Meeting bingo: printable cards for calls and staff meetings

Meeting bingo: printable cards for calls and staff meetings tips

• Agree on silent marking. Players mark squares on paper or a phone, and nobody calls out bingo until the meeting ends or the host opens the floor. The game should run under the agenda, not on top of it.
• Keep it about situations, not people. Late joiner, camera turned off and eating on camera are fair game when they happen to anyone, but if the same colleague is always late, agree that the square only counts for someone else, so nobody becomes the running joke.
• For an in-person staff or faculty meeting, count squares by their room equivalent: a knock for doorbell rings, a phone buzzing on the table for notification sound, the projector showing the wrong file for wrong screen shared.
• Pick the grid by meeting length. A 3x3 card suits a 15-minute stand-up, where only a handful of hiccups happen; save the 5x5 for a quarterly all-hands or a two-hour planning session, when spreadsheet on screen and talking over each other are close to guaranteed.
• Keep the prize small and shared. The first player with a line can pick the next meeting's icebreaker or end the call two minutes early for everyone, which is the one reward nobody argues with.

Best for

Ages

Adults and older teens in work or school settings

Group size

4 to 80 people, on a video call or around a conference table

Duration

The length of the meeting, from a 15-minute stand-up to a two-hour review