You’re in a classroom, giving a presentation. The atmosphere is a bit tense. Maybe people in the classroom don’t know each other very well. Maybe people are not really in the mood for a presentation on a Monday. Times like these call for an ice breaker.

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What Is An Ice Breaker?

An Ice Breaker is something that you do at the start of a discussion or interaction. They can help people feel more comfortable.

Break The Ice

Using the Ice Breaker strategy can help your audience (mostly students) feel comfortable and emotionally vested in your lecture or presentation. These techniques work for people of nearly every age.

Icebreakers help engage the audience and they’re great. But, it is also important to use the right icebreaker or you could end up with an awkward or embarrassing vibe instead.

Here are some light techniques for breaking the ice in a room:

Ask A Funny Question

You can try asking the audience a funny question and have them raise their hands to answer. This will require a bit of creativity, but it works really well when done correctly.

For example, You can ask a  question related to the presentation’s topic. Have the audience answer by voting for the correct answer. After they raise their hands, ask a humorous question and see people’s reaction.

Preferably, the question shouldn’t be something that divides a room. Ask something with has to do with personal preference but maybe a bit humorous. Keep an uplifting atmosphere in the room.

e.g. How many people play sports in here?

e.g. How many people feel tired right now, etc

Follow up with a joke or an appropriate response to segway into your next point.

Ask Members of The Audience To Answer Your Question At The Start of The Presentation

This one is used by teachers quite a lot. The teacher starts the lecture by asking the students a question. Then, the students try to answer that question.

This presents an opportunity for the smart people to show off. It also encourages the jesters to give a funny answer. It gives a chance to the social people to voice their opinion.