Guide to Hosting an Interactive Ice Breaker Game for an Annual Company Partner Showcase

The quick answer: for an annual company partner showcase of 100 to 1,000 attendees, the easiest interactive ice breaker is a phone-based passport game. Display one QR code on the big screen, give every partner booth its own conversation prompt, and reward the people who visit the most booths.

That’s how Evotek ran their 500-employee partner showcase with Jam Bingo – 51 conversation prompts for 51 partners, shown in random order so every booth (even the ones at the back of the venue) got visitors.

As an executive assistant, manager, or senior director, you’re in a position to make networking different and more interactive, and the risk of an activity that falls flat is not an option.

This guide is written especially for annual company gatherings of 100 to 1,000 attendees where you are looking for an informal networking game or ice breaker activities.

When you’re planning an interactive activity, the main thing on your mind is finding something that people will participate in. You want an activity that isn’t too structured, yet is engaging enough that people can meet as many new people as possible instead of staying with the colleagues they came with. The last thing you want is for the networking activity to fall flat.

When hosting their annual partner showcase, Evotek had previously used paper printouts to help employees visit as many booths as possible.

While paper printouts had worked well in the past, given the large number of employees attending, Evotek decided to look for a simple interactive networking activity that could help their employees meet as many new partners and sponsors (and visit their booths) during the partner showcase reception.

Evotek’s fear was that employees would keep to themselves and not engage with the partners and sponsors. So they looked for something like digital trade show passports with QR codes to replace the paper stamp cards they had used in previous years.

To help employees meet as many sponsors as possible, Evotek used Jam Bingo as the partner showcase’s interactive ice breaker game. They displayed the event’s Jam Bingo join QR code on screen, which each person scanned to participate and receive prompts (conversation starters to talk with someone new).

Here’s an example of a Jam Bingo Prompt

The team at Evotek came up with 51 prompt questions – one for each of their 51 partners – so every employee had a conversation starter to ask when they went up to a sponsored booth, and an incentive to get to know each partner.

Jam Bingo shows everyone the conversation prompts in random order, so employees are equally distributed talking with various partners instead of all going to the same ones. At Evotek’s partner showcase, this was especially beneficial for partners located further back in the venue who wouldn’t naturally get foot traffic or conversations.

What drove Evotek’s decision to switch from paper bingo stamp cards to Jam Bingo is that Jam Bingo is simple and easy to facilitate. Evotek displayed their Jam Bingo QR code on the big screen and TVs around the venue. Once the showcase started, their emcee asked everyone to scan the QR code to join. As each employee scanned, they received their first conversation prompt, making it intuitive for each person participating to find the relevant partner’s booth and ask their prompt.

Evotek used Jam Bingo as a tool to facilitate intentional connections and conversations between their 500+ employees and partner sponsors showcasing at their various booths.

Dragos, hosting their annual 300-employee kick-off, was bringing together their remote team for their annual in-person gathering. They were looking for a human bingo app to make networking interactive for remote team members meeting in person (where many of them would be meeting for the first time).

The main point of having an activity at the Dragos kick-off was to ensure that their 2-hour networking break wouldn’t be awkward. They were expecting colleagues to meet for the first time in person, as well as colleagues who work in different departments and teams, and wanted to make sure the networking session didn't fall flat.

That’s how Dragos discovered Jam Bingo. For their group of 300, it stood out as the easiest option because it didn’t require preparation, wasn’t rigid or overly structured, and was simple and intuitive for colleagues and guests to understand.

What made Jam Bingo an excellent fit for Dragos was that it made their networking interactive and fostered cross-department interaction among their 300+ employees.

When the Edmonton Business Association (EBA) hosted their quarterly members tradeshow (~50 attendees), it was an opportunity for business members of the association to set up a booth during the tradeshow mixer to show off their business, spread the word, and gain business from fellow members.

The EBA hadn’t run any kind of activities at their tradeshow in the past, and this was their first time looking for ways to make it more interactive. Part of the challenge is that most members attending their mixers come and go without actually visiting the booths. This creates a poor experience for the vendors at the booths, who were expecting to make new connections and grow their business.

The EBA used Jam Bingo as a way to incentivize members and attendees of the mixer to meet with the businesses at the booths. They used Jam Bingo prompts like, “Find someone from the XYZ booth and ask them about a product or service they offer that most people do not know about.”

The EBA also offered a prize for the top attendees who connected with the highest number of businesses. Jam Bingo was great for this because it validates connections made and displays a leaderboard showing which attendees visited the most booths.

When you have 50 or fewer people, it is easy to use improv games and paper handouts to incentivize people to interact and talk.

Improv games and paper handouts don’t work when you have 100 or more people.

