The pandemic made virtual meetings mainstream. Whether you are a managing a remote team due to pandemic or you have been managing remote team for years. Virtual ice breakers are invaluable tool for virtual meetings. Good icebreaker questions can complement to virtual team building exercises.
What are virtual icebreaker questions?
Virtual meetings on platforms like zoom and Microsoft Teams have become a part of every organization. Virtual icebreakers questions are team-building exercises conducted during remote meetings. The questions help team members feel connected and learn more about their colleagues on a personal level. These exercises are useful if your team works from remote locations. These icebreaker questions can come in handy if you conduct your virtual parties for your team.
Importance of virtual icebreaker questions
Companies can benefit from simple icebreaker questions and activities. The team-building activity can help whether you have a new team, new team member, or
Team building – Building a team or community takes time. Icebreaker questions allow team members to learn more about one another. Coworkers who find common ground are likely to be more aligned and supportive.
Interaction – Coworkers need to interact to build a team. Virtual icebreaker questions can break the ice and help them interact with one another. Icebreakers help people step out of their comfort zone and prevent an oppressive and uncooperative work environment.
Empathy – Empathy gives you the ability to understand and share someone else’s perspective or view. It is vital to foster the feeling of empathy to build your team. Icebreaker questions in virtual meetings help colleagues to discover and understand your coworker’s point of view. Teams cannot function effectively without empathy.
Ten virtual icebreaker questions for remote meetings
We have tabulated a list of ice breaker questions for virtual meetings you can use during zoom meetings or around the virtual watercooler. We have categorized the questions for your convenience.
Simple virtual icebreaker questions
- What did you have for breakfast?
- Where did you grow up?
- Are you night owl or morning person?
Medium Virtual icebreaker questions
- Would you prefer to work from a mountain cabin or beach shack?
- What do you like about remote work?
- What is the last book your read?
Hard Virtual breaker questions
- Do you have a remote work productivity hack you would like to share?
- Who is the last person you spoke to in real life?
- What is your most popular social media post?
Creative icebreaker questions
- Do you like a square or triangle pizza?
- If you could choose a superpower, what would you choose?
- What is your favorite Disney hero or heroine?
Funny icebreaker questions
- Do you talk to your pets as if they are people?
- Do you believe in aliens?
- What song describes your life right now?
Tips for virtual icebreaker questions
Keep things short – You should ask ice breaker questions for virtual meetings at the beginning of the meetings or the end. The ice breaker session should be short, typically fifteen minutes. The session should make your team feel energized or relaxed after a long workday. It should not extend your team’s workday.
Keep it simple – Virtual team building questions should be simple, you should not have to clarify something or give further instructions. The questions should help your team relax and improve corporation and communication. Intricate questions may make the activity feel like a chore.
Use the technology available – You can use fun, creative ways to display your questions or add elements like music. Video conferencing tools have fun filters you can use. People can break up everyone up into smaller groups and use Zoom breakout session rooms or use virtual watercoolers.
Don’t limit your team to ice breaker activities over zoom – Your team may be tired of using video conferencing apps. You can explore other virtual avenues. You can use technology like virtual watercoolers to ask icebreaker questions. Virtual watercoolers are an online equivalent to watercooler conversation. People in the office have casual conversations near the water cooler or coffee-break rooms. Virtual watercoolers are an internal social network where colleagues can interact and brainstorm.
You can ask your team members for their favorite song and curate playlist. You can use collaborative documents like Google Docs where people can correspond ask and answer ice breaker questions.
Look for opportunities to use virtual ice-breaking questions – Planning a virtual team-building exercise is a great idea. You can use virtual icebreaker questions to pass the time or relax. You can ask virtual ice-breaking questions while waiting for others to join the meeting or if the meeting ends early.
How to run successful zoom icebreaker questions
Running icebreaking questions on virtual meeting platforms like zoom can be difficult because of the lack of virtual clues. In the meeting room, most people sit around a table, the placement on the screen is more random.
The host of the zoom meeting can volunteer to start first followed by the next person on the deck or you can use the randomizer wheel. Some of the best practices are:-
- Volunteer to start the icebreaker questions.
- Start with easy questions so that people get comfortable.
- Split the group into smaller groups.
- Use virtual team-building questions in every meeting.