Lee Gimpel, founder of Better Meetings in Washington, D.C., always leaves a spot on name tags for attendees to answer the question, “What do you know a lot about that you can share? “Encourage people to put down both professional or personal answers,” he says. At one recent event where name tags like these were used, he said, one pair ended up bonding over their love for landscape gardening, while another traded ideas around a customer-service issue. “It’s a natural way for people to find common ground,” he says.

At a recent gathering for scientists, Lisa Kaplan, an independent meeting planner, created a “Wall of Fame” at registration that displayed copies of all of the name tags (including a color photo) of first-time attendees. The oversized name tags included three fun facts about each person. At the opening reception, veteran attendees were asked to grab one of the newbies’ name tags and find that person. “The veterans were running around with the name tags trying to match them up to people,” she says. “There was a lot of interaction as they found their matches.” Even better: “The newcomers got a real kick out of being sought after. Instead of fading into the wall, they were laughing and chatting away.”

Here’s another way to use name tags as a way to get people mingling: Print the name of a famous celebrity on attendees’ name badges and tell them to find their pair in the crowd as they walk into a reception. For instance, ask Batman to find Robin, Barack to find Michelle, and Sherlock to find Watson. Once participants find their match, the duo can swap information and, for smaller groups, introduce their new contact to the room.

Need to break tension at the start of a session where people walk in stressed or uncomfortable? Start with a snowball fight. Participants take out one or more sheets of paper and write down a response to a prompt. For example: “What’s the biggest challenge you’re encountering right now on XX project?” Then, have attendees crunch up the papers and throw them (gently) at one another for about 30 seconds. Next, everyone opens up the snowball nearest to them and reads the response on the paper. They can then pair up to share their perspective on what was written or, for smaller groups, discuss with the room. 

Edward Belleville at Spacebase recently used the activity with a group that was behind schedule on an important project. “When the team came in and sat down, everyone looked tired and morale was clearly low,” he says. 

The snowball fight immediately raised the energy level in the room. Even better, “it gave everyone a chance to hear different perspectives from the team, so they could listen to familiar problems afresh and think more constructively about solutions," he says.

Everybody likes compliments. With that in mind, Lindsey Ward, a sales trainer, likes to start off networking receptions with this easy getting-to-know-you activity she calls  an “acknowledgement line.” It works like this: Have attendees form two lines and pair up with the person immediately across from them. Give each person a card with a set of meaningful questions that requires them to learn something about the other, like, “What do you appreciate about this person?” and “How can this person be helpful to the group?” After five minutes, give attendees a chance to introduce their partner to the group and shower them with compliments based on what they’re learned. Ward did the activity recently with a group of novice salespeople, and “the responses were terrific,” she says. One participant talked about how his partner excelled at all things techie, while another lauded her partner on her open communication style. “The positivity was palpable,” Ward says. “Even the shy people came out of their shells when they were introduced to the group in such a friendly manner.”

Here’s a twist on the “snowball fight” idea, with a different goal in mind: Pass out colored sheets of paper to your attendees, then ask each to write a little-known fact about themselves on the paper and fold it into the shape of a paper airplane. When everyone is ready, participants launch their airplane across the room. Everyone then picks up one of the paper airplanes, reads the little-known fact, and tries to guess whose paper airplane they’ve got. 

Attendees will have some fun and learn a little bit about other meeting-goers in the process.

To supercharge a working meeting, Lee Gimpel, founder of Better Meetings, recommends pairing up attendees and asking them to share something relevant to the task at hand. For instance, if the group is working on a new product idea, prompt them with the question, “What’s a product that you really like and why?” or if they’re marketers, ask them to describe their all-time favorite ad campaign.

“They’ll get animated and start talking away—and the creative juices will naturally start flowing,” he says. “Then, when you’re ready for the real work to begin, they’re all warmed up.” 

Some other questions to consider: 

• What’s the one thing you hope to take away from today’s
session?

• Why did you decide to come to this event? 

• What’s the most pressing question you have for today’s speaker?

• What discussion are you most excited to participate in today?

“Any question that is relevant to the meeting gets them in the right frame of mind,” Gimpel says.

Instead of having group members go around in a circle and introduce themselves, put a stool in the center of the room and invite attendees to take turns standing on it to answer a question in 60 seconds, suggests Eloise Eaton, an event planner with Elegant Life Events. One example: At a recent company event, Eaton’s client asked attendees to answer the question, “What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned since joining the company?”

“You’d be amazed at what people share,” she says. During that event, one woman opened up about how amazing her coworkers were when her father passed away. “She was close to tears as she described how colleagues had quietly taken over many of her roles without being asked” Eaton says. Another attendee revealed that one of his workmates was a closet stand-up comic. “That led to a real ‘guess who?’ moment,” Eaton says. If the group is shy about participating, have a few “ringers” go first, and then announce that the last person to stand on the stool must sing their response. “This always encourages participation,” she says.

For this activity, survey your participants beforehand to glean interesting details that might spark business conversations.
“For instance, you might ask people how long they’ve been in the industry or which countries they traveled to for business,” Gimpel suggests. Then, create a bingo card that includes spaces with participants’ responses. At the beginning of an event, pass out the cards and ask attendees to find people in the room to sign the square that has their characteristics (speaks Erdu; won salesman of the year; writes the company newsletter, etc.) “The key is to make sure that you include information that might get people talking on a business level,” he says. “If you ask people to find a person wearing a hat, that’s not likely to further the conversation.”

Form a circle with chairs and have one person stand in the middle and call out an interesting fact about themselves. Example: “I love horror movies.” Everyone who loves horror movies has to jump up and find a new spot to sit. Whoever doesn’t get a new spot fast enough is the next man in the middle. Participants will relish the friendly competition while getting to learn a few fun facts about their fellow attendees. 

Place participants in groups and have them take turns asking each other a list of “Would you rather. . .?” questions as a way to spark fun and friendly conversation. Some possibilities:
Would you rather. . .
• Be reassigned to marketing or accounting?
• Move to the North Pole or the Sahara desert?
• Learn to tango or break-dance?
• Appear as a contestant on American Idol or Dancing With the Stars?

The beauty of this game: You have the flexibility to design the questions, making them as business-oriented or silly as the event calls for. 

Create a minimum of two teams, each assisted by a mixologist. Give each team access to a variety of beverages and spirits they can use to concoct a new cocktail (or mocktail). A panel of judges can decide who has the winning beverage; bonus points go to the team that comes up with the most creative name for their drink. Further bonus points are won if a team’s drink matches the event’s logo color.