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Ice Breaker - Letters Count!

Select key words from the program you are conducting. For example, if you are running a product knowledge session, you could choose the name of deposit products such as Premium Checking or the Fifty Plus Club. In a management class, you might choose appropriate words such as performance, results, or expectations. Make sure the words vary in length with some being short and others longer.

Write your selected words on small slips of paper. Have as many as the potential number of participants. To “Break the Ice,” have each participant draw one slip. Go around the room, and have class members introduce themselves by sharing a personal fact for each letter in their key word. For example, if Susan Smith has Premium on her slip of paper, which is seven letters, she might say:

She is involved with her children’s PTA
Loves watching football
Hopes to fit into her wedding address again
Makes her own bread
Graduated from American University
Loves that her mother-in-law watches her youngest child while she works
Must remember to stop for milk on the way home from work

Another variation is to tell something about themselves using the exact letters from the key word. For example, if the word was "Results", one person might say, ‘My name is Kari Olsen and I Really like to cook; I Email my five brothers; I Send my two daughters and one son to Central Elementary School; I Understand and speak Italian; I Like my job as a PBR; I Talk to my husband Drew and I Send him to Isaac's Restaurant where he is the manager.

Keep the activity light and humorous so everyone will feel at ease and participate.