Games you can play at work meetings

This is an all-round win-win if your company already has a nonprofit organization that they donate to. At the beginning of the meeting reiterate the specific agenda of the meeting.

This helps attendees focus their attention and understand what is required of them. The meeting organizer should also make it clear what decisions need to be made or what actions need to be taken by the end of that meeting.

Be positive about all inputs. Also, state that participation is paramount from all attendees. To engage them in the decision-making processes, write few questions related to the meeting agenda on the board or in the group chat before attendees arrive. Then ask each person has to write their answer on a Post-It note and place it next to each question — or submit it to the group chat in a numbered order.

Another way to increase participation is to have a small token, say a poker chip or a talking stick, given randomly to a person to speak. After that person has shared his idea, he passes it to another person who has yet to receive the chip.

A virtual talking stick can be made through the technology of the mute button — force everyone to mute their mics while someone else is talking. This allows the person speaking to talk without interruption.

Then, by any unconventional method, take turns speaking by allowing each team member to talk individually before opening up the discussion to the entire remote team. You can use various online tools to jot down notes and then lets attendees add their own comments to these. Make sure that attendees know they may leave when the meeting turns to affairs not relevant to their roles in the company.

This will eliminate any last-minute madness where attendees have arrived only to find no meeting room available. Also make sure that the meeting space suits the number of attendees and work to be accomplished.

These technologies can range anywhere from whiteboards, markers, projectors, screens, to video calling equipment, screen-share applications, or somewhere in between. Do a quick run-through and test everything out before the meeting begins, to avoid wasting time during the meeting. The maximum amount of time that produces productive discussion on one topic is about an hour. Meetings that last for more than an hour, tend to be unproductive.

Everyone stands up for the duration of the meeting. If you want to have brief meetings, try this technique. It also tends to get people physically moving which brings more energy to the meeting. Moreover, when people are standing they will get to the point faster. When you start on time, you should ideally be able to end on time. If you have scheduled a meeting for 30 or 60 minutes, make it a habit to close it at the end of that time.

If people know the meeting is going to end at a specific time, it will drive better meeting behavior by all involved. Quick announcements of the time remaining at regular intervals can also help maintain a proper meeting pace. If all decisions have been made, please just go ahead end the meeting early. Let people get on to other things. Getting back to work is more productive than sitting in a conference room and chatting. Ending meetings early is also a sign of a systematic, effective and productive team.

Initially, no one may have any questions, but be patient. If you wait a minute without trying to fill-in the awkward silence, usually some questions will come out. These questions always end up being very useful. Lastly, arrange for glucose-based drinks during your morning meetings or invite your remote team to sip their coffee or energy drink as they chat online.

This increases concentration and willpower which is essential for effective discussions and decision making. Engaged meetings lead to creative brainstorming sessions and productive decisions. While most employees dread morning meetings, innovative leaders can find ways to make meetings fun as well as productive.

If you prefer more team building to engage the team, Outback has some fantastic virtual team building activities and even virtual trivia games for teams. You can try the ultimate virtual escape room experience or the virtual happy hour trivia.

These activities are so much and are guaranteed to engage the whole team. Tools can make a difference between boring meetings versus effective working sessions where good decisions get made, people are engaged and leave with a clear sense of purpose. One interesting tool you can consider is Less Meeting. They then rip up their answers, which allows them to maintain their privacy, then focus on group tasks ahead. This popular game works like this: Each team member tells the group three statements about themselves.

Then, the rest of the team has to guess which of the three statements is a lie. It can encourage colleagues to pay close attention to personal traits and stories. As well as attention to detail, it also encourages focus on consistency. This could be a fun online game to play during a coffee break hangout and always results in some fun water cooler chit-chat.

Ask every member of the team to join a shared document or an online meeting board before the meeting begins and post a picture of something from their life. It can be anything that will tell a story about who each member is or how they work: a picture of the shoes each member is wearing, the view out their window or a photo of their desk. Then ask them to share the story behind their picture. Here at Miro, we used this ice breaker game before a remote workshop about User Personas. The task was to share a picture of something on your desk that tells a story about who you are or how you work.

In addition to this, we shared one thing we learned recently. It was fun and surprising, allowing us to get to know each other more and set the casual atmosphere we needed for the workshop.

This game is good for starting a brainstorming session. Divide your team into small groups and ask them to spend 10 minutes coming up with a list of 10 things they have in common. If you prefer to keep the topic more business oriented, limit the list to work or industry-related topics.

Allow time for each group of remote workers to share their list with the larger team on the online whiteboard. This will create an electric, dynamic atmosphere, well suited to brainstorming. This versatile game often has fond childhood associations, and can be done anywhere, whether in the office or outside.

Step 2: Give respective teams a different jigsaw puzzle but with the same difficulty level. The goal is to see which team can finish their jigsaw puzzle the fastest. Step 3: However, here's the catch. Some jigsaw puzzle pieces of each team will be mixed with the jigsaw puzzles of the rest of the groups. It's up to each group to come up with a plan to get those pieces back. It may either be through negotiating, trading, or through other methods.

Whatever the decision might be, the whole team will have to reach a consensus about it. Material Required: Bingo cards for each team member, a random number generating app, pen. Here is a full, detailed explanation of how to play Bingo. What is your favorite fun game in office to play with the rest of the team?

Tell us in the comments below. This article is written by Barasha Medhi who is a part of the marketing team at Vantage Circle. Barasha can be found either searching for interesting HR, company culture, and corporate buzzwords to write about or looking at pictures of cozy Bel Air mansions.

For any related queries, contact editor vantagecircle. To automate, simplify and streamline all types of recognition and rewards into one easy-to-manage system. We safeguard your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Download Now. Bookmarks You haven't yet saved any bookmarks. Last Updated on 13 December So, without any further ado, let's get started. This party game is a classic for a reason.

How To Play? Time Limit: Approximately minutes while 18 minutes is the norm. Why Does It Work? Additionally, the Marshmallow Challenge encourages participants to look for Plan B.

Material Required: Pen, sheets of paper, post-it notes. Material Required: Various "trophies," pen paper, post-it notes. The result should be the remaining nine people in three rows of three. Essentially, it should look like a human Tic Tac Toe board. These two will take turns asking one of the people on-camera to make either an X or an O with their arms.

The player who gets a line of three first will win. Here is the extra challenge — not everyone sees the same people in the same order on their screen — so have them take a photo or screen shot to prove they actually won. Do you have people in the office? Have someone go around and take photos of random objects, parts of signs, and have people guess what each object is and where it is in your physical office.

If you enjoy the board game Boggle — where players use a random selection of letters to form as many words as possible in under a minute — you will love Voggle virtual Boggle.

Give people 10 seconds to write down all the letters. Not only will this get people thinking, but it will have them laughing as well. Bonus for work-related words!