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Getting your workshop off on the right foot is essential. Like the appetizers to the full meal, icebreakers allow participants to get a taste of what is to follow. As with every other part of effective training successful icebreakers result from proper planning and interactive, experiential activities. Icebreakers and warm-up activities are best used for climate setting at the beginning of a training session, before a new topic is introduced, after a lunch break or as the introduction of the second day/session of training. They should be entertaining and highly energetic, but not frivolous. Too much levity could send the wrong message - such as a signal that nothing of value will be happening in the session.

The purposes of icebreakers may include any combination of:

1. helping to set a positive atmosphere for member interaction;
2. encouraging interest in the overall training experience;
3. building trainer credibility;
4. providing a feel for the group and assessing participants' attitudes, knowledge and experience with the topic;
5. building cohesiveness and trust among participants and between the trainer and participants;
6. severing the audience's preoccupation with work or personal issues;
7. diminishing the fear of the learning process;
8. aiding participants to become acquainted with each other in order to develop a spirit of cooperation and interdependence.
   

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