30 Icebreakers Perfect for Virtual and Hybrid Meetings

Online and hybrid meetings often have a slow start: muted microphones, cameras still coming on and a room full of people waiting for someone else to speak first.

This can easily become a thing of the past when you introduce an icebreaker to get people talking and loosened up, which can be essential for team bonding and even starting conversations around difficult topics. 

Our list of 30 virtual icebreakers and online-friendly team activities includes quick questions, simple meeting openers and longer games that work across various meeting types and are perfect for any remote or hybrid team.

Breaking the ice has never been this easy!

What are virtual icebreakers?

Virtual icebreakers are short, interactive activities that help people connect and participate in online or hybrid meetings. 

For online attendees, virtual icebreakers help make a video conference call more personal and allow colleagues to get to know each other better and enjoy some social time. They are great conversation starters.

Icebreaker games help energize people, drive lively discussions and encourage participants to be more active throughout the meeting.

You can use online-friendly icebreakers at the start of:

• Webex meetings
• Zoom meetings
• Microsoft Teams calls
• Hybrid workshops
• Team stand-ups
• Training sessions
• Webinars
• All-hands meetings
• Onboarding sessions, and more.

Some virtual icebreakers are light and playful. Others help people reflect, share ideas or prepare for the topic of the meeting.

The best ones are easy to join, inclusive of different communication styles and suited to the size and purpose of the session.

How to choose the right virtual icebreaker?

Whether you’re leading a quick Webex or Zoom meeting, a team workshop or a larger hybrid session, online-friendly icebreakers can make it easier for everyone to take part.

But not every icebreaker works in every meeting. Before you pick one, think about:

• Time available: Do you have one minute or ten?
• Group size: Is it a small team check-in or a large meeting?
• Meeting goal: Do you want to energize people, build connections or gather useful input?
• Participation style: Should people speak out loud, answer anonymously, use chat or respond through a poll?
• Team mood: Does the moment call for something fun, thoughtful, or low-pressure?
• Group character: Are your attendees mostly outspoken, more introverted or a combination of both?

A quick check-in poll might be perfect before a busy project update or an action-packed all-hands meeting with dozens of people joining in. A longer, fun icebreaker game can fit a team-building session or social event.

Below, you’ll find tips for all of these occasions. Pick your favorite ones!

1. Quick virtual icebreaker questions
2. Short virtual icebreaker activities
3.  Games & Team building virtual icebreakers

Quick virtual icebreaker questions

These are ideal when you want a fast, low-pressure way to warm people up, encourage participation or simply start on a high note.

We recommend these for larger company meetings, quick stand-ups, onboarding or training sessions and webinars.

#1. Mood barometer: How are you feeling today?

Instead of asking “How is everyone?” and getting only a few answers that lead nowhere, let everyone respond at once via a poll and make a strong start out of it. Try a rating poll such as:

• On a scale of 1–7, how are you feeling today?
• What’s your energy level right now?
• How ready are you for today’s meeting?

The results give you an instant read on the room and can help you adjust your facilitation style.

You can also use the poll results as a discussion starter: “I can see that not everyone is feeling their best. Who would like to share more?”

Best for: Team meetings, company meetings, stand-ups, workshops

Time required: 2-3 minutes

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#2. Would you rather?

A “Would you rather?” question is simple, light and almost always gets people talking. Try:

• Would you rather work from a mountain cabin or a beach house?
• Would you rather always start work early or always finish late?
• Would you rather time travel to the past or the future?
• Would you rather have no meetings for a week or no emails for a week?

Opt for a multiple-choice poll, add two options and you’re all set.

During the meeting, you can ask one or two people to explain their choice and spark a bit of fun small talk around it.

Best for: Team meetings, stand-ups

Time required: 2-3 minutes

Read also: 101 Would You Rather Questions to Cheer Up Your Meetings

#3. Quiz question of the day

Everyone loves quizzes, don’t they? Open with a quick quiz question to wake people up and make the meeting feel more dynamic.

If your team meets regularly, this can become a small recurring ritual. You can use:

• General knowledge trivia
• Company trivia
• Industry trivia
• A playful question related to the season or current topic

Find inspiration for cool quiz questions here.

To pull this off, simply create a quiz question in Slido and mark one option as correct. If you’re presenting in Google Slides or PowerPoint, you can also take advantage of our Slido AI features and let the AI engine generate quiz questions right from your presentation.

Best for: Recurring meetings, team meetings

Time required: 2-3 minutes

#4. Where are you joining from?

