❄️Meeting icebreakers are the worst (and here's how to fix them)
The latest news from StreamAlive and the world of online, offline, and hybrid live events.
Hi there! In this week’s newsletter:
The problem with icebreakers and how to solve them
🧪We need some guinea pigs to try new StreamAlive features
How to be more confident in virtual meetings
🥶Why your “fun” icebreakers can have a chilling effect
Want to learn how to avoid cringeworthy icebreakers? Join Jan Keck next week as he teaches how to warm up a meeting with strangers so everyone is engaged and participates.
A few years ago (long before the pandemic!) I found myself in a room full of strangers.
We had enrolled in a professional marketing course to formalize our years of experience into a recognized qualification.
You can probably picture the scene.
Or at least, AI can picture it for you.
It’s early, and people are drifting into the hotel meeting room one by one, looking around anxiously at the round tables, trying to find a place that gives everyone enough personal space.
Everyone is engrossed in their phones, waiting for the lecturer at the front to finish fiddling with the AV equipment and introduce themselves.
We’re all marketers. We all have so much in common. But the room is colder than a polar bear’s toenails.
Finally, the lecturer is satisfied that their laptop can connect to the projector and she looks up.
“Welcome, everyone! I thought we could start our first session with a fun little icebreaker so you can get to know your fellow students. I’d like you to go around your table and tell two truths and a lie about yourself and see if everyone can guess which is true.”
Two truths and a lie
What the hell? How was I supposed to come up with two interesting truths and a lie about myself that didn’t make me sound like a boring old fart, or worse, a jackass?
Unfortunately, this is how many meetings start with groups of strangers. It’s either the forgettable “introduce yourself” or a “fun” icebreaker.
Try an iceMELTER instead
Jan Keck is on a mission to eliminate cringeworthy and anxiety-inducing icebreakers.
Instead of putting people on the spot and forcing them to come up with something that makes them sound interesting and friendly, an iceMELTER warms up your group without them even realizing it.
It’s like starting a campfire 🔥
Don’t call it an icebreaker or icemelter
Jan’s biggest tip for beginning a meeting with an icebreaker iceMELTER is to not name the activity at all, and just jump straight into it.
Maybe if that lecturer from all those years ago had warmed up the group of marketers before putting them on the spot, we’d have felt more comfortable and even built some lasting relations with each other.
Learn the art of melting the ice in meetings
Jan has spent years facilitating online and offline meetings between groups of strangers or employees at the same company who have had no contact with each other.
He’s developed a series of activities that don’t put people on the spot and don’t make them do a collective eye-roll 🙄
They are activities designed to increase engagement and create trust and deep connection that isn’t forced but fostered.
In our upcoming #StreamAliveShowcase session he’s agreed to give away the secrets and techniques he’s learned over the years on how to bring together groups of strangers.
If your job involves meetings with people who don’t know each other, or you’re looking for ways to build trust within your team, this workshop is for you.
Registration is free, but seats are limited, so save your seat today.
We also have some more exciting #StreamAliveShowcase events coming up and we’d love to have you join us for them as well!
May 8 - We’ve got facilitation guru, Myriam Hadnes joining us to teach us how to have more effective meetings
Jun 5 - Neela Saldanha has dedicated her life to understanding human behavior and deciphering what makes us tick. She’ll be sharing her discoveries with us at her event.
Jul 2 - How can design systems improve your productivity? That’s the question Manish Agarwal will be answering in his session.
July 17 - Tatiana Rodriguez is going to be teaching us how to conquer your virtual stage fright, perfect if your palms go sweaty and throat goes dry before speaking to a virtual audience.
Save your seat to all of these events today!
🧪Looking for willing guinea pigs
We’re in the process of launching a whole new way of creating engagement in your presentations using AI.
We need beta testers to try it out in their live sessions and talk to a couple of media publications about your experience.
You get to use cutting-edge AI AND get some visibility for your live sessions in some major media outlets!
Interested?
Simply reply to this email (we do read our replies!) and we’ll schedule a call to give you a demo.
What we’ve been reading
This came via a link shared in Gwyn Wansbrough’s The Quest newsletter, an excellent newsletter for the facilitator community that’s packed with tips each week.
The video on how to be more confident in virtual meetings from Dr Aziz is a few years old now, but it’s as relevant as ever!
Here’s what he advises:
Stand UP! Body language is muted on a screen but standing up helps you to be more expressive, confident, and focused. (How many times have we heard this tip, but how many of us actually do it?!).
If you do sit in a meeting, sit on the edge of your seat so your back is not resting. Better yet, use a yoga ball like John Chen does!Move and gesture more - Research says that the more someone gestures and moves while talking, the more confident they appear to others. Gesturing while speaking conveys certainty, capability, authoritative, intelligent, and so on.
Don’t open any browser tab and put your phone away! If your camera is on, people can tell when you’re disengaged or looking at other tabs as your face goes blank and your eyes start darting around. Other attendees might even see light changes on your face if you open a website with lots of colours on it. If you want to project confidence in your meetings, stay focused on the meeting!
Speak up more! Easier said than done for introverts and those lacking in confidence, for example, the new hire fresh out of university. The easiest way to speak up is to ask a question. Another way is when someone is explaining something, and they ask “Does that make sense?”—don’t nod your head, speak up and say “Yes” or “Actually, can you go back to this part?”
Give affirmations as people are talking. In person, you’re likely to nod or make affirmative noises to show you are following along. Bring that to your virtual meetings when some one is talking to show that you are present and engaged with what the speaker is saying.
Thanks to Gwyn for sharing this link in her newsletter!
Catch us on our social pages
If you haven’t already, check out our social media pages to stay updated on our quirky takes on the latest social media trends and the occasional piece of engagement-related advice.
All the best,
Peter and the StreamAlive team