By Brad McLeod
Well, it’s the start of new semester and that can only mean several things! One of those things is playing a hell of a lot of Icebreaker Games, your first opportunity of the semester to introduce yourself to the people who over the next 13 weeks might just become some of your closest acquaintances!
These games can be tough though, so it’s important for you to know how to conduct yourself properly. Remember: the impression you make here is how your peers will think of you for the entire remainder of the first class! (After that they’ll go back to judging you based on your looks like the rest of the world)
Anyways, here’s a basic guide to some of the most important things to remember in order to make your icebreaker introduction memorable this week.
1. Attend Class
This is definitely the most difficult step but if you want to do a good job in your icebreaker games, you’re probably going to have to actually show up to the first week of class. I know it’s pointless and they’ll just go over everything again next week, but as famous nervous person Woody Allen once said “showing up is 80 per cent of success.”*
*This statement should not be confused with “showing up will get you 80 per cent, success!” which I learned the hard way on my English 203 final exam last semester.
2. Pretend to be Interesting
No matter what icebreaker game you’re doing, you will almost always be asked to say something interesting about yourself. This can be very challenging since you are probably a very boring person, but just remember that the phrase “I’d like to say more but I promised Barack that I wouldn’t” can make any boring old male strip-club story more interesting.
3. Always One Up the Person Beside You
While being yourself is important in an ice breaker game, if you really want to be remembered, you are going to have to be better than everyone else. So, if the class is going around the room each saying what one thing they would bring with them to a desert island and the person next to you says “well I’d probably bring my iPod because I love music,” you have to take it up a notch and say “well I’d probably bring my iPhone because I love music too, but I’m richer than you… plus I could use it to call The Rolling Stones who are friends of mine.”
4. Lie as Often as Possible
This should be pretty obvious, but if you don’t already constantly lie in your everyday life, you should at least do it during an icebreaker game. “Two truths and a lie” is always much more difficult than “Two lies and a third more ridiculous lie.”
5. Pretend to Not be a Horrible Racist
This one might not be quite as obvious as some of the others, but unlike most social situations, racism is actually frowned upon during ice breaker games. I know it can be very tempting if you have to introduce a fellow student to the class, to comment on their inferior bone structure but you should probably be advised to stick to just describing their hobbies, goals and body odor.
5 Free Interesting Facts about Yourself
– I was the inspiration for Roseanne Barr’s character on the ABC sitcom Roseanne
– I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under five hours
– I was the one who came up with the idea for peanut butter
– I can name every US state capital except Olympia
– I have the same birthday as Abraham Lincoln: February 12th, 1809