This is one of the best virtual icebreakers for large meetings or virtual events.

Ask participants to share where they’re joining from in a word cloud poll. This creates a nice visual moment, especially when people are spread across countries or time zones.

As people post their locations, give them a special shout-out.

Best for: Large company meetings, global events, webinars, large customer sessions

Time required: 2-3 minutes

#5. In one word, how would you describe…?

Sometimes, even a one-word prompt can reveal a lot.

This is one of the easiest virtual icebreakers: a word cloud poll that helps you take a quick pulse check of the atmosphere and overall mood of the group. Try:

• In one word, how would you describe this week?
• In one word, how does this project feel right now?
• In one word, what do you want from today’s session?

Best for: Quick pulse checks, retrospectives, team meetings, workshops

Time required: 2-3 minutes

#6. Say it with an emoji

Here’s another way to get a sense of how your team members are feeling: let them express it with emojis.

You can use a Slido word cloud poll, but instead of words, your participants submit an emoji. Try:

• Which emoji best describes your mood today?
• Which emoji captures your week so far?
• Use one emoji to describe how this project feels.

This is easy to answer and works especially well while people are still joining the meeting.

Best for: Large team meetings, large groups

Time required: 1 minute

#7. Rank your favorites

Ask participants to rank a list of options. The topic can be playful or work-related.

Use a Slido ranking poll, add as many options as you wish and let your participants rank them. Examples:

• Rank these comfort foods.
• Rank these classic 90s movies.
• Rank these ways to spend a free afternoon.
• Rank these project priorities from most to least important.

After your participants are done voting, display the chart with the winners. The reveal often sparks a lively discussion as people tend to passionately root for their darlings!

Best for: Fun team meetings, energizers

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#8. Chat waterfall

If you’re on a Webex or Zoom call, you can leverage the chat function in a fun way by posing a question and asking everyone to type an answer in the chat, but not hit send yet. Then count down from three and have everyone post at once. Prompts you can use:

• What’s your go-to work soundtrack?
• What one word that describes our company best?
• If you weren’t human, what animal would you be?

This creates instant participation without letting the first few responses shape everyone else’s answers.

As a facilitation trick, use the answers for a fun commentary or spring board for the topic of your meeting.

Best for: Zoom meetings, online workshops, large groups

Time required: 2 minutes

#9. AI-generated icebreaker prompt

When you need a quick opening question tailored to your audience but can’t think of anything on the spot, Slido AI can help you generate a relevant poll based on your meeting type, audience and goal. Simply describe your session in a prompt and get tailored interaction ideas.

Alternatively, you can let AI generate polls directly from your slides in PowerPoint or Google Slides and choose the ones that fit best.

Best for: Facilitators short on prep time

Time required: 1-2 minutes

Short virtual icebreaker activities

These work well when you want slightly more interaction but still need to keep the session moving.

#10. Highlight of the week

Here’s a great way to lift people’s spirits. Ask people to share one highlight from the past week.

It can be personal, professional or both. For example, in our Slido marketing team, we share highlights as part of our monthly all-marketing meeting. Some examples:

• What’s one small win from this week?
• What made you smile recently?
• What’s something you’re proud of since our last meeting?

You can collect answers in an open text poll, then read a few aloud or display the highlights on the screen.

Best for: Team check-ins, retrospectives, recurring meetings, project kick-offs, team meetings

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#11. Unsung heroes

This is not only an icebreaker but also a morale booster. And we all need that now and then. Give kudos to the heroes in your team.

Use a word cloud poll and encourage people to nominate colleagues and briefly explain why. Ask:

• Who helped make your work easier this month?
• Who deserves recognition this month?
• Who made a difference behind the scenes?

You can also combine the word cloud with an open text poll, so that people can also leave a heart-warming message for their nominated silent hero.

Best for: All-hands meeting, department meetings, team meetings

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#12. Gratitude check-in: What are you thankful for?

This ice-breaking activity is ideal, for instance, before Thanksgiving or as a morale booster during special team meetings.

Prompt people to submit what they are grateful for, or who from the team they would like to thank, either via a word cloud or an open text poll. Ask:

• What are you most grateful for?
• Who would you like to thank today?
• Who has made your work easier lately?

Best for: Seasonal sessions, team offsites, all-hands meetings, team meetings

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#13. Caption this image

Show a funny or surprising image and ask participants to submit a caption. This works well in large groups because everyone can participate without speaking.

