Icebreaker Template
Start your remote meeting right, build trust, and get to know each other.
About the Icebreaker Template
When new people join a company or a team, it can be hard for everyone to get to know each other. This is especially true for remote and distributed teams. Icebreakers are games, activities, questions, or events that are used to get people comfortable with each other and bring everyone together. Effective icebreakers can warm up a conversation, reinforce the topic of discussion, and ensure that everyone is engaged in a session.
Looking for new ideas for icebreakers? Read our blog on 27 icebreakers great for remote and in-house team building.
How do you use the icebreaker template?
First, pick a question and place it in the working area of your icebreaker template. Then, sketch, write, or paste a picture with your answer. When everyone is done, ask for each team member to explain their answer and also share yours.
When should you use an icebreaker?
Icebreakers can be used to add energy to any meeting. They are especially valuable when team members aren't all located in the same office, are meeting for the first time, or are tackling a new challenge together.
Examples of icebreakers
Some icebreakers can be used just for fun. When team members are new or don't know each other, icebreakers are great tools to help get the conversation flowing. Icebreakers can also be used to segue into the topic of the meeting, or to get everyone's energy levels up.
Here are some examples of icebreakers questions you can use:
Describe yourself in just a single word.
Share a photo of yourself as a baby.
What was your first job? Your worst job?
If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
If you could live anywhere, where would you live?
If you could meet a historical figure, who would that be?
What is your favorite time of the day? Why?
Do you like to travel or are you more of a homebody?
What would be your superpowers of choice?
If you could become an expert in any field in a snap, what field would you choose? Why?
Get started with this template right now.
Event Planning Template
Works best for:
Planning, Workshops
Whether you’re planning a product launch, fully remote conference, or milestone event, the Event Planning Template will act as a visual checklist and map for all the details you need to consider before the big day. The Event Planning Template is an adaptable way to make sure the creative and strategic vision of your event doesn’t get lost in the details. By mapping out different sections - from the marketing plan, to the agenda, to snacks and swag for guests — you and your team can focus on the details most important to your functions, and collaborate as needed when overlaps occur.
Meeting Reflection Template
Works best for:
Meetings, Brainstorming, Team Meetings
When schedules get hectic, “learning by doing” becomes the default way to learn. So make time for your team to learn in other valuable ways — by reflecting and listening. Led by “learners,” (team members who share with the rest of the team), a meeting reflection lets teammates share new information about a client’s business or an internal business initiative, offer problem-solving techniques, or even recommend books or podcasts worth checking out. Meeting reflections also encourage colleagues at all levels to engage in each other’s professional development of their teammates.
Start, Stop, Continue Template
Works best for:
Retrospectives, Meetings, Workshops
Giving and receiving feedback can be challenging and intimidating. It’s hard to look back over a quarter or even a week and parse a set of decisions into “positive” and “negative.” The Start Stop Continue framework was created to make it easier to reflect on your team’s recent experiences. The Start Stop Continue template encourages teams to look at specific actions they should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. Together, collaborators agree on the most important steps to be more productive and successful.
Bang for the Buck Template
Works best for:
Project Management, Strategic Planning, Prioritization
The name pretty much says it—this Agile framework is all about helping you maximize efficiency by powering collaboration between product managers and dev teams. Together you can go over each to-do on the project agenda and evaluate them in terms of costs and benefits. That way you can prioritize tasks based on how much bang for your buck they deliver. This template is great for teams and organizations that want to make a strategic plan to tackle an upcoming sprint.
Sailboat Template
Works best for:
Agile Methodology, Meetings, Retrospectives
The Sailboat Retrospective is a low-pressure way for teams to reflect on how they handled a project. By defining your risks (the rocks), delaying issues (anchors), helping teams (wind), and the goal (land), you’ll be able to work out what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on for the next sprint. Approaching team dynamics with a sailboat metaphor helps everyone describe where they want to go together by figuring out what slows them down and what helps them reach their future goals.
This or That Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Meetings, Workshops
If you’re a social media manager, a designer, or just someone who loves photography, then you’ve probably seen the “This or That” game on Instagram. The premise is simple: You make two parallel lists that pit a series of choices against each other, like “apples or oranges” or “pizza or hot dogs”. The Instagram user chooses between the various options by circling the one that they prefer. Then they share the completed game with their followers. Although it was popularized on Instagram, you can use This or That on other social media platforms too, or even your website or blog.