Use case

Icebreakers and energisers for your training session

Two to five minutes, no awkward sharing, and every answer on the big screen. Each activity below runs as a live poll, word cloud or quiz, in the room or on the call.

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Quick answerUpdated 11 November 2026

What are good icebreaker activities for a training session?

Good icebreaker activities for a training session take two to five minutes, need no personal sharing, and connect to the topic. Five work in a room or on a video call: a one-word check-in shown as a live word cloud; a round of this-or-that polls; a five-question warm-up quiz on the topic, which doubles as a quick check of what people already know; a "guess the colleague" quiz built from fun facts people send you beforehand; and a confidence rating, where everyone rates how sure they feel about the topic and you show the spread. In QG Playground, each one is a live poll, word cloud, rating or quiz question. Put the room code on the screen, people join at qgplay.live on their phones with no app, and results appear on the big screen as they answer. Later in the day, a 90-second speed round works as an energiser after lunch.

Six icebreakers and energisers, step by step

One-word check-in

Word cloud · 2 min · works on a call
Ask “In one word, how are you arriving today?” or “In one word, what do you want from this session?”. The answers build a live word cloud on the screen, and the biggest words tell you the mood of the room before you say anything. Read two or three out and move on.

This-or-that

Polls · 3 min · works on a call
Three quick polls with two options each: tea or coffee, mornings or nights, slides or whiteboard. Nobody has to share anything personal, everyone has an opinion, and the split on the screen starts the conversation. End with one this-or-that about the topic itself.

Warm-up quiz on the topic

Quiz · 5 min · works on a call
Five easy-to-medium questions on what you are about to teach. It gets everyone answering in the first five minutes, and it also shows what people already know, so you can spend less time on what the room has covered and more on what it hasn't.

Guess the colleague

Quiz built from facts sent beforehand · 5 min · works on a call
Before the session, ask each person for one harmless fun fact. Turn them into questions with names as the options: “Who has run a marathon?”. The reveals get laughs, and people start the day knowing something new about each other.

Confidence scale

Rating · 1 min · works on a call · ratings need Pro
Ask everyone to rate how sure they feel about the topic, from 1 to 5, and show the spread. It takes a minute, nobody is put on the spot, and you can ask the same question at the end of the day to see how the spread has moved.

After-lunch speed round

Quiz, 5 questions, 10-second timer · 2 min · works on a call
The energiser for the slow hour after lunch. Five quick questions, ten seconds each, with speed points and a leaderboard at the end. Keep them light, the room wakes up, and you are back into the content in two minutes.

Icebreakers for virtual and hybrid sessions

On a call, share the presenter view, put the room code in the chat and say it out loud once. People answer on their phones, or in a second browser tab, so nobody has to unmute to take part. In a hybrid room, project the same window and use one code for the room and the call, so everyone lands on the same screen. Keep each activity under five minutes; attention drops faster on a call, so run them a little more often than you would in person.

Need the questions?

Take a ready-made set of icebreaker questions for meetings, or ask Granny for five warm-up questions on your topic and check them before the session. For a whole workshop with the checks built in, see a live quiz for training workshops, and for quick votes, live polls.

Questions people ask

Can't find it? The help centre has step-by-step answers.

How long should an icebreaker take in training?

Two to five minutes. Longer warm-ups eat into the session, and short ones keep the energy.

What is an energiser in training?

A short, active break, usually after lunch or a long module, that gets people moving or competing for a few minutes. A 90-second speed quiz works well.

Do icebreakers work on Zoom or Teams?

Yes. Share the presenter view on the call, and people answer on their phones with the room code.

Which formats are on the Free plan?

Polls, word clouds and quiz questions are on Free, for up to 20 people a session. Ratings and rankings need Pro.

Can I reuse the same icebreakers?

Yes. Save them as one quiz and re-run it at the start of every session.