Fun Icebreaker Prompts For Video Chats

Ever led a meeting that felt like a freeze-dried snooze fest? ❄️💤 I used to think icebreakers were cheesy. Now I am a fan. Here's the deal: Teams that start with icebreakers see a 15-20% boost in performance. Why? They build trust faster. But we're not talking "If you were a vegetable what would you be?" here. Let's get clever. 1. Reverse Intros: Present your neighbor, not yourself. Suddenly, everyone's all ears. 2. Desert Island Tech: What 3 gadgets would you bring? Reveals priorities (and who's addicted to their smartwatch). 3. Five-Word Career Story: Sum up your journey succinctly. Mine? "Curious kid. Still asking why." 4. Skill Swap: Trade expertise with a teammate for a day. What would you learn? What would you teach? 5. Hidden Tech Heroes: Share an unsung innovator you admire. Spotlight the shadows of Silicon Valley. 6. Virtual Office Tour: Show one item that defines your workspace. That rubber duck? It's not just for bathtime. 7. 60-Second Solution Sprint: Pitch fixes for minor office annoyances. Coffee machine woes, begone! 8. Emoji Roadmap: Plot your next project using only emojis. 🔍💡🛠️🚀 (Decode that, team) 9. Tech Trend Time Machine: Predict an innovation 10 years out. Bonus points for boldness (and humor). 10. Tech Haiku Challenge: Describe your role in 5-7-5 syllables. "Bugs drive me crazy / Coffee fuels my keystrokes / Code, test, ship, repeat" These aren't just warm-ups. They're catalysts for creativity, trust-builders, and secret weapons for turning strangers into collaborators. Next meeting, ditch the small talk. Get connected. What's your go-to icebreaker for tech teams? Share below! 👇

Fostering respect, love and appreciation for each other is a key part of our focus for our executive team. Work is hard in the best of circumstances, and we refuse to pay an extra tax of negative energy. Time is never our team’s most important commodity; emotional energy is far more important. Executive teams that have to walk on eggshells, don’t respect each other and don’t believe that they are running at the same shared goals and vision will never win across a long-time horizon. Of course, it starts with a super-rigorous screening process to make sure there is cultural and energetic alignment before bringing in someone new to the team. But once you have those ingredients, it still takes a lot of effort to maintain and increase the goodwill that greases the wheels of high-performance. We do a lot of things to foster respect and love at work. One of my favorites is very simple. Our COO, Sam Zimmerman starts off every EOS L10 meeting with an icebreaker. These are often very simple, but the surprising things you learn are never what you expect, and it builds the habit of remembering that everyone is on a journey with surprising twists to it. Here are some of our recent prompts, try them out! What is the best advice you have received and how did you receive it? What is a time you did something that was against your own self-interest? What is your favorite movie and why? What is your favorite book and why? What mentor do you feel most appreciative of and why? What view have you changed most over the past year? What was your first job? What thing do you believe that you think no one else on the executive team does? What is the best event you’ve been to and what made it so great? What two things do you like about yourself? What is one thing you would like to change? What is the kindest thing someone has done for you? Do you have any mentees? Who on our team were you most recently impressed with and why? What is one thing you would like to never have to do again? What is one flex thing you’ve never shared with the team? Do you have any great prompts that have worked for you?

Please stop with the BORING zoom meetings! For anyone who hosts virtual meetings, please add one little thing. At the beginning of a meeting with a group of 4 or more, ask an icebreaker question in the chat to get the good vibes going. This can replace small talk and can serve as a knife to cut any tension. Use this if you usually have meeting participants slowly trickle in for the first few minutes, or if you're waiting for one particular attendee. Icebreaker questions in the meeting chat can be especially useful to get creative juices flowing and get people feeling comfortable speaking up if you're hosting a brainstorming session. Here are a few questions you can steal: --> If you could time travel, would you prefer to go forward or backward? --> What's a great book you've read recently? --> What city would you love to travel to next? --> What would be your strategy in a zombie apocalypse? --> What was the first concert you saw live? --> Which famous person would you invite to dinner? --> Favorite quote? --> Favorite food to eat? Asking icebreaker questions like these is exactly what Ryan K. and I did in my podcast this week. I really like his management style and I took a page out of his book and brought some fun into my workday :) Life is short. Office life can be dry. Introduce some fun. Let's give it a shot. Find a question in the comments below that makes you smile and leave a reply (or comment your own question that people can answer!)

After the usual Pride sprint of 20-plus workshops and speaking gigs, I realize I to created a bunch of new ice breaker questions, including: - What’s a memorable smell from your childhood? - What news story can you not turn away from? - What is the smallest victory you’ve celebrated recently? - What is the most boring, grownup thing that brings you joy or comfort? - What tv show or other entertainment are you binging right now? These have all brought fun, meaningful responses from the group that I am able to refer back to throughout the session. They have also opened up points of commonality AND difference within teams that they have used to deepen connection and curiosity. Facilitators, what are your favorite ways to informally welcome learners into a session— getting them used to jumping in the chat, coming off mute, or otherwise bringing them fully into the room while others trickle in?