21Icebreakers &

Meeting Exercises

Working Well Solutions Ltd

Icebreakers
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.
Here are 21 icebreakers. Use them as
they stand or pick out some elements
to make your meetings go with a
swing.
Purpose
• 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.
Equality &
Diversity
Ability or disability
• mobility
• communications

Race, gender and age

• language
• Different cultures

Level of Understanding
• Reasoning
• Learning
Design your own
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.

Let’s Go
 Introductions
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?

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 Point: Easy to do, most
why? will have an opinion, no
threat to participants,
often funny answers
Large Audience
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. “Thank you, but the
Again, again, again….. applause was enough.”
Large Audience
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

10. Barking Mad

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.
Large Audience
11. Getting to Know You
Find ten things that you have in common
with one stranger in the group (body parts
not allowed.)

12. Lucky Penny

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
Short and Sweet
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
14. Ha Ha
Game
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!
Break Out Sessions
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.
No
18

“"Talent wins
games, but
teamwork and
intelligence win
championships." Michael Jordan

Discuss in Groups
Health
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
20. What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Health
and
Safety
21. What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Health
and
Safety
The Finale
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
 Jane Coombs

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