- Hey, Michael Kerr here with 12 ideas on how you can add
a little bit of fun, a little bit of humor
using the chat box during your virtual
hybrid video meetings.
12 ideas for how you can add a little bit of fun
if you are the chat herder.
Hey, that's a fun idea right there.
Why not call yourself the chat herder? So are you ready?
Here we go. Let's go, let's go 12 ideas.
Okay, number one,
do a very simple checkup with everyone by simply asking them
to put in the chat box
how they're doing on a scale of one to 10
using decimal points.
Number two, use code words or code phrases or code letters
as short hand abbreviations for different things.
So for example, if people want to applaud something
that a speaker or somebody in a meeting is saying,
you could have the letter C for clap,
or you could use an exclamation point
if people are excited about a certain idea
or point somebody made.
And why not come up with your own inventive language
that people can use?
A short hand version of things that people can put
in the chat box to register how they're feeling,
to register their reactions.
Number three, have everyone say hello to somebody
in the chat box that they either haven't met before,
or they haven't spoken to in a long time.
Number four, have everyone type in their alter ego name
into the chat box.
You can do this as an opener.
You can do this halfway through a meeting
to add a little bit of levity and energy into your meeting.
There are hundreds of formulas for coming up
with alter ego names.
For example, just have everyone come up with
their superhero name based on what color underwear
they are wearing plus their favorite animal.
So for me today, this would be maybe Blue Wolverine.
Number five, have a round of myth busters
where everyone just has to type in a T or an F,
true or false, to a list of different statements
that you provide them.
Now they could be just general topic ones
that you find on the internet or better still,
I think, come up with some related to your business,
related to your profession, or related to your coworkers.
So for example, it could be, you know, true or false,
did Joe once get bitten by a shark
while snorkeling in Hawaii?
Did Susan once go hot air ballooning
with The Rolling Stones in Australia?
Number six, do a round of bigger or smaller
where you pose different statements
with numerical answers to them
and you just ask people is the correct answer
bigger than this number or smaller than this number.
So it could be the height of the Eiffel Tower.
It could be the distance between Toronto, Canada,
and Sydney, Australia.
Or better still, again, relate them to your business.
So come up with ones that tie into your business.
Last quarter our business made X amount of money.
Is the actual number higher or smaller than that?
Number seven do a round of either or.
There are dozens of things you can come up with for this.
Dozens, hundreds.
Cat or dog lover?
"Star Wars" or "Star Trek"?
Coke or Pepsi?
Should you hang the toilet paper roll with it coming over
or under the roll?
Number eight, do a speed round
using different fun, trivial questions
where you just ask people, okay,
really quickly in the chat box,
write down the best movie you have seen recently,
or the best TV series, or the best book,
or a new recipe you've tried at home,
or a new restaurant you've gone out to.
There's hundreds of different, fun questions like that
that you can do a very quick speed round with.
Number nine, ask everybody to write down
their favorite funny word in the chat box.
This always generates a lot of laughs
spelunking, squeegee,
Beuford knock.
I don't think Beuford knock is a word,
but it's very funny, but it probably should be a word.
Slinkensnock, again, not a word.
Number 10, to get the creative juices going
before a brainstorm session perhaps online,
just do a little word association where you put a funny word
or just any word, a quirky word into the chat box.
And then everybody just has to riff off that word
and see where it goes.
Number 11, challenge everybody to close their eyes
and type their full name into the chat box.
Now, many people are really good at doing this
because evidently people know how to type better than I do,
but a lot of people aren't and it's pretty funny
to see the results.
And number 12, do a drinking game.
Now, you know, when you're meeting virtually,
you've got a lot of people, maybe not on camera.
It's pretty hard to do a fun drinking game
where you watch everybody drink.
And I'm not talking about alcoholic drinking game.
I mean, with your coffee, with your tea,
with your refreshing beverage of choice,
just have everybody write in the chat box
either the word drink or cheers,
or the capital letter D every time a speaker in the meeting
says a certain word of the meeting
that triggers the drink response.
It's a simple way to keep people awake, on their toes,
and to add a little bit of energy.
So what about you?
What ideas do you use to add a little bit of fun
to the chat box when you are meeting virtually?
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