presentations know your audience

Audience Analysis for Presentations: How to know your audience and present better

If you are in any business or public speaking domain, you must have heard of the term audience analysis. If you’ve ever given a talk where half of the people seem disinterested or distracted, it’s probably because you’ve overlooked the importance of audience analysis.

It’s high time to rethink about how to prepare a presentation. It’s always about the audience, so let’s start there. Celebrated speakers and leaders in history knew what their audience wanted and they used it to form an instant and prolonged connection with the mass. Though each person is different with their own perceptions and views, your job as a speaker is to find that common thread that connects all of them, and align your presentation along those lines.

In this article, we will take you through simple steps to know your audience and how you can use it to deliver better presentations, form better connections and impart values to your audience. You can also create better presentations in minutes with these PowerPoint templates from SlideBazaar!

What is Audience Analysis?

It always helps to know who you are speaking to and why they are listening to you. Audience analysis refers to the gathering of information about your audience to form a generalized opinion, and then using the data to weave your presentation well. This involves planning your presentation for the audience by adapting to their understanding, values and interests. In any form of public speaking, audience is of utmost importance and catering to their needs is what sets a great speaker apart from the rest.

It’s difficult to make assumptions about someone you’ve just met. But there are audience analysis techniques you can use to identify the subtle traits which may give you a better idea of what they want. In further sections, we will discuss which of these should be considered in the analysis of your audience along with tips to incorporate them into your presentations.

Why is audience analysis important?

1. knowing your audience helps you speak their language and gain their trust.

Audience analysis makes it easier to form a connection with the audience since you already know what they are looking for. Effective communication is about both speaker and audience being in sync in terms of their motives and actions. And the better you know the audience, the more both parties will benefit from the interaction. You can build trust among your target audience by addressing the pain points and suggesting tangible solutions.

2. Understanding their behavioral patterns helps you to persuade them to take desired actions

Knowing the values of your target audience gives you a window into knowing how they make a decision. This is very crucial because you never know when you might stumble upon a business opportunity or a potential collaboration. If your presentation is meant to educate the crowd or promote your service or to get a sale, knowing the behavioral patterns of your target audience will help you give a more compelling presentation. Some look for ways to save money and time, while some spend more time and prefer quality over quantity. Addressing them in your presentation is a promising way to get them on board.

3. Audience adaptation helps you be sensitive to their needs and expectations

By knowing more about the target audience, you can estimate how receptive they would be to different segments of your speech. Audience analysis helps you realize what emotions may trigger, offend and how to persuade them. You develop a better understanding of do’s and don’ts to follow in the presentation. You can choose the tone, analogies, jokes and call to action in a more audience-centric way, and this will create further impact on your audience.

How to know your audience?

At this point, you are convinced you should know your audience for delivering better presentations. But you must be wondering what you should look for in a group of people you’ve just met. Here are some factors which you can take a note of to make better assumptions about the audience.

1. Audience Demographics

Demographics refers to the statistical characteristics of a group such as age, gender identity, education, occupation, ethnicity, financial and marital status. Age and education level are very important since it highly influences how the information would be consumed. Dumbing down your audience will leave them distracted since they won’t benefit from your presentation. Similarly, overestimating their level of information intake will leave them exhausted. According to their background, there will be different angles of the same topic people will be interested in. Knowing the details in advance will help you prepare the presentation accordingly.

2. Knowledge of Topic

It’s very important to understand what prior knowledge the audience possesses regarding the subject. It determines how you should start your talk. If you’re talking to amateurs, you should probably start with a simple introduction of the topic along with its significance so that they feel interested in listening to you. If you’re talking to experts, you can jump into the topic and talk about more technicalities since you already have them on board. Understanding their experience and training in the topic can help you streamline your presentation. You can decide whether to use jargons or to use more broad examples during your talk.

3. Audience Size and Setting

The way you talk to a class of ten students is very different from the way you talk to a room of 300 business owners. Your speech at a funeral would be different from that at a wedding. So, it’s important to know how many people you will be addressing, and in what context. Will it be a closed room or an open stage? Would there be provision to include audiovisual tools (e.g., slides) or do you have to prepare a full-on speech? Knowing the size of your crowd will help you accommodate the right amount of interaction so that the conversation is lively and engaging.

