Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Meetings Outside Conference Rooms

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | October 23rd, 2017

People rarely have anything positive to say about meetings, except that they’ve ended. Some people who are trying to improve meetings, mainly by moving them out of the spaces that have been developed to support them (conference rooms), have been getting press attention recently. On September 1, Paul Sullivan (“When Office Meetings Leave the Office Behind”) discussed alternative meeting locations in The New York Times: “some business owners have instituted activities that may seem better suited to summer camp – outdoor planning sessions, meetings in a salt room, deal talks on a surfboard. They may sound fun and relaxing, but they are meant to be productive.” Wacky as some of these meetings may sound, there’s scientific support for sometimes ditching conference rooms. Studies have shown that walking is good for thinking, whether we do it inside or outside, but outside walks, when they happen in nature and/or near water can …