Walking Meetings: A Fun Way to Brainstorm Ideas

Sedentary boardroom meetings filled a sense of fatigue and I started feeling unproductive at the end of the sessions. Sitting in my office meeting room, brainstorming ideas with my team members, I always wanted to make these sessions lively where we could discuss our projects and goals in a fun and active way.

So, I experimented with the idea of walking meetings where my team could walk and talk together instead of desk-bound boring sessions. I found it as a remedy that fused creativity, open communication, and innovation in my team.

I’m sharing my journey of including this innovative strategy that boosted not only our productivity but also improved my employees’ well-being and the sense of companionship.

What Are Walking Meetings?

As the name suggests, a walking meeting is a type of professional gathering where participants walk and talk together in a boardroom or cafeteria to brainstorm ideas. Like the traditional meeting, it also serves the same objectives but with the idea of inspiring each other while indulging themselves in a physically active environment.

What Are The Benefits of Walking Meetings?

Unlike traditional boardroom meetings, walking meetings are beneficial for your mental health and physical well-being. I’ve sorted out some remarkable advantages of incorporating this practice in my workplace:

• Regular movement reduced fatigue among my team members.
• Improved focus during brainstorming sessions. Our employees were involved in the sessions without any distractions and boredom.
• I also noticed that these walking sessions worked as a moderate-intensity activity that surprisingly lowered our blood pressure and boosted energy levels.
• These sessions made our communication more friendly. Our new employees enjoyed them and felt comfortable sharing their ideas and opinions.
• Walking meetings improved my team’s productivity and our employees started contributing with an improved mood.

How to Conduct Walking Meetings?

Organizing walking meetings depends on the size of your office. If you have large offices, you can conduct walking meetings on rooftop gardens or courtyards. These places offer fresh air and natural light that boost your focus and creativity.

Hallways, lobbies, and cafeterias are other choices for which to call your team for these active sessions. They are often quiet places that are suitable for small team gatherings.

In case, you have a small office setup like ours, you can transform your boardroom into a walking space. For example, we redesigned our meeting room, emptying all the unnecessary furniture to make it spacious. We actively encouraged our employees to participate in these walking sessions.

Initially, I led the conversation and discussed our objectives in a friendly way to make the situation comfortable. I had a proper plan before these sessions with a clear agenda. I stayed focused and kept the conversation on the topic.

The idea made the team members comfortable with a little informal atmosphere, unlike traditional boardroom meetings. This approach created a lighter environment where the members could harness their creativity and share their opinions through open communication. The walking session helped kill the boredom and the physical movement supplied energy for a lively interaction.

Pro Tips For Engaging Walking Meetings

Organizing walking meetings requires some modifications and tools to achieve desired goals. You can apply these useful tips to arrange an object-oriented session:

• Schedule afternoon walking meeting sessions. The best time is after lunch. I have noticed that employees sound more energetic after having their meal. They are comparatively alert and feel more engaged in the conversation.
• Start with small sessions. Any new initiative takes time for your team to adjust to and get comfortable with. Initially, organize small walk-and-talk sessions and gradually increase the time to make your employees accustomed to them.
• Use can also include technology devices like voice recording apps to keep notes and screen-sharing devices to share documents and visuals. These tools maintain the rhythm by avoiding any distractions.
• Lastly, assess the outcomes of these sessions. You can measure the key metrics to observe productivity after walking meetings. Learn from your mistakes and try to avoid them in further sessions.

Final Thoughts

If you want to add spark to your boring boardroom meetings, try walking meetings. They are a productive alternative to regular meeting sessions in which you can exchange your ideas in open-air environments while enjoying the benefits of physical activities. You can rearrange your office settings to make some room for these healthy sessions to enhance creativity, communication, and traction for overall workplace synergy.