Make sure you know what time of the day you will be speaking because people have different attention levels in the morning and late afternoon.

4. Values and Beliefs

Religious inclination, cultural backgrounds and general upbringing have a huge role in shaping how open people accept a new idea. Some might be reluctant to accept them unless they are convinced that it aligns with their system of belief. Consider the possibility of having people with different beliefs and value systems. You should take effort to not offend anyone. Try to understand their ideologies to fine tune your speech so that it’s not insensitive or distracting.

5. Means of Consuming Information

Where do your audience typically consume information from? Do they consume it online or do they resort to textbooks? Do they attend similar workshops and update themselves with the current trends? Are they regularly interacting with experts in the field or included in the studies themselves? All these matters when it comes to deciding how you should pass the information on. If they prefer discussions, you can include a lot of engaging activities. If they like to have capsules of information, you can include the main points in bullets before loading them with details.

Types of audience and how to deal with them

Based on the above-mentioned aspects, people respond differently to you. In this section, we look at different types of audience and ways to handle them.

Some might be reluctant to change their ways of thinking and you might need strong logical reasons to convince them. Some might be volunteers who readily accept a new idea and are ready to take the action you want them to take. Some might be the drivers of decision making in a group where they cut across distractions and ensure the promise is delivered.

1. Hostile audience: They are hard to convince, so have evidence for all your claims.

These are the egocentric people who question your claims and defend their views. The fact that audience is egocentric means that they are less open to new perspectives and ideas. When you spot such people in a crowd, don’t panic.

Listen to what they have to say and stress on the common points you share. This feeds their ego and can work well to have them on board with you. Don’t exaggerate or drag your points since they may distract or even offend them. Have clear and concise data for all your claims and present your conclusions in a compelling way.

2. Friendly audience: Use the shared interests in your favor.

There might be some people who are already excited about the topic and are willing to hear from you. They resonate with your ideas and support you throughout your presentation.

Talk to them passionately and tap into their emotions by using analogies or models similar to them. Friendly audience are the most loyal and easiest to convince. So, tell them what exactly to do, be it purchasing your product or signing up for your newsletter.

3. Apathetic audience: They don’t care, show them why they should.

This is the section of people who care least about what you have to offer. They have no interest to argue or discuss. They may zone out from time to time and are probably waiting for you to stop talking.

The first step is to make them a part of the conversation. Ask simple questions and be patient while they answer. Use interesting visuals to gauge their interest. Slowly bring them to your subject through strong points and show them why they should care. Don’t show off your skills, instead focus on what’s in it for them.

4. Uninformed audience: They have no expert knowledge, so start from the basics.

These are the people who have come to learn a deep understanding of the subject. They might have a very vague understanding of the topic and want to learn more. They are looking for someone who can explain to them in basic terms.

So, before you dive in, ask them what they know and start with basic examples and applications. Take time to teach them before persuading them to take an action. You want to avoid jargons or any terms which might be heavy for this section of audience.

Most crowds have most if not all kinds of personalities; so, prepare your presentation to fit all of them well.

Follow these steps in your next presentation

You have done a complete audience analysis and now you know what they expect from your presentation. How will you use that data in your favor? What changes will you make to your presentation? These bits of information are useful only when you know what to do with the data. Here are some steps you can follow to put audience analysis data into use.

1. Practice audience-centeredness in your presentation

Always remember to put the audience first. Tell them what’s in it for them. Actively ask them what they expect from your presentation. If you’re teaching a new concept to the crowd, tell them where they can apply it in real life. If you’re selling a product, show them the benefits of the service rather than the features. If you’re a researcher, tell them how your studies change the current scenario of the domain and how that will impact them. Be sure to choose the examples wisely.

2. Find a common ground

No two people have the same opinion or perception of things. It’s impossible to deliver exactly what your audience want and in the exact way they want. But, it’s wise to find a common ground where you include the audience without deflecting from your values and objectives. It doesn’t mean you should change the presentation fully to fit the audience’s wants; you will lose your authenticity. However, if you’re adamant about your views and delivery, people will perceive you aggressive and wouldn’t want to listen to you. This also helps in addressing each type of audience well.

