40 icebreaker questions for meetings
The best meeting icebreakers take under a minute, have no wrong answer, and let quieter people join in. Here are 40, grouped by how you run them.
Quick polls (pick one)
- Coffee, tea, or neither?
- Early bird or night owl?
- Beach vacation or mountain cabin?
- Would you rather only send emails or only take calls?
- Sweet or savory snacks?
- Would you rather have a four-day week or a two-hour lunch every day?
- Cats, dogs, or neither?
- Would you rather work from a coffee shop or a library?
One-word answers (great as a word cloud)
- In one word, how is your week going?
- One word for how you feel about today’s topic
- Describe your ideal weekend in one word
- What’s one word your team would use to describe you?
- One word for this quarter so far
- What’s your go-to comfort food?
- Name a skill you’d love to learn
- One word that describes your morning
Rate it (1 to 5)
- How much energy do you have right now?
- How caffeinated are you today?
- How ready are you for the weekend?
- How busy is your week, from calm to chaos?
- How confident are you about this week’s goals?
- How well did you sleep last night?
Short stories (open-ended)
- What’s one small win from the past week?
- What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given at work?
- What’s something you learned recently that surprised you?
- What was your first job?
- What’s a hobby people wouldn’t guess you have?
- What’s the most useful app on your phone?
- If you could master one skill instantly, what would it be?
- What’s one thing on your bucket list?
- What’s the best thing you’ve watched or read lately?
- Where’s the most interesting place you’ve visited?
For new teams
- Where are you joining from today?
- How long have you been with the company?
- What’s one thing you’d like the team to know about how you work?
- What do you hope this team gets done this year?
- What’s your favorite way to celebrate a win?
- What’s one tool you couldn’t do your job without?
- Morning meetings or afternoon meetings?
- What’s a fun fact most people here don’t know about you?
Run them live in your meeting
Asking out loud works, but a live poll gets everyone to answer, not just the people who speak first. These templates are ready to present: Meeting icebreakers, Would you rather, Two-minute warm-up and Weekly team check-in.
Tips
- Keep it to one or two questions. An icebreaker should take two minutes, not ten.
- Avoid anything personal like family, age, money or health.
- Show the results and react to one or two. That's the part people remember.
- For remote meetings, a poll beats going around the room: everyone answers at once.
Try it in your next session
Free for up to 50 people per poll. No card needed.
Questions
What is a good icebreaker for a work meeting?
Something quick with no wrong answer, like “In one word, how is your week going?” Collected as a live word cloud, everyone answers in under a minute.
How long should an icebreaker take?
One to three minutes. Use one or two questions, show the results, and move on to the agenda.
How do I run an icebreaker in a virtual meeting?
Share a live poll link in the chat. With Pingroom, people answer from any browser and the results show on your shared screen.