An icebreaker for training and workshops that gets a new group talking in ten minutes

Four sentences are enough. "You will see a question and a set of images on your phone. Choose the one image that best represents your answer; there is no right answer. Tap it, then press Submit. I will show some answers to the group and ask a few of you to tell us about yours." Then start the round. The less you explain, the sooner people are talking.

Start light and move towards the work. For round 1, "How are you feeling right now?" or "What inspires you today?", both among Expressive's predefined questions. For round 2, something about the subject, such as the predefined "What represents your biggest challenge?" or one of your own: "What does a good team look like to you?" If there is time for a third, "What do you want to leave with today?" Any question can be typed into Prepare Next Round.

Paste the join link in the meeting chat a few minutes before you start; on a video call a link beats a QR code. People open it on their phone or laptop, with nothing to install. Share your facilitator screen when you release the mosaic, then ask three people to unmute and tell their story. For round 2, send the group to breakout rooms of three to explain their images to each other. In a hybrid session everyone answers on their own device, so the people online take part in the same round as the people in the room.

Yes, up to 99 people in one session. What changes is the sharing, not the game. Do not go round the room: at a minute each, thirty people take half an hour. Release the mosaic, ask what people notice, take three stories, then ask everyone to tell the story behind their image to the one or two people next to them, or in breakout rooms online. Everyone has spoken within fifteen minutes and nobody waits long for a turn.

Make the first question easy to answer and impossible to get wrong, such as "How are you feeling right now?". Go first: answer from your own phone and tell your story in thirty seconds, so the group hears how short and ordinary an answer can be. Let people talk in pairs before anyone speaks to the whole room. For anything personal, use View Response, which only you see, and ask before you release an answer. And let people pass: choosing an image is already taking part.

Personal questions in round 1: strangers will not tell a room about their biggest fear in the first five minutes. Waiting for the last answer: when most rows read COMPLETE, move on, because a late answer can still come in. Going round everyone in a big group. An opener that has nothing to do with the day: make the second question about the subject, so the icebreaker is the start of the work rather than a detour before it. And letting it run long: ten to fifteen minutes opens a session, forty minutes is a different exercise.

Yes. One round is enough: one question, the mosaic and two or three stories, about five minutes. It suits the first meeting of a new team or project, and regular meetings where "fine, thanks" has become the only answer anyone gives.

3 credits per participant who joins, so a group of 20 is 60 credits, and the 100 free credits you get at sign-up cover an icebreaker for up to 33 people. If you open every course this way, the Expressive annual plan is $275 a year for unlimited sessions, worth it from about 92 participants a year. Sessions with up to two participants are free, so rehearse as often as you like.