Participants can type their answers in the chat or a Slido open text poll.

You can then read out a few answers, ask the group to react or vote for the funniest one.

Best for: Team meetings, department meetings

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#14. Work style snapshot

Ask a playful but useful question about how people work best. Examples:

• When do you do your best thinking: morning, afternoon or evening?
• What helps you contribute most: time to think, examples, debate or visuals?
• Which meeting habit helps you most?

This doubles as a light icebreaker and a source of useful team insight.

Best for: Team development, team meetings, workshops, onboarding, retrospectives

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#15. Guess whose desk?

Get to know your colleagues a little better, and take a sneak-peek into their home work stations.

Collect pictures from your colleagues of their desks at home and add them into Slido multiple choice polls with a question: “Can you guess whose desk this is?” and give several options.

Then, once at a meeting, let your colleagues guess away!

Best for: Small team meetings

Time required: 3-5 minutes

#16. Random question of the week

Why not build a new habit of asking one surprising question each week or month? Examples:

• What’s the most useless thing you know a lot about?
• What’s the most useless thing you have in your home?
• Which fictional world would you happily visit?
• What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?

A little predictability around a fun ritual can make recurring meetings feel warmer.

Best for: Recurring team meetings

Time required: 2-4 minutes

Games & Team building virtual icebreakers

These are great get-to-know-you games and longer team-building activities that will both entertain people and bring the team closer together.

#17. Team trivia quiz

Using virtual icebreakers during your meetings also helps you get to know your colleagues better.

Try a fun trivia quiz with questions about your team. With Slido quizzes, it’s super easy.

At Slido, we run this type of quiz when we introduce a new team member or as a holiday fun activity.

Collect interesting facts about each team member, then let other colleagues guess away. We’re sure you’ll dig out plenty of fun stuff. Examples:

• Which teammate once lived in three countries?
• Which department launched first?
• Who is most likely to answer emails at 6 a.m.?

Here, you’ll find more inspiration for quiz questions.

Best for: Team meetings, team-building

Time required: 10-15 minutes

#18. Two truths and a lie

This game is also great for introducing new colleagues or getting to know each other better.

Each person shares three statements about themselves, two true and one false. The rest of the team guesses the lie.

You can run this live or collect the statements in advance and turn them into polls. Simply put all of the collected statements into Slido multiple choice polls, or you can make it a live quiz.

Best for: New teams, onboarding, smaller groups

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#19. Guess who?

This is another great get-to-know-each-other-better game. Ask colleagues to anonymously submit three clues about themselves. Examples:

• Three favorite foods
• Three brands they love
• Three hobbies
• Three songs they never skip

Then the group guesses who wrote each answer. It’s fun to identify people, plus everyone gets to share something about themselves. You’ll definitely learn a lot of interesting stuff about each other.

Best for: Team bonding, informal meetings, team meetings

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#20. Show and tell

Show and tell is a great virtual icebreaker activity for getting to know the team better.

Tell your colleagues to bring an object that has special meaning to them or is tied to an exciting story. Give each person a minute or two to explain it. It could be:

• something on their desk
• a souvenir
• a favorite book
• an object connected to a hobby

Best for: Smaller teams, team meetings, onboarding, team offsites

Time required: 10-15 minutes

#21. Pair and share

This is a great virtual icebreaker that allows for more intimate conversations among your teammates. If you’re familiar with breakout rooms, you’ll appreciate this one.

Give people a reflection prompt and send them into pairs or small breakout groups. Examples:

• What’s one challenge you’d like input on?
• What’s one thing you learned recently?
• What’s one idea from today that stood out?

Allow all groups a couple of minutes to discuss the topic before coming back to the main room to share what each pair talked about.

This is a great alternative to the “turn to your neighbor” kind of exercise.

It’s interactive and allows for more in-depth discussion between people. Introverts will appreciate this, as it feels more comfortable to share something in a pair than with the whole team.

Best for: Workshops, hybrid sessions, introvert-friendly discussion, team offsites

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#22. Group storytelling

Put your improvisation skills to the test. Start a fictional story with one sentence, then have each person continue it. You can make it themed:

• a dramatic product launch
• a mysterious team offsite
• the world’s strangest customer request

It is silly, low-stakes and surprisingly effective at getting people to collaborate.

Best for: Creative teams, team retreats, social sessions, team meetings

Time required: 10 minutes

#23. Name that sound

Looking for a more sophisticated guessing game? How about guessing sounds? This is one of the more challenging virtual icebreakers, but it’s ultimately very satisfying.

