10 Essential Exercises for Any Virtual Leader: Ultimate Toolkit for Virtual Joy & Connection

Read on to equip yourself with my top 10 activities for facilitating engaging, joyful, and vitalizing virtual meetings. Make your meetings the best part of the day, instead of something dreaded.

Before we begin, here’s an example of an exercise I did with own team in April 2020. I am sharing it to encourage you to stay strong through this prolonged period of disconnection. I’m here with you! I’m learning along the way. I’m adapting too.

In this article, I’ll be sharing 10 exercises and instruction scripts for you to immediately and seamlessly create more energy and fun in your virtual meetings.

I’ve written previously about tools and principles for igniting more fun and vitality in virtual meetings. I’ve explored what it means to be a Fun Leader. I also have written a private journal about leadership and facilitation called JOY LAB for 45 weeks — comment “joylab!” below and I can send you complimentary access.

You can also sign up for my quick masterclass — 4 Principles Facilitating and Embodying Joy & Vitality In Your Professional Community — 30 minute video tutorial. Sign up here.

I’ve learnt the tools featured here by trying things out in hundreds of virtual vitality sessions, parties, workshops, and team meetings. You see, I’ve led virtual sessions for Fortune 500 companies, youth mental health conferences, leadership peer groups, and farthest on the spectrum, hippie festivals. I’ve messed up a few times!

The point here is that if you want to reach your potential as a facilitator, you must try new things out. You must embody the experimenter. Some of these activities will work with your group. Others won’t. This is a part of the journey of creating better and better meetings! #failforward

I discovered some of the tools by attending workshops on facilitation, reading books about authentic relating, and following people like Jenny Sauer Klein. If you’re committed to leadership, I encourage you to read about authentic relating and check out their games manual too!

So. Are you ready for some explosions in the laboratory of The Party Scientist (me)?

1 Body Check-In

Purpose: Encourage participants to become aware of how they’re feeling. Invite personal sharing about what’s going on in participants’ lives.

Instructions: This is a mindfulness practice. Come into presence with your body. On a scale of 1–10, how triggered or stressed is your body in this moment? What’s led to that score in three words? In the chat, share your number and one sentence.

Optional: Put people into breakout rooms of three and have each person share verbally instead of in the big chat. Make sure to set a time limit.

2 Loving Kindness Meditation

Purpose: Evoke joy and relaxation in your participants.

Instructions: This is a short meditation known to boost empathy and connectedness. Close your eyes and focus on one person in this zoom room that you care about. In your head, consciously wish them well, in your own way. You may repeat the phrase “May you be happy, healthy, and free from suffering.” While doing this, you can visualize this person smiling and thriving, however you like. We will do this for 3 minutes.

Song: Centered

3 Group Stretch

Purpose: Elevate your participants’ physical energy and focus.

Instructions: We are going to elevate our energy and focus through a group stretch. We will take turns leading one stretch. After you’re done, you will nominate the next person to lead their stretch, by unmuting and saying their name. Let’s get creative!

Song: I feel it coming

4 Oath, Toast, or Boast

Purpose: Establish psychological safety in your group by celebrating participants’ expressions.

Instructions: This exercise is about celebrating each other. We will take turns sharing an oath, a toast, or a boast. An oath is an action you are inspired to take after this meeting. A toast is an expression of gratitude for someone in your life. A boast is a personal milestone or something going really well in your life. After someone shares, all other participants give an unconditional round of applause or cheer. Then, the person who just shared nominates the next person to speak: “I nominate NAME.”

5 Gratitude Expressions

Purpose: Establish psychological safety in your group by facilitating peer-to-peer appreciation and recognition.

Instructions: This exercise is about recognizing the strengths and gifts within this group. We will take turns recognizing one human in this group with the following prompt: I want to recognize NAME… [for specific action or behavior they demonstrated]. In this activity, sharing specific examples is more powerful than pointing out attributes (You’re smart).

Optional: Use the chat instead.

6 Show N Tell

Purpose: Establish psychological safety in your group by facilitating personal story-telling and vulnerability.

Instructions: We’re going to invest in our sense of belonging as a group. We will be in breakout rooms of three, for 15 minutes. Each of you will find a sentimental or meaningful item in your house. You’ll then take turns sharing the story or meaning behind this personal item. Listeners share what they heard that they liked or resonated with — appreciative feedback. Each person will have 3 minutes to share and 2 minutes for appreciative feedback — the best part!

Note: Before opening the breakout rooms, give people some time to find their sentimental item.

Optional: Get the entire group dancing with a sentimental item (below).

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7 Life Journeys

Purpose: Establish psychological safety in your group by facilitating personal story-telling and vulnerability.

Instructions: We’re going to invest in our sense of belonging as a group. We will be in breakout rooms of three, for 30 minutes. Each participant will draw a simplified life journey on a piece of paper, like this [show them an example graph]. We will do this for 5 minutes and then you will be sent to breakout rooms.

Taking turns, each of you will narrate your graph, explaining different life events. Each person will have 7 minutes to narrate their life journey, and then there will be 3 minutes for appreciative feedback — where listeners share what they heard that they liked or resonated with.

8 Yes Brainstorm

Purpose: Have participants brainstorm on a topic while having fun.

Instructions: This is a constructive brainstorming exercise in breakout rooms of two. You and your partner will be answering the following question by using the phrase Yes And: [Replace with your own question] What can we do to improve customer service?

You and your partner will take turns using the phrase Yes And… followed by an action or idea. The idea here is to build off one another with messy and imaginative ideas.

Demo — What can we do to improve customer service?

Partner 1 starts: We will train our team with the best skills.

Partner 2: Yes and Trainings will involve holograms.

Partner 1: Yes and We will all be wearing google glasses.

Partner 2: Yes and Customers will be gifted google glasses.

Get otherworldly. It should not make sense. Aspire to be clumsy and unrehearsed. We will debrief upon returning to the main room.”

Note: This can just be a fun game. Or it can be used strategically.

9 Power Strikes

Purpose: Have fun. Elevate your participants’ physical energy and focus.

Instructions: Let’s start with a little fun. We’re going to get energized for this meeting. Taking turns, you’re going to strike a creative pose. Everyone else is going to repeat your pose. Then, you’re going to nominate the next person to strike their pose.

Song: Eye of the tiger, Battle without honour

10 Appreciation Singalongs

Purpose: Energize your group, cultivate psychological safety, have fun, and facilitate peer-to-peer appreciation.

Instructions: “We’re going to shower love and appreciation onto some deserving individuals in this exercise. First, let’s nominate who we think deserves to receive acknowledgement. Anyone can unmute and say someone’s name. But please explain why you’re nominating them.

The nominated individuals will be spotlight and will turn on Gallery Mode. The rest of us will turn on our phone flashlights, wave them back and forth, and sing the lyrics in the chat toward these superstars.”

Note: Hosts must spotlight the people who have been nominated. They must copy and paste the lyrics of the song into the chat. Then, they must share their computer audio only and play the song.

Song: You’re beautiful, I can’t help myself, Treasure

11 BONUS — 4 Principles Facilitating and Embodying Joy & Vitality In Your Professional Community — 30 minute video tutorial. Sign up here.

So, tell me! Do you have a tool to add? Please comment it below in the chat and I’ll include it in the next iteration of this article.

One small request, can you like this article so that it reaches more facilitators? Can you comment with what you liked? This helps me enable more leaders to spread the mental health benefits of human connection!

And here is your invitation to join JOY LAB — my private leadership journal I’ve been writing for 45 weeks. Sign up.