tools you can use:
'Childhood Dream' Icebreaker
This icebreaker may be used to start a conversation on how a person's priorities and goals vary throughout time.
Instructions:
- Have participants write out their lifelong dream and how it relates to their current goals on a virtual bulletin board.
- You can either have the entire class discuss this or have groups of participants debate it in breakout rooms.
- Conclude with a summary of all participants' contributions and a whole-class discussion.
Online tools you can use:
'Take a Picture of Something' Class Activity
Fun virtual training ice breakers that exercise the use of graphics and images to help people get to know one another.
Instructions:
- Instruct participants to photograph something.
- In most cases, you select a specific theme. For example, ask the participants to photograph their shoes, anything on their workstation, or the scene from their window.
- Remember to remind participants to snap the photo and upload this before the training session begins since doing it in real-time may take too much time away from the training session.
- Ask participants to post their photos on a virtual bulletin board.
- Initiate a debate. You might for example ask why they picked that specific item on their desk or what they enjoy most about the view from their window.
Online tools you can use:
Need some more icebreaker inspiration? Check out our AI-powered icebreaker question generator for a list of tailored icebreaker questions perfect for your upcoming event.
There are a lot of different virtual training ice breakers to try when you are training new employees entering your company for the first time. All can be tried using Remo! Learn how you can leverage a virtual events platform to benefit the company's virtual training and onboarding processes!
Hoyin Cheung
Hoyin Cheung is the Founder & CEO of Remo, where he focuses on enhancing the authenticity of connections at virtual events. With a wealth of experience in event planning, he translates his insights into compelling content aimed at improving virtual interactions. His mission is to empower event professionals with practical tips to foster genuine connections in every virtual gathering.
