Icebreakers
(EYEs-bray-kerz)
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What is an Icebreaker?
An icebreaker is an activity designed to help participants learn more about one another, the presenter, or the topic.Other Common Names
Other common names for dialogue education include:
- Anchor activity
- Intro activity
Key Properties
While the mere mention of icebreakers can make learners want to run for the door, this is an element that can mean many things to many people, and has some appealing core properties:
- Allow learners to get to know one another
- Remove tension or discomfort around being in a new environment or learning a new topic
An additional property for icebreakers in a virtual environment (such as for webinars or virtual instructor-led training) is that they introduce people to the technology that will be used during the session (such as the chat feature, polling feature, or on-screen drawing tools).
Some charged statements from Brian's book What's Your Formula?
- "I’ve long since subscribed to the idea that people don’t want icebreakers, they want meaningful interactions. In fact, I’ve known people to skip the first 30 minutes of a meeting that listed an icebreaker as the first thing on an agenda because they had no desire to share their favorite food that begins with the same letter as the first letter in their name. So when a colleague in India suggested that we have a bunch of eye surgeons and high-powered board members pass a tennis ball around to each other to kick off a major international business meeting, I gave him the stink eye. When I lost the argument and my boss told me that we should do the tennis ball passing activity, I gave him the stink eye too. When we ran the activity and I observed that the room was abuzz with engagement and excitement to begin the meeting, I had to find a mirror so I could give myself the stink eye for being such an icebreaker snob."
- "Whether you’re leading an in-person or a virtual session, using a well-designed icebreaker to ensure your learners are warmed up and ready to engage with your content and with your instructional style can be an immensely powerful opening element."
- "The key to your icebreaker being a valuable opening activity as opposed to a meaningless time-filler that risks tainting the rest of your session is the way in which you choose to debrief this element."
Experiments you can try at home (or work) to Make Icebreakers more Relevant
If you feel an icebreaking activity is important to help create a sense of connection and get participants talking with one another before the “real work” begins, what’s a trainer to do? There are several elements that can be built around an icebreaking activity to make it a more meaningful and important opening piece to your training session, and if you were to bond these elements together the formula may look something like this. Click the image to learn more!
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