3. Cr eate audience personas and practice

Based on your best assumptions, create a persona of your target audience and keep that in mind while practicing your presentation. Humans love undivided attention; everyone in the audience should feel like you’re speaking to them individually. Having a characteristic persona helps you devise techniques to address them. You can use the demographic details and their expectations of the subject to create a persona. Apart from presentations, you can also use this in business proposals to convey your message in the intended way.

4. Identify their pain points and address them in your presentation

Once you know what your audience expects and what their pain points are, you can then decide how to talk to them. Address their problems and give possible solutions. Convince them what you have to offer can solve the problems for them. Use tools like answerthepublic.com to know what are the common queries related to your topic. And draft your presentation to answer those questions in the best way possible such as to promote your product/service. This way, it will be easier to get them to take the desired action.

5. Go for audience segmentation if needed

If you think it’s better to divide the audience into different groups and approach them differently, do that. There can be topics that are relevant to different types of audience. Use the audience analysis data to identify and segregate potential groups in the audience. Doing this can help both the speaker and the audience since both don’t have to compromise much.

We have given you the tools and tricks to know what your audience wants and now it’s up to you to put into use. To help you with that, we have different presentation templates that will make it easier for your audience to receive the message better. If you’re looking for opportunities to incorporate audience analysis into your presentations more effectively, we have audience analysis templates exclusively designed for that.

Happy presenting!

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50+ Fun Icebreakers For Your Next Presentation

If you’re looking for the perfect icebreaker to open your presentation and connect with your audience from the get-go, look no further! With the help of our presentation experts here at 24Slides, we have compiled the ultimate list of icebreakers you can use in your next presentation, meeting, or conference. 

We’ll also go through some quick icebreakers 101, solving questions like:

What is an icebreaker?

• Why should I start my presentation with an icebreaker?
• What makes a good icebreaker for presentations?

And, of course, you’ll get our compilation of over 50 icebreaker examples for your next presentation. Since there’s no one-size-fits-all, we’ve divided our presentation ice breakers into categories depending on the context of your presentation, so you can go straight to the ones that will work the best for you!

In this article, you’ll find:

Icebreakers for one-on-one presentations

Icebreakers for small group presentations (2-10 people), icebreakers for medium group presentations (11-30 people), icebreakers for large groups (31+ people), icebreakers for business and sales presentations, icebreaker ideas for training sessions and workshops.

• Virtual presentations icebreakers
• Fun icebreaker examples for playful presentations
• Great simple icebreaker questions  

So, are you ready to become an expert in using icebreakers in your presentations?

Imagine you’re in a room with a bunch of people where you know only a few of them or even none at all. You’d probably start feeling awkward and self-conscious, uncertain to interact with those around you. When you’re uncomfortable, your attention will probably be divided between wanting to listen to the speaker and making sure your elbows don’t touch your unknown neighbor. 

And, if you’re the speaker, you might feel pretty awkward too. Speaking in front of an audience is never easy, and you might wonder how to approach your presentation’s topic, especially if it’s dense or very important. 

An icebreaker is precisely what its name suggests: it breaks the ‘ice’ of uncomfortableness between you and everyone else around you. Icebreakers are usually short activities meant to help your audience to connect first as people before approaching your presentation’s topic - making your audience more relaxed and likely to hear out your ideas. 

Icebreakers can take many forms and shapes, from simple questions to engaging games. They can require people to talk with each other, answer a poll, or even move around the room. Anything that will make your attendees open up could be an icebreaker as long as it makes people feel more at ease! 

Benefits of icebreakers

The main objective of using an icebreaker in a presentation is to help people get more comfortable and avoid the common awkwardness when first speaking to a new audience. 

Icebreakers can accomplish many things - presenting yourself, getting people more at ease, and even as an introduction to your presentation’s topic. But they also offer a wide array of side benefits, like getting people more involved with your presentation and making it more memorable. 

If you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Why should I add an icebreaker to my presentation? I’m just fine without one!’ here are 6 of the top benefits of using an icebreaker in your next meeting. 