You’ll need easy, interactive icebreaker games for big groups that are:

• Easy to understand and participate in
• Easy to facilitate and not too rigid or structured
• Built to incentivize people to interact with each other
• Great for getting people out of their usual bubbles

Not only do people have different agendas when they attend events, but their willingness to step out of their comfort zone varies, especially when meeting each other for the first time. It is often difficult to strike up a conversation with someone you do not know (and knowing what to say can be nerve-wracking).

There’s more than one way to get colleagues visiting partner booths. Here’s how the most common options compare for an annual company partner showcase:

Paper passports and stamp cards – familiar, and they work without phones. For 100+ attendees, though, you’re printing and managing hundreds of cards, tallying winners by hand, and people tend to crowd the booths closest to the entrance. Evotek used paper printouts for years before switching as their showcase grew.

Paper human bingo – fun and easy to explain, but at 100+ people it takes a lot of printing, and it’s hard to verify that people actually had the conversations.

Speed networking and timed rotations – guarantees conversations, but it’s rigid, needs someone keeping time, and demands a lot of extroversion. It’s also hard to run across a venue full of booths or multiple floors.

Booth check-ins and digital scavenger hunts – scale well and track which booths people visit, but a quick scan at the booth doesn’t always lead to a real conversation with the partner.

Jam Bingo – nothing to print and no app to download (it runs in the phone’s browser). Each prompt is a conversation starter tied to a partner, prompts show up in random order to spread people across every booth, and the leaderboard makes it easy to hand out prizes. It does need attendees to have their phones, and a screen or printed signs to display the QR code.

For 50 people or fewer, paper handouts or improv games are often enough. Once you’re at 100 to 1,000 attendees, an activity that’s easy to join, easy to facilitate, and spreads people across every booth makes the biggest difference.

Jam Bingo: The simple, interactive networking activity!

Jam Bingo is the easy way to get people having meaningful conversations and meeting as many new people as possible.

For group sizes of 100, 200, 500, or 700, Jam Bingo makes it easy for people to participate and provides a simple, organic way to incentivize interaction.

Jam Bingo is a tool used to help large groups of attendees interact and get out of their usual bubbles. See how Jam Bingo works!

Jam Bingo runs in each person’s phone browser – there’s nothing to download. Here’s what each attendee does:

• Scan the event’s Jam Bingo QR code (on the big screen, TVs, or printed signs) to join.
• Get a conversation prompt – for a partner showcase, a question to ask at a specific partner’s booth.
• Find the right person, have the conversation, and scan their QR code (or enter their code) to unlock the next prompt.
• Keep going – every connection is saved, and the leaderboard shows who has made the most connections.

When your goal is to make your networking session interactive and semi-structured, you’ll need an activity that is easy to participate in, as well as easy to explain and set up.

Especially for a big group, you want an activity that isn’t difficult to set up, so you don’t end up printing and managing a million handouts for the day of the event.

Most importantly, you want an interactive activity that doesn’t fall flat—one that has been proven to work and get people engaging and talking with one another. You’re facilitating the activity for the networking session, and you want an activity that reflects your positivity and is well received by attendees and guests.

Most facilitators who lead Jam Bingo during the networking session follow the same six steps:

Evotek wrote 51 prompts for their 51 partners. A prompt can be as simple as the one the EBA used: “Find someone from the XYZ booth and ask them about a product or service they offer that most people do not know about.”

Test the activity with close colleagues or friends first. You want to be the expert, because 9 times out of 10, someone else will ask you the same questions you had when first learning the activity.

Display the Jam Bingo QR code on the big screen and TVs around the venue, and put extra QR codes around the networking space.

Set a dedicated time for the networking session (15-20 minutes, 45 minutes, or 90 minutes). Start once everyone has arrived, and not while people are eating.

Make the goal clear: have your emcee introduce the activity and ask everyone to scan the QR code to join (tips on how to introduce a networking activity).

Decide on prizes (most tend to give out swag and/or gift cards), and use the leaderboard to award the top networkers. Save the prize announcement for the end, so people don’t rush through their conversations (more common mistakes to avoid with Jam Bingo).

The best time to run interactive ice breaker games is right at the start of the event to kick things off, or during an extended networking session (typically the 1 to 3 hour break or happy hour). If you’re hosting a multi-day event, schedule the activity for the first day to set a positive tone for the rest of the event.

Running the ice breaker game during the first hour helps kick things off and distribute prizes, setting a natural flow for the rest of the event.

Timing – the least favourable time to run the activity is when people are still arriving. If attendees are still coming in, hold off on starting—otherwise, latecomers will feel lost about what’s happening, and you’ll end up playing catch-up by constantly re-explaining the activity to every new arrival. Additionally, avoid running the activity while people are eating as much as possible, as it will affect the number of people who participate.

Too structured and complicated – when the activity isn’t intuitive or demands a lot of extroversion from the attendees, what you’ll notice is that people will not participate. People tend to take the path of least resistance, and when forced to do an activity that is too demanding, they will choose to opt out (and because it’s a professional event, people are less likely to be open to taking risks in front of colleagues they haven’t met yet).