A fun, creative, curiosity inspiring, ice breaker activity that’s easily adapted to virtual format.
Try it in your next team meeting to build interpersonal connections in your team. (In case you missed why this would be important
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Instruct all to grab a blank index card/piece of paper and a pen and have them write their first name in the top half of the card.
- In the bottom half, ask each person to write a series of numbers and/or numbers and letters which represent a set of interesting facts about themselves.
- For example, 1964-14Y-1K could represent a person born in 1964, married for 14 years and has one child (kid.)
- Encourage people to focus on interesting aspects of their life and experiences.
- Send them to break-out rooms and have them decide on who goes first. Person 1 raises his/her card to the group.
- Invite everyone to engage in a series of conversations about their index cards
Virtual Adaptation
- Have each person write their name and a series of numbers (as instructed above) on a sheet of paper. When ready, invite one person at a time to show their paper to the camera so everyone can see their name and numbers. As a group try to guess what the numbers represent. It’s not a test, so allow a short time for guessing before the person holding the paper tells their group what the number means. Always fascinating.
- Alternatively invite each person to type their numbers into the chat room facility.
- For large groups, divide into smaller ‘break-out’ rooms of approx 4 to 10 people to share their numbers.