• It breaks down the awkwardness

For people who aren’t 100% an extrovert, presentations and meetings are likely to create a certain degree of awkwardness. And having a room full of people who feel uncomfortable around each other can be detrimental to your presentation. Icebreakers help lessen this feeling in your presentation – making people relax and be more at ease so they can put all their energy into listening.

• Icebreakers help people relax and have fun

When people relax, they’re more likely to entertain new ideas. An icebreaker may be the turning point to make them feel more receptive to what you’re going to say. It also opens up more possibilities for inviting your audience to participate and ask questions. Icebreakers are a great way to make them feel welcomed and more likely to volunteer or join whatever activity you’ve prepared for them onstage.

• Help you connect with your audience

A presentation where the speaker starts right away can feel a little jarring. Icebreakers are the perfect way to introduce yourself and your topic without throwing your audience headfirst into the presentation. A good icebreaker can help you connect better with your audience – making them, in turn, more likely to hear you out!

• Gives your audience an energy boost

Some presentations can feel like they take forever. When you’ve been sitting down for what seems like hours, you might feel yourself starting to nod off. An icebreaker doesn’t necessarily happen just at the start of the presentation. It can be a great way to wake up your audience after a quick break and bring them back to the topic at hand. 

• Gives a chance to network with others

The right icebreaker can get your audience talking and help them find things in common. After all, your audience is all in the same meeting for a reason! By giving them the opportunity to interact with one another, you are also giving them the extra value of finding people who can work with them in the future. 

And, of course, icebreakers are great ways to get the ball rolling, so by giving your audience a chance to talk with one another, you might also get more interesting and unique takes on questions and ideas later on. 

• Creates a positive atmosphere

A positive atmosphere is created when people lower their barriers and defense mechanisms, making it more conducive to learning. A negative atmosphere, on the other hand, is felt when people don’t feel at ease and give their neighbors the cold shoulder. ‘Breaking the ice’ needs to get done as soon as possible!

5 Practical Tips for a Good Icebreaker 

What makes a good icebreaker? This is a tricky question to ask. Many icebreakers that work in certain situations will not work in others, as their use depends on context. 

Here are key factors to consider when planning your next presentation’s icebreaker: 

• Know your audience

Take the time to research your audience. The most important thing when planning your presentation’s icebreaker is to remind that you want your audience to feel less awkward  — not more.

Taking your time to learn about the people in front of you is the easiest way to avoid doing or saying something that could potentially offend your audience. Even if you do it unintentionally, the damage will still be done. 

• Identify your presentation objective

The right icebreaker will help you achieve your presentation objective, so take some extra time to think about it. For example, if you’re giving a presentation on cooperation and teamwork, you can do a game where your audience needs to rely on one another. Or conduct a poll to ask your audience how confident they are in their teamwork skills. 

Making your icebreaker closely relate to your presentation’s topic will not only open up your audience but also allow you to transition smoothly to the rest of your presentation. 

• Involve everyone

The icebreaker should be inclusive, meaning it shouldn’t exclude anyone from joining. For instance, if you have a disabled person in the crowd, then you wouldn’t want him or her to feel awkward for not being able to join. 

Have a backup icebreaker just in case the first one excludes someone. The point is that fun icebreakers should make everyone feel more at ease  — and not at the expense of the outliers of the crowd.

• Make sure you understand the context

To pick the right icebreaker for your presentation, you must know the overall setting in which it will take place. A presentation to the board of directors where you need to explain where the sales have been going down is probably not the best place to use a joke as an icebreaker. Or, if you’re giving a quick 15-minute presentation, you might not want to begin with a game that will take at least 10 of them. 

Taking into consideration general setting cues like time frame, space and resources availability, and presentation tone, will help you pick the perfect icebreaker. 

The Ultimate Presentation Icebreakers List

Here you’ll find the perfect icebreaker for your presentation. Since not every icebreaker will work on every situation, here you’ll find them divided into several categories: 

• Icebreakers depending on your audience size
• Icebreakers depending on your presentation’s tone and context
• Quick and easy questions to break the ice

Do feel free to browse through the entire list: most icebreakers will be easy to adapt to fit your specific needs and your presentation!  

