Icebreakers for Meetings 
These icebreakers are adapted from information originally published in 5 Cool Ideas for Better Working, Living & Feeling by Michael Angelo Caruso. Visit www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com to learn more about the 5 Cool Ideas book series.
Icebreakers at Meetings
Physically, it can be easy to bring people together, but arranging an intellectual interface can be challenging. Here are 5 Cool Ideas to help people interact during meetings.
1. The “Paper Tear Game” opens perspectives.
This simple activity helps participants understand that even the simplest task is open to interpretation. Managers can use this exercise to effectively defend themselves when subordinates claim “Your directions weren’t clear.” The Paper Tear exercise teaches people to think for themselves and to ask clarifying questions. Group size: 2 to 200 people. Props: an identical piece of paper for all participants. Time: 5 minutes.
Give each participant a half piece of 8.5 x 11 paper. Have them sit in chairs with their feet flat on the floor and their shoulders square. Have them close their eyes.
Ask them to fold the piece of paper in half. Ask them to tear off the upper right corner.
Have them fold the piece of paper in half again. Ask them to tear off the upper right corner again.
And one more time, ask them to fold the paper in half And tear off the upper right corner one last time.
Ask the group to open their eyes and show everyone their original work of art.
[Note: Each paper will be different because the individuals chose to:
- fold the paper in different ways
- tear off different corners (his or her interpretation of "upper right corner")
- different size tears]
Take advantage of the audience reaction by feigning your own surprise. “I gave each of you the exact same directions, yet look how different the papers are! You didn’t listen to me! Y’all aren’t very bright!”
The participants will defend their creative decisions by saying your directions weren’t specific and that they
weren’t allowed to ask clarifying questions. Of course, they were allowed to ask questions, but they chose not to, just like some of them do in real life.
When it comes to customer service and working with people, it’s always better to ask questions and maintain open dialogue. If a person has to make an “original” decision, he or she should own that decision and not blame someone else for a lack of information.
2. A “Round Robin” helps people loosen up and learn to like each other.
The Round Robin is an excellent way to get people to loosen up and enjoy a meeting. The facilitator gives participants five minutes to find something they like about two people in the room. After five minutes, the participants return to their seats.
The facilitator begins the Round Robin by asking one of the attendees to introduce another participant and say something positive. Then the person introduced does the same for another person and so on. After a few minutes, you’ll notice any tension from the group melt as the participants begin to appreciate each other more.
Group size: 10 to 25 people. Props: none. Time: 10 minutes.
This exercise works best with people who don’t know each other well. Explain to the assembled group that you want each of them to circulate around the room and meet two people. The assignment is to “find two things that you like about each person you meet.” Announce that they have five minutes, clap your hands loudly and yell, “Go!”
The group will be reluctant at first, but soon the room will be alive with chatter and laughter. Yell “Two-and-a-half minutes!” at the halfway mark and encourage everyone to find their second partner. Walk quickly around the room to set the tone for this brisk exercise.
At the five minute mark, have everyone take their seats. Ask each person who they met and what they like about him or her. Remind the group that everyone is special so all comments must be original and unique. You may begin to hear similar comments like “He seems nice.” Again, remind the group that they must substitute the word “nice” because it’s already been used. This will force people to be a little more vivid with their compliments.
Note: These public compliments will be bonding glue for the group and establish a remarkably strong sense of goodwill.
3. “Don’t Drop the Customer” builds teams.
This game is excellent for teaching groups the value of teamwork. It also reinforces positive behavior, encourages communication and rewards people for efficiently solving problems, especially in a customer service context. This is a fairly involved exercise that you should practice before rolling it out to your team. Group size: 15 to 40 people. Props: an empty water bottle, a table cloth and a mint. Time: 15 minutes.
Have everyone stand in a large circle with a diameter of about 30 feet. Pace inside the circle and carry an empty 2-liter plastic bottle of water. Assume the role of a Management as you announce, “This game is called ‘Don’t Drop the Customer.’ The number one rule in this game is to not drop the customer. What is Rule Number One?”
