Can walking meetings be productive?

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Walking meetings can be a great alternative to sitting in a conference room or even being on Zoom meetings. But how can we make them a success and use them to collaborate better?

Lets discuss the advantages and disadvantages of walking meetings.

What is a walking meeting?

A walking meeting basically is a meeting where one or both parties are walking during the meeting. Traditionally, when I was first introduced to walking meetings he would walk physically at the same location – like around downtown – and talk to each other.

With distributed teams the definition of walking meetings has evolved. One party might be walking outside while the other person is walking on an office treadmill. Or just one of the two people on a Zoom call or phone call is walking and the other is sitting in their office chair.

Each of these has advantages. And each can work. Walking with people in the same location certainly can build the relationship with them. But it’s also worthwhile to go on a walking meeting when you have somebody in a different location.

How productive can walking meetings be?

They can totally be productive for the right kinds of meetings. Those include:

• smaller meetings to collaborate
• when no visuals are needed – think PowerPoint or spreadsheet
• when you don’t have a speaking part and it’s a larger meeting it might be OK to walk. But it would be weird if you’re presenting in a meeting and are walking
• when one person is updating another person. I used to do walking meetings all the time and really they were update meetings. I had a list of things to cover and we would go through it. There was some collaboration but we never had to look at the screen at the same time usually.

Walking meetings might not work when you’re actively working on a document or spreadsheet or something else on your monitor.

Here are some things to keep in mind to make a walking meeting a success.

When everyone’s in the same location

• work great for one-on-one collaborations or maybe three people in one location.
• always take a note pad or have the Notes function ready in your iPhone to take down some quick notes.
• pick a good walking speed to not go too fast. It’s not a race but a collaboration.
• depending on how loud the ambient sound is, make sure to speak up so others can hear you. Don’t turn your head away from them while walking and talking.

When both parties are walking in different locations and are connected by phone or Zoom

• if you’re walking outside, make sure to ask if they can hear you okay or if the ambient sound – like wind – is too loud
• mute yourself when the other person is talking
• in the case of walking on an office treadmill, ask about that too and whether they can hear it and if it’s too distracting.
• if you are walking on an office treadmill while in an actual office-like not at home – make sure it doesn’t bother office neighbors
• make sure you’re set up as comfortable as possible. For example, when I am on a phone call, I like to wear my AirPod Pros. That’s much easier than having to hold up the phone.

I love walking meetings because they give an opportunity to change scenery and I like being a little bit more active while thinking about new ideas.

Especially when it’s warm out, I appreciate to be able to walk in the nice temperatures while also collaborating with other team members.

If walking meetings are not yet part of your culture, just know that you’ll probably get some interesting looks the first couple times when you suggest them.

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