Presentation Icebreakers for Every Audience Size

While in a small crowd, you might be able to ask person by person their input, this will most likely not be the case in large groups. On the flip side, a game that needs the audience to divide into teams might be a good pick for a medium-sized crowd, but not a one-on-one presentation. 

Among the many options of icebreaker options all over the web, we’ve compiled and edited a list of which ones will work the best for each audience size: 

• Introduce yourself. Unless you already know each other, introducing yourself is the easiest way to look proactive and get your presentation going. After all, it’s in your best interest for your prospect to warm up to you before your pitch or presentation!
• Have a conversation . Don’t go straight to your topic. Always warm up your prospects and engage them in conversation first. Try to ask open-ended (instead of just ‘yes’ or ‘no’) questions. You can tackle topics like current events, or even just the weather! Just talking in a more casual way will make the person feel more at ease and more likely to give you their undivided attention. 
• Ask them about their personal life. If it’s someone you already know, build rapport by showing you care about them. You can ask about their kids, vacations, or even their favorite sports team. Remembering what they care about can be a huge plus when building a better atmosphere! 
• Let them tell you what they expect from your presentation. It’s the easiest way to make sure you live up to your expectations! It also allows you to introduce the topics of your presentation seamlessly. Even better, you’ll feel and look more confident and under control by taking charge of the presentation’s rhythm and agenda. 
• Ask something related to your presentation topic. Ask them if they know anything about your company, product, competitors, or something to that effect. It’s not only a great way to start your presentation without spending too much time on what they already know, but it’ll also help you gauge their knowledge so you can decide how in-depth you need to get in your presentation.
• Give them a small present just for showing up. Especially if the meeting is not an obligation for them, being appreciative if they show up can go a long way. After all, they’re investing their time and energy into you!
• Compliment them. It’s always nice to get compliments. But don’t overdo it, and always, always be genuine. If your prospect feels like you’re using flattery to get the sale, then it can seriously backfire on you later on. You’ll lose face and credibility.
• Introductions but with a twist. Ask everyone to introduce themselves and state something unusual or a fun fact about them. Towards the end of the presentation, ask them if they remember anything other people said during the introduction. If they get something right, reward them.
• Ask people to line up alphabetically . You can do this with their first names or last names. Or even their nicknames. This gets people talking and getting to know each other’s names.
• Charades . This is one of the best fun icebreakers on this list. It’s a party favorite but can also be used in presentations, meetings, and conferences. You probably already know how this works, but if not, here’s a funny charades video on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

