Conferences are back. It’s official. Summer is over and both autumn and spring conferences are taking off. But the conference doesn’t have to be a boring thing that everyone dreads. There’s loads of ways to make it exciting, from finding the right venue, to offering exciting content, and from jazzing up the program with some fun social stuff to getting your jam on with some great icebreakers.
So what exactly is an icebreaker? Well – it’s usually that bit at the start of an event that makes everyone cringe inwardly but actually does the job it’s supposed to do. You’re all forced to talk to each other – even if it’s in that terribly British apologetic way we do on this island. But it’s funny, and maybe fun, and maybe you’ll find out that the person sitting next to you is actually really interesting. Honestly, it happens.
So we put together a little list of five of our favourite icebreakers for conferences. If you’d like to know more about our conference management, give us a shout. We do everything from finding the right venue (a FREE service of course) to finding the right, er, icebreaker.
Have these on us anyway…
1. True or false?
This one does exactly what it says on the tin. Delegates have to present each other with three statements. Two are true, but one is a big fat fib. Can they work it out?! Great for large groups to mingle in a big space and try to bust each other!
2. You wouldn’t know this but…
We love this one for smaller groups. Delegates have to write on a slip of paper something that nobody would know about themselves and then everyone pulls out a slip without looking. Using clever questioning will they be able to work out who wrote it?
3. Ball of knowledge
Take a huge beach ball and write a bunch of questions all over it. Toss it to delegates and where their favourite pointing finger lands when they catch it is the question they have to answer. Toss it around or do in groups until everyone has had to reveal something.
4. Balloon challenge
We found this one at another meeting and loved it. Everyone gets a balloon and a strip of paper, and writes something on that strip. It could be a daft statement about themselves, or something more cogent like their biggest challenge at work. Pop it into the balloon and blow it up, batting them round the room until the whistle blows. Then everyone has to pop the balloon they’re holding and work with what’s in there.
5. Making sweet music together
OK, so maybe it doesn’t have to be music, but something that gets a huge room full of people working together in harmony is always astoundingly effective. Maybe it’s a drumming or bongo session, or it could even be singing a capella. Everyone will feel silly to start with but trust us, once that all comes together and it sound amazing, the feel-good factor is huge.
So there you go. Some fun ideas for your conference icebreakers. For more information on our services, give us a shout. All quote are free – enquiries@event-venue-finder.com