When it comes to making all of your attendees feel comfortable and welcome at your event, ice breakers are something that are both welcomed and feared, depending on the scenario. Sure, they can be a bit cringe-worthy, but if done right, they can completely transform your event atmosphere and dynamic. Here are some fun ice breakers to consider at your next event!

People Bingo

People bingo is ideal for use in classrooms, seminars or meetings.  It can be used for groups of up to 30 people in size.

If you don’t know the participants very well, use more general descriptions that probably apply to multiple people, like “is fanatical about coffee.” All this game requires is creating your bingo cards where each number square has a description written in it, and your participants then have to talk to each other in an effort to find someone who matches one of the squares, thereby completing their card.

2-Minute Mixer

This is another common icebreaker for adults that is very effective for introducing people to one another.  Have participants find a random partner and form a large circle, with one partner standing closer to the center of the room.  Each participant will then spend 2-minutes talking to their partner.  They will discover each other’s name and something about their background — where they work, what they like to do, why they are attending the class.

After the 2-minutes has expired, the people on the edge of the circle will rotate clockwise and spend two-minutes talking with the next person.  The session can continue until the circle has done a complete rotation.  By this point, each participant will have met half of the class.

Two Truths and a Lie

This icebreaker is usually quite popular with adults and can lead to some funny responses.  Each participant in the group says three things about themselves — two truthful things and one lie.  The other participants can guess which one is the lie and give a reason why they believe that particular answer is the lie.

Guess Who

Each participant in the group writes a very interesting or unusual fact about themselves on a piece of paper.  The group facilitator then reads out the responses and the group guesses which person wrote the interesting fact.

The Toaster Game

This is a useful game for meetings where participants may turn up hungry!  It requires the facilitator to bring a toaster and a large assortment of condiments.  Insert a piece of bread into the toaster and while it is browning ask everyone in the group to reveal one thing about themselves.  The person who is mid-sentence when the toast pops up is challenged to eat a piece.  The catch is the group decides which kinds of condiments they have on their toast!

What are your favourite ice-breaker games? Let us know with a comment below!