Workshop Icebreaker Questions - Participatory Activity for Facilitators

30 Great Workshop Icebreaker Questions

Workshop Icebreaker Questions - Participatory Activity for Facilitators
Group Size: 2+
Activity Duration: 5-10 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
Materials Required: None. Optional: Printed question cards or Presentation slide with the question(s) on the screen.

Icebreakers can give people an opportunity to bond at the start of a workshop. However, asking people to introduce themselves to the person next to them can feel a bit awkward or robotic.

Here are a list of Workshop Icebreaker Questions you can use at your next meeting, seminar, networking session or training workshop:

  1. Tell us about an eventful journey or travel experience
  2. If you could create a dream job role for yourself, what would it be? Be outrageous, chocolate tester, professional lounger, princess, etc.
  3. If you could choose one superpower, what would it be and why?
  4. Tell us your guilty pleasure (a cheesy band or TV show you can’t get enough of)
  5. What is the best thing about your hometown?
  6. If you could have dinner with any celebrity, who would it be and why?
  7. What’s your dream travel location and why?
  8. If you could switch lives with anyone, who would it be and why?
  9. If you could go back in time and visit yourself 10 years ago, what advice would you give yourself?
  10. Someone is making a movie about your life, which actor or actress would play you and why?
  11. If you could travel to any time period in history, where would you go?
  12. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
  13. If you could keep any animal as a pet, what would it be and why?
  14. Say “hello” in as many different languages as you can!
  15. What’s the first meme that comes into your head?
  16. When was the last time that you felt particularly proud of yourself?
  17. Who is the most famous person that you’ve ever met?
  18. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
  19. Someone is writing an autobiography about you, what would it be called?
  20. What’s your go-to takeout order?
  21. Name one thing that everyone loves, but you dislike
  22. Do you collect anything? If so, what do you collect and why?
  23. What would be your perfect breakfast?
  24. What’s your favourite month of the year and why?
  25. If you had an unlimited gift card for any store, which store would you spend it in?
  26. If you had an unlimited gift card for any store, what’s the first thing you would buy?
  27. You’ve just won the lottery. What’s the first thing you would do?
  28. How do you like to start your day?
  29. What’s your favourite social media app and why?
  30. What television series are you currently hooked on watching?

Tips for using this list of Workshop Icebreaker Questions

  1. Choose appropriate question(s) for the group – some questions may not be suitable for the environment, use your judgment.
  2. Answer the question yourself first – don’t put others on the spot, lead by example
  3. Give people a chance to think – it can sometimes be hard to answer icebreaker questions so give people a couple of minutes to think about their answer before putting them on the spot!
  4. Tailor your workshop icebreaker questions to compliment the topic of the workshop – if possible, find a relevant or topic variation of one of these questions to make it more meaningful

See also: Are Icebreakers necessary or just embarrassing?