Ah, the holidays. A time for family, celebration, and… awkward virtual happy hours?

Let’s face it: holiday parties aren’t the same over Zoom. But that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. With just a little more thought and effort, teams can create virtual happy hours that their employees actually want to attend. 

Instead of throwing your employees into a massive Zoom room at your next holiday happy hour, here’s what to do instead.

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1. Create a slideshow of themed icebreaker questions. 

Simply pull up a Google Slide and add one on-theme icebreaker question to each slide.

Here are some icebreaker ideas to get you started. Feel free to use those, or come up with your own!

Thanksgiving-Themed Icebreaker Questions:

• What are three things that you’re grateful for right now?
• What did your Thanksgivings look like growing up? Have they changed as an adult?
• Are you a chef on Thanksgiving, or do you get kicked out of the kitchen? 
• What’s a tradition that you would like to introduce into your Thanksgiving celebrations?

Christmas/Hannukah Themed Icebreaker Questions:

• What’s the best present you’ve ever received?
• What’s the best present you’ve ever given to someone?
• Are you a handmade gifts person, or a shopper? 
• Do you go crazy on Black Friday or hide at home? 

New Years-Themed Icebreaker Questions:

• What are your resolutions for the new year? Can we work-related or personal.
• Did you follow through on last year’s resolutions?
• What are your New Years’ Eve traditions? Have those changed since you were younger?
• Have you ever spent NYE in another country, or celebrating with a culture different from your own?

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2. Send your participants into Speed Networking Mode.

twine for Zoom is a Zoom App that allows hosts to create automatically rotating Breakout Rooms. “Speed Networking mode” allows hosts to send participants into timed, back-to-back Breakout Room conversations. This gives employees the opportunity to connect at a more personal level, and allows more introverted participants to have their voices heard.

When setting up your sorting rules in the app, we recommend setting your group size to three and your rounds to four minutes each. Then click “start matchmaking” to send your team into timed Breakout conversations. 

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3. Share your icebreakers to Breakout Rooms. 

Pull up your slideshow and share your screen to Breakout Rooms. Click to a new slide each round. 

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4. Let the rounds run. 

You can let the rounds run for as long as you like before hitting “end matchmaking” to summon your participants back into the main room. Hosts don’t have to do anything; the app will automatically cycle through new matches until you decide to end the session.

Pro tip: don’t want to be the lonely host in the main room? Ensure that you have an odd number of participants, and set your match size to two people. That way, someone new will remain in the main room with the host each round. 

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That’s it! Running an engaging virtual happy hour is as simple as clicking a couple of buttons. 

twine for Zoom is free for up to five users. Try it out at your next holiday happy hour, and watch as your team embraces the holiday joy 🎁🌟

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