Icebreakers perform an important role at meetings, but all too often, career-related questions like “What do you do?” aren’t sufficient to establish personal connections. A recent Padraicino blog post suggests getting a little more personal with icebreaker questions.

“When I discover that the other person supports the same football team as I do, or likes the same kind of music, or went to the same high school, or grew up in the same neighborhood, then we share a tie or connection beyond the work context and our rapport is much more likely to deepen and flourish,” writes Pádraic Gilligan.

Gilligan points to a Harvard Business Review article that suggests using questions such as “What’s the best thing that happened to you this year?” or “What excites you right now?”

Forbes also shares a long list of intro questions that help people get to know each other and get a conversation buzzing. Consider asking, “Who, or what, was your biggest teacher?” or “Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your 18-year-old self?”

Humans Over Tech

https://twitter.com/meetingsnet/status/960665128055255040

Why is it so important to help your conference attendees make personal connections?

Meeting designer and facilitator Adrian Segar contends that human connections—not fancy technology—are what maximize learning.

“At face-to-face meetings, facilitating relevant connections and learning around participants’ shared just-in-time wants and needs is more effective than augmenting an individual’s learning via technology,” he writes.

Other Links of Note

In the wake of Facebook’s shift away from prioritizing publishers, some social media managers are moving from Pages to Groups. Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog shares a step-by-step guide for creating a new Group.

Are you keeping up with your donor retention rate? The Network for Good blog explains why your retention rate should be a top focus in 2018.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Here are some ways to send donors a little love, from the Fired Up Fundraising blog.

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