Want to have fun with your remote team? A virtual Ice-breaker is a great way to keep your remote workers engaged and learn more about each other (while having fun).

What’s is ice-breaker?

Ice-breaker is a game or activity that you can do with your team members to get to know each other and start the conversation. Virtual ice-breakers are the same, but they are done via video calls.

You can introduce new hires to the team in a fun way to make them feel comfortable. A well-placed interactive icebreaker can lighten virtual meetings and keep your team’s attention throughout the meeting.

The question is: How can you design virtual ice-breakers?

Here are some elements that you should consider:

Have a Purpose

Ask yourself, “what’s your purpose with ice-breakers activities?” Introducing new hires? Or bringing your teams together and let them know each other? First, you must establish a purpose clearly.

Help Employees Feel Comfortable

A virtual ice-breaker activity will be successful if your employees feel comfortable to participate. Tell your team clearly what’s the purpose of these activities and encourage everyone to participate.

Timely

Probably your virtual teams are calling from different time zones, so take time into account. Do you want your ice-breaker activities to be a quick 10-minutes or 30-minutes?

Frequency

Consider whether the virtual ice-breaker is once per week or if you want to make it a daily thing? Discuss with your team and come up with your plan.

Tool

Make sure everyone is using the same video conferencing tool, like Zoom, and they’re familiar with the tool. Also, decide the format – do you want your team to use their webcam or a voice call will be sufficient?