Icebreakers for large groups

The questions, and why each one works

1. Raise a hand if you started here in the last year.

   • In two seconds the whole room sees who is new, and newcomers see they are not alone.
2. A quick poll: how many meetings did you have yesterday?

   • A number is easy to give, the result is often a talking point, and nobody has to speak.
3. Turn to the person next to you: what are you working on this month?

   • Pairs talk at once, so a hundred people get a conversation in two minutes.
4. In the chat: the city you are joining from.

   • On a big call it shows how spread out the group is, and people spot colleagues nearby.
5. One word in the chat for how the last quarter went.

   • Read the most common words out loud. It is an honest reading of the mood in under a minute.
6. Stand up if you have worked in more than one team here.

   • Shows how connected the organisation is, and gives people a reason to find each other later.
7. Hands up: would you rather have a four-day week or a month off every year?

   • A vote is fun, takes seconds and needs no microphone.
8. In the chat, name someone who helped you this month.

   • Public thanks at scale. The chat fills up quickly and names get read out.
9. What is one thing you would like leadership to explain today?

   • Collected anonymously, it shapes the questions part of the meeting and shows people they were heard.
10. Guess how many people joined the company this year — closest wins.

    • Turns a dull number into a small contest. Use the real figure, and have it ready.

How to run it

Never go round the room. Use hands, polls, the chat or pairs — anything everyone can do at the same time.

Keep it to two or three minutes. In a big meeting the icebreaker is a warm-up, not an agenda item.

Have a person ready to read out the chat or the poll results. The icebreaker only works if the room hears the answers back.

What to leave out

Going round the room

With fifty people at half a minute each, that is twenty-five minutes of a sixty-minute meeting.

Picking someone to speak to the whole room unprepared

Being singled out in front of hundreds is the opposite of breaking the ice.

Long games

Big groups lose attention fast. A game that needs explaining is already too long.

Questions

How do you do an icebreaker with a large group?

Use something everyone does at once: a show of hands, a poll, the chat, or talking to the person next to them.

What works for a town hall?

One poll at the start and one word in the chat. Read the results back, then move on.

Can you do icebreakers with a hundred people online?

Yes — chat answers typed at the same time work better with a hundred than with ten, because the chat moves fast and nobody waits.

Icebreakers for other meetings

Every occasion →