Note: Repetition is important because people it forces people to focus on the primary objective and sets the tone for active participation.
Announce the following:
“Rule Number Two of the ‘Don’t Drop the Customer’ game is that everyone on the team must touch the customer. Each of you will receive the customer from one team member. You will touch the customer and then you will send the customer to another team member. The person who sends you the customer is your in-box. The person you give the customer to is your out-box. Your in-box and out-box will never change.”
“Rule Number Three: Your in-box and out-box cannot be next to you.”
Note: Your goal is to establish the customer service procedures so the group can execute the procedure. With each iteration, you will add new dimensions like quality standards and time. Your objective is to get the process started so the team must execute, think, adapt and reward their leaders in real time.
Announce the group that the company is just about ready for its Grand Opening and that customers are on their way. Review the rules quickly. Make sure they understand the three rules but don’t give the group time to ask other questions.
Iteration #1:
Yell, “Ready? We’re open for business!” Quickly toss the empty 2-liter plastic bottle of water and toss it to
a team member. Begin yelling the rules of the game as you quickly pace inside the circle in your role like Drill
Instructor. “Do not drop the customer. Your out-box cannot be next to you. Everyone must touch the customer. Remember who your out-box is. Your out-box never changes.”
Note: Notice that the group has trouble getting started. They will drop the customer a lot and get
confused about who has or has not touched the customer.
When everyone has processed the customer take the bottle from the final person. Congratulate the team and solicit a round of applause. Ask them to recite Rule Number One, which is “Don’t drop the customer.” Ask the group how many times they broke Rule Number One. They will laugh and say something like “Thirty.”
In your best Drill Instructor voice, announce that you are forced to invoke a new customer service quality
standard. “I’m not sure what that standard is going to be, yet, but I know it’s got to be better than ‘30.’”
“Like all good managers, I will be asking you two important questions. The first question is ‘What did we
learn?’ and the second question is ‘How can we do better?’ So, what did we learn?”
Note: Listen for answers like:
- “I learned she can’t throw”
- “I learned that he can’t catch”
- “We drop the customer too much.”]
In a loud voice, ask “How can we do better?”
Note: The correct answer is “drop the customer fewer times” so be listening for the number of times the team dropped the customer in Iteration #1. Participants will be hesitant, disoriented and confused. If they seem completely befuddled, yell “Here comes another customer! And toss the water bottle to your out-box, the person you chose to originally start the game.
If someone makes a salient suggestion, act overly grateful and loudly ask, “Are you assuming a leadership role?” Keep asking until the person says, “Yes.” Then, solicit a round of applause by asking “How do we reward leadership at this company?”
After the applause dies down, ask the person to explain their idea.
Then announce, “Of course, at this company we are especially interested in ideas that improve the efficiency of our customer service. If we dropped the customer X times in round one, we are looking forward to dropping the customer less than X times in round two. And look, here comes another customer!” Toss the water bottle to the first person to begin Iteration #2.
Note: It is very important the team members remember who their out-box is. If the get out of sequence you MUST stop the game and start the sequence over.
Iteration #2:
Invariably, Iteration #2 will be an improvement over the first round as the group starts to work together. No matter how many times the team drops the customer in Iteration #2, you will introduce a time element in Iteration #3.
Loudly announce, “The company has been getting some negative feedback about two things. It seems that not only do we drop the customer too often, but we are also taking too long to process the customer. So, management is introducing another quality assurance standard called Time. I will be timing your work in the future.
“By the way, what did we learn in Round #2?” Process the answers.
“How can we do better?” Process the answers and be on the lookout for another suggestion from the team. When you get it, ask, “Are you assuming a leadership role” and then “How do we reward leadership at this company?”
Ask the newly identified leader to explain his or her suggestion and then initiate Round #3 by tossing the water bottle to the first person, shouting “Here comes a customer!” Loudly yell out the elapsed time as the group processes the customer.”
