Icebreakers
(EYEs-bray-kerz)
Radioactive
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!
CLOSELY RELATED ELEMENTS
Audience Response
Especially when you are working with larger audiences or classroom-style seating—where it becomes harder to break the ice through more traditional means—incorporating technology and audience response polling can be a quick way to introduce a topic and get energy flowing in the room. For virtual presentations, the polling feature would be equivalent to a classroom-based software tool like PollEverywhere.
Quiz Software
Similar to audience response applications, integrating quiz technology such as Kahoot can help you survey what your audience knows about a topic, introduce friendly competition, and generate some energy.
Flipchart
Having your learners record key information about themselves on a flipchart during the icebreaker and then posting that page around the room allows the information to remain visible for the duration of your session. If you’ve asked your learners to capture information about them that also relates to your topic, you can also refer back to what they’ve written throughout the session.
FlipchartGames
A quick game such as those mentioned earlier—passing the tennis ball or BINGO—can help boost the energy and warm up your learners. Take care to make sure there is a proper debrief to connect any game you play to the session topic.
Goal Setting
Some icebreakers can be as simple as “Tell everyone your name, where you’re from, and one thing you’d like to be able to do now or differently or better as a result of today’s session.”
Resources From The Train Like a Champion Blog about Icebreakers
https://endurancelearning.com/blog/icebreaker-participants-will-not-hate/
https://endurancelearning.com/blog/a-blog-post-using-icebreakers/
https://endurancelearning.com/blog/icebreaking-activities-connected-to-content/
https://endurancelearning.com/blog/icebreaking-activity-how-to-introduce-knowles-theory-on-adult-education/
