The IT Regata organizers invited me to run an icebreaker session for the regatta's participants. Said and done.
We took the networking session straight to the shore of Lake Sevan. The format is simple, but it beats any standing buffet: we sit in a circle (15-20 people), and go around answering a few questions about ourselves. Not the dull "so what do you do" - real questions instead: where do you live, where are you thinking of moving to, what inspires you, what wild adventures made your bucket list, where do you invest, what are you building and launching, and (the most interesting one!) - what's next?
Off to the side, quiet one-on-one conversations kept forming - someone found a shared topic and stepped away to keep talking. But the main mechanic worked in the circle. And that's where the magic happens: in 15 minutes you learn more about a person than in an hour of random small talk at a conference. One person turns out to be a skipper with three transatlantic crossings behind them, another is building IT products and learning Greek in their spare time in three months, someone free-dives to 40 meters on a single breath, and someone else is bringing their nine-year-old son to the regatta to instill a love of sailing early.
This time the circle had people from Spain, Germany, Russia, Belarus, Switzerland, Georgia, China, Estonia, the UK, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Austria, Montenegro, Poland, Turkey, Portugal, Armenia - and that's not all of them. Different countries, different industries, but one boat, one shore, and one evening after which you simply can't call someone "just a chat contact" anymore; now it's someone you actually know, someone you can call six months later and pick up the conversation right where you left off.
This is exactly why it's worth pulling people out of Zoom and onto the water.
Want the same for your team? Reach out about MICE events: we'll run a business icebreaker evening for you.