Repeat the above process and dialogue for each Round. The sequence is:
1. Yell “Here comes a customer!” and toss the water bottle.
2. Repeat the rules of the game and pace inside the circle as the team works.
3. Solicit a round of applause after each round.
4. After each round ask “What did we learn?” and “How can we do better?”
5. Entertain suggestions, introduce a new standard and initiate another issue like time or multiple customers.
Around Iteration #4, you should surprise the group by tossing the water bottle to begin the round and then a smaller item, like a wrapped piece of hard candy. Yell, “Oh, look! We’ve got a second customer.” Time your throws so that the group is forced to process one customer at a time. Later, you will add a third customer to the mix. Try to use a table cloth for variety.
Note: Listen for the following ideas and suggestions:
- Change the order of the people so that your out-box is next to you
- Put the candy in the bottle and tie the bottle in the table cloth to batch process the customers
- Move the circle in tighter
Ultimately, someone the group will reduce the customer drops to zero and the time down to about 20 seconds by making the circle tighter and batch processing the customers. As Management, you will almost always have to make the final improvement to the “Don’t Drop the Customer” game by suggesting that the first person stand in the middle of the circle, holding the three customers above his or her head like the Statue of Liberty.
Move the group tighter and tighter into a huddle and encourage them to get their time down to 1 second if everyone reaches out to process the customer at the same time.
When this happens, solicit the biggest round of applause by congratulating the team for a job well done.
Have the group take a five or ten-minute break and then assemble back in the classroom for a debriefing. Use a white board to process their discussion and keep asking “What did we learn?” Use a two column chart to draw out salient lessons. The two column headings should be “Don’t Drop the Customer Game” vs. “Real Life.”
“Look out! Here comes another customer!” vs. Customers don’t necessarily come when it’s convenient for the business
Management keeps repeating the rules of operation vs. People learn through repetition
Solicit applause after each round vs. Learn to celebrate team victories
“What did we learn?” vs. Management should focus on future improvements rather than punish the team for past mistakes
“How can we do better?” vs Establishes benchmarks for improvement and gets the team to buy-in
“Are you assuming a leadership role?” vs. Clearly identifies leaders
Solicit a round of applause for each newly identified leader vs. Leadership is rewarded
A water bottle, a piece of candy and a tablecloth?!?!? vs. We don’t always get to choose our customers
“I’m going to time you for quality assurance” vs. Business does not operate in a vacuum; we are always being compared to other companies and the customers’ service ideals
Batch processing the customers to save time vs. Did anyone ask the customers if they mind being batched processed or did we just do it?
If the group regresses, one of the customers can “leave” vs. Dissatisfied customers often leave
4. The “Listening Exercise” helps folks focus.
This terrific little exercise helps people practice their listening skills in unexpected ways. The facilitator has the attendees pair off and sit “kneecap-to-kneecap and eyeball-to-eyeball.” Group size: 6 to 60 people. Props: movable chairs for all participants. Time: 10 minutes, including an “afterglow.”
Ask one person to be the Listener and one person to be the Speaker.
The Listener has two rules: maintain eye contact with the Speaker and do not respond verbally. The Speaker has two rules: maintain eye contact and talk about any topic for three minutes.
After round one, have them reverse their roles and time them for another three minutes.
Questions to ask:
What did you learn?
Did your partner seem comfortable listening to you? Why or why not?
Is it harder to speak without hearing a verbal response or listen without being able to verbally respond? Why?
Lessons:
If you are uncomfortable listening to someone for three minutes, it might be because you have a tendency to interrupt. Learn to let the other person have the spotlight.
If you are uncomfortable speaking for three minutes you may not feel you are very interesting. Could this be a self-esteem issue? Would you expect another person to be interested in you if you are not interested in yourself?
5. Thinking about success is the first step.
The objective of this icebreaker is to get participants to pledge specific improvement regarding their job. Group size: 3 to 3,000 people. Props: none. Time: 15 minutes.
Ask attendees to write this phrase: “I could be more successful, if I ______________.” Another version is: “I could be happier, if I _____________.” The facilitator helps the participants create a master list of words that could fill in the blank, i.e., more confident, more educated, more self-assured, better listener, less emotional, less angry, etc.
Participants are then asked to fill in their blank with what they would like to improve, thereby predisposing themselves to this topic during the meeting and all but pledging personal improvement.
