Ease the apprehension and excite some interaction at your club meetings.
- Two things. Have members and guests divide into small groups or pairs, depending on the number of attendees. Let them select two items from their purse or wallet to show others and talk about. Embarrassing driver’s license photos or the receipt from a recent bookstore purchase can be great conversation starters.
- Liar! Have folks write down three things about themselves, two true and one untrue. Read them aloud and have the others decide which is a lie. You can have this icebreaker continue through the meeting by just reading a few at a time.
- Loosen up. Hire a professional masseuse to give five-minute back or neck rubs to each member and guest. Time the massages so that everyone receives the relaxing treat. Promoting this indulgence ahead of time will virtually guarantee a large turnout!
- Line up. As people enter your meeting, hand each one a piece of paper with a number on it. Ask the group to line up in numerical order without using their voices or hands or showing their papers.
- Nametags. Prepare nametags for each person and put them in a box. As people walk into the room, each person picks a nametag (not their own). When everyone is present, participants are told to find the person whose nametag they drew and introduce and say a few interesting things about themselves. When everyone has their own nametag, each person in the group will introduce the person whose nametag they were initially given and mention something of interest about that person. This helps participants get to know and remember each other.
- Meet and greet shoe pile. This works great in large groups and is a variation of the nametags icebreaker. Have everyone take off one of his or her shoes and throw it into a pile. Have each group member pick up a shoe and walk around the meeting room greeting other people as they try to match their selected shoe to the one another team member is wearing. This is a great way for new people to meet several members in a group.
- Scavenger hunt. A people-based hunt involves finding people in the room who meet the criteria on your list. For instance: Who has lived the farthest away from your city? Who went to college in a certain state? Who has the cutest photo in his or her wallet? Maybe even give a small reward, like a candy bar, to each person who finishes the list in a given time.
- T-shirt contest. Ask attendees to wear (or bring) their favorite T-shirt to the meeting. Once all participants have arrived, ask each person to show the shirt to the group and explain how the T-shirt best resembles their personality or why it is a favorite.
- Favorite five. Creatively divide people into groups of five, giving them a sheet of paper and a pen. Have each group find any “favorite” that all five people can agree upon. For example, if all five agree that blue is their favorite color, they can write “color=blue” on their paper. You might want to give them a list of suggestions to start with including favorite color, flavor of ice cream, dessert, vacation spot, baseball team, president, etc.
- Ball toss. Participants form a circle and toss a soft ball around the circle. Participants state their own names as they catch the ball. After going around the circle and giving their own names twice, then start testing name recall. When a person catches the ball, he or she should call out the name of the person who threw it.
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