Icebreaker activities

What is an icebreaker?

As the name says, an icebreaker is something used to break the ice. The name comes from the ships used to break the ice in the Arctic.

Why run icebreaking activities before an event?

These activities are useful for more than motivating people, waking them up and getting them to interact. They also get everyone familiar with the things the day is actually about: integration, teamwork, communication, listening and being challenged. In a multicultural room, which in the Gulf is most rooms, they’re the quickest way for colleagues to establish trust before anything harder starts.

And of course some of the objectives of icebreaking are celebration and fun, along with getting to know the people we live and work with.

SKYSCRAPER

The Skyscraper icebreaker is essentially a building challenge. Each team has to build the tallest structure it can using only the materials we provide. The materials vary and are rarely completely suited to the objective, and that’s precisely the challenge. The instructors allow a short period for designing and building, and then the tallest construction gets measured. Depending on what the client decides, there may or may not be a winning team.

This activity gets the participants at each table working as a team among themselves. On request we can look at giving different materials to each area of the venue. That lets participants go to the other tables to negotiate and swap materials for their own structures.

This icebreaker involves leadership, teamwork, communication, collaboration, planning, strategy, execution and, last but not least, fun.

BEACH OLYMPICS

An outdoor team building activity helps colleagues get to know each other in an unusual, original and dynamic way. Outdoor training in Dubai covers activities that build bonds between participants through shared physical work, encouraging collaboration, self-confidence and confidence in others.

The outdoor activities are built on teamwork and nobody gets left behind. In each one the teams have to reach an objective or find the solution to a problem, following precise rules. They have obstacles to get past and challenges to take on among themselves and against the others.

In the Beach Olympics in particular, the participants work through their challenges on the beach, which is also the setting where the friendly competition comes most naturally.

QUESTION BALL

The Question Ball is a simple and surprisingly interesting exercise, full of questions, that helps people discover themselves and get to know the others. It’s an interactive group game in which the participants throw the ball to each other in turn. Whoever catches it answers one of the icebreaking questions written on it. Then they throw it to somebody else, who answers the question under their right thumb, and so on.

What the Question Ball is for

• Getting to know the other members of the team
• Breaking the ice
• Putting energy into a meeting
• Understanding yourself and the people around you

YARN SPIDER WEB

The Yarn Spider Web icebreaker, as the name says, has each team build a large web between tables or specific areas of the venue. Depending on how the event is set up and how the space is arranged, the participants have to find the designated tables to connect to, using a ball of thick yarn. The rules turn the result into an entertaining, colourful and interactive experience.

While they build the connections with the other teams, the participants have to work on their communication and interaction. The activity makes part of the network of connections between people visible and tangible, and it raises every standard problem-solving question along the way. It’s the perfect icebreaker to put last. Afterwards you do have to spend a little while cutting all the yarn.

BODY PERCUSSION

The Body Percussion icebreaker is unusual because it combines elements of a great many cultures. Its origins are ancient and go back to prehistory.

To the time, that is, when people used the sounds made by their own bodies to communicate. This format lets us practise a lot of key abilities using only our bodies, our creativity and our appetite for music and rhythm. Forget expensive equipment and the latest technology, exotic venues and complicated preparation. Think instead of stamping on the floor, slapping your thighs with your hands, clapping or clicking your fingers. All we need are our arms, our legs and a bit of creativity.

Music is more and more often treated as an instrument for creating and developing relationships. It’s useful for improving individual and group performance and, above all, for understanding how communication works.

Body Percussion icebreaker: several uses

The Body Percussion activity draws people in and connects them. Music itself is unquestionably a powerful instrument for creating interaction and bringing people together.

Within an hour the participants, guided by our music trainers, are able to reach synchrony and make music together.

The activity works both as an icebreaker and as a full team building event. It suits any kind of group, large or small. Companies can use it at several levels, for different purposes:

• Putting energy into people and creating connections between them, especially during a conference or a symposium.
• Working on the communication side of teamwork, as an experiential training with an educational purpose.
• Entertaining people, with an incentive purpose.

It’s an activity where we use music, rhythm and our own bodies as instruments of integration. It’s a good way to spend an enjoyable moment with friends and colleagues, and it’s also a powerful tool for stimulating creativity and improving individual and group communication. A professional coach guides the participants and teaches them how to produce a rhythm and hold it all together.

CROSSWORD

The Crossword is a team building format that can be customised around different company needs or objectives. It can be an event in its own right, lasting a few hours of the day: put your colleagues up against the facts of the company, and reward the clients or the collaborators who solve the puzzle first.

Companies can also propose it as an icebreaker at the start of another team building activity, or as an energiser during a break in a corporate meeting.

And to make the format even more original and more difficult, we can prepare a genuinely giant crossword for the team, up to three metres long.

CHORUS CHALLENGE