Remote Workshop Activities

Starting a meeting or after a break in a group where participants don't know each other or don't know much about each other

This method helps groups to avoid awkward silence at the beginning of the session and instantly start a conversation. Ideal for large groups.

By growing our emotional vocabulary, we can better identify our emotions, and check in with ourselves. Doing so can help bring a level of self-awareness, and a better understanding of others.

In the Desert Island Game, begin by asking your participants an important question – if you were stranded on a desert island, what essential items would you choose to survive?

Participants are given a list of items to choose from and must work together to decide which items will help them stay alive.

The Desert Island Game is a great, remote-friendly exercise for a team to work together and share opinions.

In gallery view we say something that is true of you (e.g. I have a dog). Everyone that this is true for keeps their camera on; everyone that this is not true for covers their camera. Repeat with a new true statement from someone else in the group.

Blind Drawing is an icebreaker game where one person describes an object the other person must then draw with only verbal instructions as a guide.

Team energiser for a virtual classroom or web conference meeting

Encourage creative thinking and getting to know each other better with a short round of 'time travel' questions to each of your participants.

This is a well-known and simple ice-breaker, designed to get to know the other members of your team well, as well as practicing your own poker face!

This activity could work between sessions as an energiser or an icebreaker. It builds on participants' memory and communication.

Facilitate a team conversation about personal strengths:

• Ask participants to pick from a set of strength card, e.g. one strength each for everyone in the group (or more for small groups)

• People take turns to “give” a strength to another team member, share how/when they have seen the strength in the other person and say thank you

• Everyone will end up with a set of strengths provided by other team members and feel belonging and appreciation

Draw circles up in the air with the index finger and observe the way the direction of the circles changes, as we change the vantage point.