21Icebreakers &

Meeting Exercises

Working Well Solutions Ltd

Have you ever been invited to a conference or

meeting and cringed as the leader brings out the big

ball and asks you stand in a circle or, even worse,

brings out the coloured paper and scissors? No?

Well you are lucky.

Icebreakers can be brilliant. But if mishandled or

applied at the wrong time to the wrong group cause

a disaster and alienate the audience before you

start on the day’s agenda.

I have been to good and bad meetings and the

icebreaker or the first exercise often sets the tone

for the whole day.

Icebreakers

Here are 21 icebreakers. Use them as

they stand or pick out some elements

to make your meetings go with a

swing.

• Help relax team members

making them ready to

listening and contribute

• Create a “team atmosphere”

• Motivate attendees to work

in a cooperative manner

• The most popular and

effective are those that

promote interaction, sharing,

and team building.

Purpose

Ability or disability

• mobility

• communications

Race, gender and age

• language

• Different cultures

Level of Understanding

• Reasoning

• Learning

Equality &

Diversity

1. Have a clear purpose

2. Simplicity is important. Explain and present easily

3. Time your ice breakers and exercises for the best effect

4. Make it humorous…nothing sets the tone better than laughter

6. Practice until it’s perfect

7. Link it to a point in your presentation.

Design your own

Let’s Go

1. True or False

Have participants say three things

about themselves - two true and one

false.

Other participants guess what the lie

is.

The correct guesser goes next.

Point: Everyone enjoys the lie! Can be

fun

Introductions

Choices 2. If you could be in the movie of your choice,

what movie would you choose and what

character would you play?

Introductions

3. If you could choose your age forever, what

age would you choose and why?

4. If you woke up tomorrow as an animal,

what animal would you choose to be and

why?

Point: Easy to do, most

will have an opinion, no

threat to participants,

often funny answers

5. Exercise

Ask audience to stand and say:

Stretch one arm forward. Relax. Stretch the

other arm forward. Relax. Now, bring both

arms forward and parallel; and bring hands

together quickly. Again, again, faster.

The sound of applause is created, and say,

“Thank you, but the applause isn’t necessary

yet.”

Then resume the stretching. Try reaching

upward with one arm. Relax. Now the other.

Relax. Now both. Reach to the sky. Now, bring

your arms down, bend at the waste, arms out.

Again, again, again…..

Large Audience

“Thank you, but the

applause was enough.”

6. The Wave

Let’s get rid of any tension in the room.

On the count of three I want the people

in the front to raise their arms straight

up and with a throwing action, pass all

of their tension in a wave to the row

behind.

The second row does the same thing

and passes it to the third row. We

continue the wave to the last row who

hurls the collective tension, stress, or

anxiety right out the door.

Let’s hope nobody’s walking by when

the wave washes out into the hallway!

Large Audience

7. Communications

Each participant has a sheet of identical plain

paper. Explain everyone follow instructions

precisely, no questions and eyes closed

The instructions:

1. Fold the paper in half

2. Rip off a corner

3. Fold in half again

4. Rip off a corner

5. Fold again

6. Rip off a corner.

Now open your eyes and compare each design

with others or find a similar design in the group

Point: One-way communication is never

as effective as two-way; it gives

different results.

Large Audience

8. Perception

Instruct your audience to count the number of “F’s” in a sentence.

Place this sentence on the board or screen:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC

STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Allow 15 seconds.

On average, most people will only spot 3 or 4 of the F’s in the

sentence. There are actually six. The brain tends to skip the word

“of,” or perceive it as “versus.”

Point: One’s perception may not always be correct.

Large Audience

9. Order Please

Ask all the members of the group to place

themselves in line in alphabetical order.

A variation on this is the order of the date

(month and day only) when their birthday

occurs

Large Audience

Give each participant a secret card with the

name of an animal on it that makes a

distinctive noise eg quack, woof, baa.

Ask the members to go and find the other

animals of the group but they are not

allowed to talk – only make the noise of

their animal.

10. Barking Mad

11. Getting to Know You

Find ten things that you have in common

with one stranger in the group (body parts

not allowed.)

Large Audience

Each person (in couples or threes)

takes a penny or other coin out of their

pocket and looks at the date.

On their turn they recall something

spectacular that happened that year

either to themselves or in the world

and tell the others in the group about it

12. Lucky Penny

13. Name Game

Participants introduce themselves

positively with two adjectives

beginning with the same letter as the

initial of their first name.

For example, Motivating, Moneybags

Malcolm

Short and Sweet

Well folks, lets start with everyone saying

the word, “Ha.” Now say it a little louder.

Say it again, again, again. Now, that’s what

I call a cheap laugh!

14. Ha Ha

Game

15. One word

Ask a newly formed group to share with their

group the one word that describes X (for

example, culture, leadership, health, safety,

sales)

Point: A way of introducing the topic of the

meeting or training class and giving an

understanding of current thinking of the

group about the subject

Break Out Sessions

16. Sales

Participants are asked to select an object that they

have on their persons.

In a small group, everyone is asked to introduce

themselves and sell the object to the group.

In a large group, individuals are paired and try to sell

the object to one another, or “volunteers” are

brought to the front to sell the object to the

audience. Some of the people will be enthusiastic

and creative, others might be reluctant and shy.

Point: How a person approaches a topic often

determines how the topic is perceived.

Break out Sessions

17. Desert Island

You are marooned on a island. What five

(you can use a different number, such as

seven, depending upon the size of each

team) items would you take with you

Choose five items per team, not per person.

Write the items on a flip chart and discuss

and defend your choices with the larger

group after.

Point: Gives insight into other's

values and problem solving styles

and promotes teamwork.

Break out Sessions

“"Talent wins

games, but

teamwork and

intelligence win

championships." Michael Jordan

Discuss in Groups

No

18

19. Breathing

Give each participant a straw and

instruct them to climb a flight of

stairs whilst only being allowed to

breathe through the straw.

How difficult is this?

Point: Demonstrates the effect on

the lungs due to smoking or work

related asthma or lung cancer

Health

20. What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Health

and

Safety

21. What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Health

and

Safety

Should be

• An activity where the leader can

be seen by everyone in

attendance.

• Sends participants away with

critical information or reminders

of upcoming activities.

• Allows the leader to express

appreciation to participants and

others

• End on a Positive Note

The Finale

Jane Coombs

Follow me on Twitter - @WWSOccHealth

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