• String a story together . Storytelling is a powerful element in presentations. But for this icebreaker, you’ll need everyone’s help to create a story. Start the first sentence yourself and then ask the first person in front of you to continue the story. Each person gets to decide the direction the story takes, one sentence at a time.
• Play word games . There are many different kinds of word games. But this is something you may find useful. Identify the subject or category the words should belong to, like animals or food. If the first person chooses ‘DOG,’ the next person must identify an animal that starts with the last letter of the previous word. In this case, it would be something that starts with the letter G, like GOAT.
• One word to describe him or herself . Give your audience one minute to think about the perfect word that describes them. And let the others assess if they agree with that word or not.
• Social media icebreaker . Let people open up their favorite social media accounts and then share a photo they’re most proud of. Ask them to share a line or two about why they love that photo.
• Switcheroo. Ask everyone to stand up and switch seats with the people in front of them. Do this when you notice people are starting to get drowsy and need some stimulation.
• Human bingo. This is a fun way to get to know people. Prepare the cards and the pen/pencil. The cards should already be filled out with various traits, characteristics, hobbies, etc. Then, your participants will need to go around and interview each person and check off a box that applies to them. The person who completes their card first gets a prize.
• Friendly debate. Group your participants into two. One should be the ‘pro’ group and the other is the ‘anti’ group. For instance, you can choose pizza lovers and pizza haters. Give them a few minutes to present their arguments and let the great debate begin!
• Two truths, one lie. Just like the title says, make your participants come up with 3 things about themselves, in which one of them is false. Then, in groups or pairs, the others would have to try and guess which one is the lie. It’s a great icebreaker to make your audience interact more with one another.
• Guess game. Just like the last one, it’s easier to make participants interact with one another through a game. Make everyone write on a piece of paper something fun, like an unlikely hobby or the oddest job they ever had. Your audience must try to guess who wrote which one. It’s not only a fun icebreaker, but it also helps people find out the things they have in common.
• Going to the beach. It’s an easy game, but a fun one! Each person will start by saying ‘I went to the beach and I took…’ plus an object, like a beachball, a towel, or a surfboard. Then, the next person must repeat the same sentence and add a new object to the list. The more people, the more the list will grow, and the first person who forgets an item loses! It’s also a good icebreaker for making attendees learn each other’s names by adding who brought what to part of the list they need to repeat. 
• Paper planes.  Make your audience write something about themselves on a piece of paper, and then instruct them to make a paper plane out of it and throw it! When they pick up a new paper plane, their goal will be to find the correct person. It’s the perfect icebreaker to get people moving and getting to know each other!
• Stretch. This one’s easy and straight to the point, but it does help break the boredom. Ask people to stand up and stretch for a few minutes. You can lead the exercise or play a short video on stage. After this short exercise, you can expect to see a bunch of awake and attentive faces.
• Treasure hunting. Hide a few prized items throughout the venue and send your participants on a treasure hunt. It’s always exciting to look out for a prize! Even better, by making them solve clues, you’d encourage your audience to work on their teamwork skills. 
• Stress buster. Hand small slips of paper to everyone and ask them to write down the things that are causing them stress lately. Then, during or after the presentation, ask them to rip it to shreds.
• Snowball fight. Divide your group into two sides, and give each person 3 pieces of paper to crumple. Give them 1 or 2 minutes to try to get as many ‘snowballs’ into the other team’s side. A healthy amount of competitiveness will help you break the ice in no time!
• This or that.  Another great icebreaker to highlight the things in common! Ask your audience to stand in the middle of the room, and ask them questions that will make them pick a side of the room. Things like ‘Dogs or cats?’ or ‘Night Owl or Early Bird?’ will have them jumping from one side to the other. 

Icebreakers depending on your presentation’s tone

When planning your next icebreaker, you must always take into account the context of your presentation. After all, giving a sales report to your boss is not the same as giving a fun workshop on teamwork.  

If you’re looking for the perfect icebreaker for a specific situation, here you might find the one you’re looking for!

If you’re looking for a more professional way to warm up your audience for your work presentations, these icebreakers are the one for you. Most business presentations are more serious and straight to the point, just like these icebreaker ideas!

• Storytelling. This one is the king of icebreakers for business presentations and for a good reason! Storytelling is an incredibly powerful tool to add to your presentations, as it helps to both exemplify your point and connect emotionally with your audience. And of course, this makes it the perfect option to break the ice and get their entire attention from the get-go. 
• The highlight of the week. This icebreaker is great for getting your audience into a positive mood. When planning your next business presentation, take some extra time to find something good that happened that week or that month. Maybe you record sales for that month, or you got an exceptionally good review from a customer.  
• Would you rather?  When planning your sales presentation icebreaker, this one will help to get your potential customer right where you want it. Highlight the value they’ll get from your product, and how they are missing out on it. From our experience, asking, ‘What do you prefer, struggling 5 hours per week on PowerPoint, or getting your presentations done by a professional team of designers in 24 hours or less ?’ really puts things into perspective!  
• Give kudos. The best way to put people in a good mood is to spread out some positivity!  Giving the spotlight to someone who has done outstanding work recently can be a great way to break the ice. 
• Brainstorming session. Group brainstorming is another great way to get people to exchange ideas. You hit two birds with one stone – an icebreaker and an idea generator rolled into one!

The best icebreakers for training presentations and workshops are those that incentivize teamwork and learning skills. These icebreakers will help your team get to know each other better and work together in tandem. 

• Live polls. There are many apps that allow your audience to make live polls and display the results immediately. This is a great icebreaker, as it can be as serious or lighthearted as you want. You can use it to ask the audience’s mood, their favorite food, and how much they know about the topic at hand.  
• Word cloud.  Just like a poll, a word cloud can be a great option to explore what your audience thinks about a prompt or concept you give them and to get the ball rolling. You can make them write down in groups, have them add their ideas to a board, or even make one through an app ! 
• Problem-solution icebreaker. Present a real or hypothetical problem, and ask people to pitch in their solutions. You can ask them for their input individually, or you can divide them into pairs. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one.
• Finish a puzzle together. This is great for group work as everyone can contribute. For example, you can give them a few pieces each, and they’ll then work as a team to complete the puzzle.
• Pop quiz. This icebreaker is the best to keep your audience on their toes and on a learning mood. You can add it at the end of your presentation, before or after a coffee break, or even at the beginning to see how much previous knowledge your audience has. 

