Online Meetings
20 Online Meeting Conversation Starters
In online meetings, the best opener is easy to answer through a screen and does not create a long silence. These prompts work well for remote teams, distributed calls, and video meetings.
How to use them online
- Choose a short prompt that works even while people are still settling audio or camera settings.
- Desk, tools, and remote work routines are easy topics to answer on a video call.
- Let people answer in chat if speaking one by one would slow the meeting down.
20 online meeting conversation starters
Screen-friendly prompts
- What's one thing in your workspace that you like today?
- If your current mood were an emoji, what would it be?
- What's one online meeting habit that has helped you recently?
- What's the closest thing to you on your desk right now?
- What's a tool or feature that turned out to be more helpful than expected?
Remote work prompts
- What's made working from home a little more comfortable lately?
- What's a small routine that helps you focus?
- What's a break that worked well for you recently?
- What kind of background music fits today's work?
- What's something you always check before an online meeting?
Team-friendly prompts
- What's something the team did remotely that helped you?
- What's something you were glad to share recently?
- What do you keep in mind when writing in chat?
- What makes an online meeting easier to join?
- What's one asynchronous handoff that went well recently?
Light prompts for quiet calls
- What drink have you been having on repeat lately?
- What color would fit your background today?
- What's been a nice little reset for you lately?
- What's the first thing you want to do after today wraps up?
- What's one small thing you're looking forward to this week?
Other situations
For daily standups, see standup starters. For 1:1s, see 1:1 conversation starters. You can scan all categories in the conversation starter list.