Shots.
Can’t believe no one here has suggested keys in a bowl.
Russian roulette - winner gets everyone cars
If a meeting needs an ‘ice breaker’ then surly something is wrong within the organisation?
Game of "who would you fire?" Or "I hate you because?", "How the **** has my life come to this" or "why does a little piece of me die every day"
Famous person, fictional or real, alive or dead. Their name on a post it. Post it on forehead. That person can only ask yes no questions of the group to establish who they are.
Get themselves into birthday / company start date / north-south geographic location order without talking.
If you don't like working there you could always play truth or dare?
Famous person, fictional or real, alive or dead. Their name on a post it. Post it on forehead.......
then you all have to tell them whether its someone you would shag, marry or avoid.
If a meeting needs an ‘ice breaker’ then surly something is wrong within the organisation?
I disagree. My manager and my peers are a good bunch of people, and the organisation is efficient. The icebreaker is just a 15 minutes "quarantine" from daily business and is useful though we all know each other well and function well as a team. We don't do it for meetings, but we do do it for extended offsites (whether physical attendance or Skype)
I actually pity anyone in an organisation where spending 15 minutes on something a little bit social, a little bit different to daily business is perceived as being something inherently wrong with the organisation.
Would you ever describe your job as fun?
Breakdancing competition. Big bit of Lino and a ghetto blaster and away you go.
Mime off. Who can do the best trapped in an invisible box or pulling on nonexistent rope.
Ask people to share their worst ever sexual encounter.
Nobody wants to do this crap, just get on with the meeting.
I generally walk out of this sort of thing but I am a miserable ****.
If the meeting includes a number of men who are 45+ then ask them the single most inflammatory qutesion that you can ask when older men are gathered together.
"Without resorting to Google, name the actors who played The Magnificent Seven"
Most will get 4, some will get 5.
There'll be heated debate about Lee Marvin.
One smart arse will pull Horst Buchholz out of the bag.
No one will get Brad Dexter.
I've started several punch-ups in pubs by throwing in this particular verbal grenade.
Nobody wants to do this crap, just get on with the meeting.
+1 Also, if the meeting needs scheduled coffee breaks then it has gone on too long and is a waste of time.
Nobody wants to do this crap, just get on with the meeting.
+1 Also, if the meeting needs scheduled coffee breaks then it has gone on too long and is a waste of time.
+2, its not 1998 anymore.
Honestly,
Any meeting where there is an icebreaker timetabled is a meeting I won't be going too.
Just have a solid agenda with measurable outcomes and get on with it.
+1 Also, if the meeting needs scheduled coffee breaks then it has gone on too long and is a waste of time.
Just have a solid agenda with measurable outcomes and get on with it.
If you have 6 hours of meeting you'll be glad of some breaks, and the facilitator will probably be glad of an ice-breaker to get you away from whatever was in your mind when you set off for work.
Not all subjects can be "sorted out" in 30 minutes, and many can't be sorted out in 8, 9 or 10 30 minute meetings. Sometimes you just have to sit people in a room for long enough to get an outcome, and if the subject is challenging, contentious or complicated (or all 3) that can take some time. Some of the most solid agendas and measurable outcomes I've ever seen have been in 4+ hour sessions.
Some meetings are a waste of time, but thinking everything can be sorted out over the phone or in an hour or two at most is naïve, in my opinion. You'd be an idiot if you spent 4 hours deciding which pasty you want in Greggs, and how much you think it is worth, but you'd be a bigger idiot to agree a price and house purchase in 30 seconds, so why is the idea that some topics take time so strange to you?
Any meeting that take more than an hour is wasting time. Icebreakers? Utter piffle and exactly the sort of reason why meetings last more than an hour
Yes, dead right TJ.
The meeting I was in that negotiated a massive purchase of another company, discussing everything from the process of measuring value of current inventory to transitioning of working rights and practices - could have been wrapped in under an hour.
You do talk absolute bollox sometimes.
Yeah. But did you have an icebreaker...
No because it would have made the meeting go over the hour, and upset TJ.
If you have to the news paper one sounds about right..can't believe no ones mentioned taking the drunk boss back to a hotel.
“facilitator”
Yeah, get in the sea.
Naked Twister.
Ended up with images from movies in a slideshow then in 2 teams everybody had to come up with the funniest dialogue (but making it relevent to our company) and perform against each other.
Everybody had good fun and plenty of laughter before the next 5 hours of facts & figures.
I took donuts as well. That definitely helped.
Inspired by this:
I was literally just about to suggest “big box of Lego,” that’s an even better idea.
Indoor Firewalking.
10 metres of barefoot walking over Lego.
Should be enough swearing to break the ice.
Ask people to share their worst ever sexual encounter.
A corporate orgy?