Virtual presentation icebreakers

Not sharing a physical space can make breaking the ice even more of a challenge, especially since many icebreaker ideas would not fit an online presentation. So here you’ll find some icebreaker options that are specifically designed for virtual meetings!

• Drawing battle. You don’t have to be a professional artist to enjoy this one! There are many apps and websites that allow you to add this game to your virtual meetings. Just propose a topic and let people try to guess what one of them is drawing! You can even divide them into teams to make it more interesting. 
• Try a virtual escape room. If you have time, try giving your audience this challenge to build cooperation and teamwork. It’s not only great for learning to work together but also to have fun and loosen up. 
• Count till 20. Your team must try to count to 20 by shouting one number each… but without agreeing in which order they’ll go. This icebreaker will definitely make people wake up, and probably also laugh as they try to avoid talking at the same time. 
• Emoji movies. Just like charades, your audience must try to guess the movie or book. But instead of someone acting, they must guess it from the emojis. It’s a great adaptation of a classic game for virtual meetings!   

Fun icebreaker ideas for playful presentations

Icebreakers can also help your presentation be more playful and fun! If you like your icebreakers a little silly to make sure people loosen up their inhibitions, then take a look at these ideas. 

• The no smiles challenge. If you’re making a fun, playful presentation, a great way to make it even funnier is to tell people smiling and laughing aren’t allowed in your presentation. This will most likely have the opposite effect, making people even more ready to laugh at your jokes! 
• Human rock paper scissors. This is a fun, high-energy game, but may not be feasible for older participants. Check this video to see if this is something you can use in your presentation.

• GIFs mood barometer. If you want your audience to be a little bit playful, having them share their mood as a GIF is the perfect way. If you want to keep some control of what they share, you can also use a live poll to give them options to choose from. It’s the perfect lightweight activity that still gives you valuable insights into your audience and their energy levels. 
• Bad jokes contest.  The only thing funnier than a good joke is an extremely bad one. Have your audience try to use their best dad jokes on each other while avoiding laughing at the jokes of the rest.  

10 Great Icebreaker Questions for Any Presentation 

Sometimes simpler is better, and the easiest way to get people talking is to ask them to do so! These icebreaker questions will help your audience open up without taking much time or extra preparation. 

• If you could have any superpower, what would it be, and what would be your superhero name?
• What's the most random piece of trivia you know and why?
• What is the oddest job you ever had, and how did you end up working there?
• If you could make a reality show, what would it be about?
• What cartoon character would you like to hang out with?
• Where is the most embarrassing place you ever fell asleep?
• If they made a sitcom about your life, what would the theme song be?
• What were the best and worst workshops/meetings/conferences you ever attended?
• If the zombie apocalypse began, what three people in this meeting would you want on your team?
•  If you had to teach a class right now, what would the subject be?

As a speaker or presenter, it’s important that you prepare fun icebreakers for your audience. You want people to be comfortable not just with you, but with their neighbors and groupmates as well. The icebreakers in this list are just the tip of the iceberg concerning the wide array of possibilities you can choose from. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and get creative with your icebreakers!

Need more time to prepare for your presentation? 24Slides has you covered!

Now that you’ve begun thinking about your presentation, and the best way to break the ice with your audience, you might wish to have more time to prepare for it. Luckily, 24Slides can help with that !

You can focus on your presentation’s content and how to make your audience as comfortable as possible, and 24Slides professional designers will tackle the visual aspects of it all. In less than 24 hours , you can get a custom-made, fully editable presentation that will wow your audience and make it even more memorable. 

You might also find these articles interesting:

• 7 Essential Storytelling Techniques for Your Business Presentation
• How to Deliver the Perfect Online Presentation
• Improve Your Presentations' Body Language!

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