Video:How to Do a Team Building Ice Breaker
with Meghan Lynn AllenWant to learn how to do team building ice breakers with coworkers and employees? Here, see instructions for getting ice breakers started.See Transcript
Transcript:How to Do a Team Building Ice Breaker
Hi! This is Meghan Lynn Allen for About.com, and today we're discussing how to do a team-building icebreaker.
What Are Team Building Ice Breakers?
Icebreaker games are a great way of introducing fun, energy and life into your conference, your meeting or your training program. And they're built to encourage team building and interaction.
Instructions for Doing Team Building Ice Breakers
An icebreaker session must be well designed and well facilitated. You want to get that meeting off to a good start. The icebreaker should be something fun and memorable. But a badly run icebreaker can be a disaster. You don't want to be memorable for the wrong reason.
More Information About Team Building Ice Breakers
You need to think about when is appropriate to do an icebreaker. It's usually at the beginning of a meeting, hence the term, breaking the ice. The next question to answer is, what kind of icebreaker do you want to use? Let's say you're bringing together people who don't know each other very well.The first is the Sweet Greet Meeting icebreaker. In advance, you'll want to purchase candy bars, and have enough for every attendee. And mix it up- make sure you have a variety. As people come in the door for the meeting, have them put their hand in a big sack and pull out a candy bar. And later, they'll find out where to sit or who they're meeting with, in small groups, based on what candy bar they pulled. If you've got a Baby Ruth, you're in a different group than with the Snickers.
The next meet and greet icebreaker is called Two Truths and a Lie, and it's a little more personal - not as professional. So, its good for youth groups and camp counselors that need to get to know each other and get intimate right away when doing a job. Each participant will right down three statements about themselves on a piece of paper or an index card. The only thing is, only two of them will be true, and one of them will be a lie. It's up to participants to decide which is the truth and which is a lie. It's a fun way for people to get to know each other.
Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us on the web at About.com.