It’s simple. Everyone turns their cameras off, leaving only audio on. Then, one person makes a sound close to the microphone so colleagues can hear it and guess what it is. It could be:

• opening a snack bag
• stirring a mug
• typing on a keyboard
• shaking keys

Best for: Playful smaller-group sessions, team meetings, team offsites

Time required: 5-10 minutes

Here are the instructions:

#24. Quick team challenge

Divide people into small groups and give them a tiny challenge:

• invent a slogan for your team,
• come up with the worst possible product name,
• design a dream office in three features,
• choose the team mascot and defend it.

These small creative tasks help people relax and bond.

Best for: Social sessions, energizers, team meetings, team offsites

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#25. Struggle sharing

Sharing is caring, and that should apply to both the good and the bad. Similar to sharing highlights, it’s important to also give attention to things that didn’t go so well – things we can learn from and move forward from together.

It makes for a great team bonding experience.

Depending on the setup you’re in, divide your colleagues into smaller groups. If you’re in an online setup, use breakout rooms and ask people to discuss their struggles. They can be professional, personal or both.

Using an open text poll, encourage your team to share their failure or struggle in Slido as well so that people can see that they’re not alone in being imperfect. You can then regroup and open a discussion about lessons that people learned from their failures.

As a leader, don’t forget to contribute as well. Showing vulnerability is also a form of strength.

Best for: Social sessions, energizers, team meetings, team offsites

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#26. “What would you do?” scenario

Present a light hypothetical scenario and ask participants to choose or discuss their response. Examples:

• You can remove one recurring meeting forever. Which one?
• You get one extra team budget item. What do you spend it on?
• Your project deadline moves forward by a week. What changes first?

This works especially well when the icebreaker connects naturally to the meeting topic.

Best for: Training, leadership sessions, team workshops

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#27. Mini debate

Put up a harmless opinion and ask people to choose a side. Examples:

• Camera on or camera off for internal meetings?
• Inbox zero: realistic or myth?
• Breakfast is superior to dinner: agree or disagree?

Then invite a few quick arguments from each side.

Best for: Energetic teams, workshops, team sessions, informal sessions

Time required: 5-8 minutes

#28. Coffee time

Have you heard of Fika? It’s a Swedish word often interpreted as “a coffee and cake break.”

For Swedes, however, it is much more than that. It’s about taking a break from everything for a while and enjoying quality time with friends or colleagues over a cup of coffee or tea.

In hybrid and distributed teams, having a simple coffee with colleagues might be a challenge.

So take Fika to an online environment as well. Schedule an informal team catch-up from time to time just to chat with your remote teammates about something other than work.

Best for: Energetic teams, workshops, informal sessions

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#29. Never Have I Ever

If you’re familiar with Never Have I Ever, you surely know how much fun it can be — especially with more playful questions. It’s simple: each person holds out one hand so everyone can see their fingers.

One person reads questions such as: “Never have I ever eaten someone else’s lunch from the office fridge.” Whenever someone has done it, they put one finger down.

This icebreaker activity is great for getting to know your colleagues better and having a good laugh together while sharing funny stories behind each finger down.

Best for: Informal team meetings, team bonding, social sessions

Time required: 5-10 minutes

#30. One small win, one small wish

How about a little retrospective as an icebreaker? Ask people to share:

• one thing that went well,
• one thing they wish had gone differently.

It creates a balance between celebration and constructive reflection, and it is easier to answer than a fully open-ended retrospective prompt.

Best for: Team meetings, retrospectives, team health checks

Time required: 5-10 minutes

Tips for running better virtual icebreakers

A few simple facilitation choices can make a big difference:

• Keep it brief unless the meeting is explicitly social.
• Explain the activity in one clear sentence.
• Use low-pressure formats for larger or quieter groups.
• Mix playful prompts with more purposeful ones.
• Avoid questions that are too personal.
• Make participation easy for both remote and in-room attendees.
• Use the responses as a bridge into the main discussion.

Ready to break the ice at your meetings?

The best virtual icebreakers are not the loudest or funniest ones. They are the one that fit your team, your meeting goal and the energy in the room.

Whether you use a one-minute poll, an online icebreaker game, a reflective prompt or a team-building activity, the aim is the same: help people feel comfortable enough to participate.

We hope you’ll try one of these virtual icebreakers at your next online meeting. Let Slido help you connect with your teammates, wherever they are.

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