6. Trivia quizzes can be great icebreakers.
Be sure to offer a prize.
1. Is there a 4th of July in England? Yes or no?
2. How many birthdays does the average man have?
3. Some months have 31 days. How many have 28?
4. How many outs are there in an inning?
5. Can a man in California marry his widow’s sister?
6. Take the number 30, divide it by 1/2, and then add 10.
………What do you get?
7. There are 3 apples and you take two away. How many apples
are you left with?
8. A doctor gives you three pills and tells you to take one every half
an hour…. How long will the pills last?
9. A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 of them die.
How many sheep are left?
10. How many animals of each sex did Moses bring with him on the ark?
11. A butcher in the market is 5′10″ tall. What does he weigh?
12. How many 2 cent stamps are there in a dozen?
13. What was the President’s name in 1960?
14. Four words in the English language end in “ous. What are they?
Trivia Answers:
1. Is there a 4th of July in England? Yes or No?
….Yes. It comes right after the 3rd
2. How many birthdays does the average man have?
…..One (1). You can only be born once
3. Some months have 31 days. How many have 28?
…..Twelve (12). All of them have at least 28 days.
4. How many outs are there in an inning?
…. Six (6). Don’t forget there is a top and bottom to every inning
5. Can a man in California marry his widow’s sister?
….No. He must be dead if it is his widow
6. Take the number 30, divide it by 1/2, and then add 10.
What do you get?
….. Seventy (70). Thirty (30) divided by 1/2 is 60
7. There are 3 apples and you take two away. How many apples are you
Left with?
..Two (2). You take two apples .. therefore YOU have TWO apples.
8. A doctor gives you three pills and tells you to take one every half
an hour. How long will the pills last?
……One hour. If you take the first pill at 1:00, the second at 1:30,
and the third at 2:00, the pills have run out and only one hour has passed.
9. A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 of them die. How many sheep are
left?
….. Nine (9). Like I said, all BUT nine die
10. How many animals of each sex did Moses have on the ark?
…… None. I didn’t know that Moses had an ark.
11. A butcher in the market is 5′ 10 tall. What does he weigh?
….. Meat … that is self-explanatory.
12. How many 2 cent stamps are there in a dozen?
…Twelve (12). How many eggs are in a dozen? TWELVE …
it’s a dozen
13. What was the President’s name in 1960?
… George W. Bush (or whoever the current President is. As far as I know, he hasn’t
changed his name.
14. Stupendous, horrendous, tremendous and hazardous
So, how did we do?
14 correct………GENIUS…you are good.
10-12 correct….ABOVE AVERAGE…but don’t let it go to your head.
7-9 correct……..AVERAGE…but who wants to be average?
4-6 correct……….SLOW…pay attention to the questions!
1-3 correct……….YOU NEED TO GET OUT MORE
0 correct……YIKES!
7. For Children and Teenagers
Use this in training sessions when you try to get the group to think outside the normal realm of thinking. It’s especially good for young people.
Let’s see if you are thinking outside of the box.
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a professional. Scroll down for each answer. The questions are NOT that difficult. But don’t scroll down until you have answered the question!
1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.
2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
Did you say, “Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?”
Wrong answer.
Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.
3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend…except one. Which animal does not attend?
Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more
chance to show your true abilities.
4. There is a river you must cross but it is rumored to be filled with crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage to cross it?
Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.
8. Poking fun at our business lexicon
1. Before (or during) your next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare yourself by drawing a square.
I find that 5″x5″ is a good size. Divide the card into columns-five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.
2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block
* synergy
* strategic fit
* core competencies
* best practice
* bottom line
* revisit
* expeditious
* to tell you the truth (or “the truth is”)
* 24/7
* out of the loop
* benchmark
* value-added
* proactive
* win-win
* think outside the box
* fast track
* result-driven
* empower (or empowerment)
* knowledge base
* at the end of the day
* touch base
* mindset
* client focus(ed)
* paradigm
* game plan
* leverage
3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words or phrases.
4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout “BULLSHIT!”
