Scott Brown, area director of Sales, at Meliá UK hotels, is an advocate for incorporating creativity and curiosity into meetings. Here's how to do it...
According to the Havard Business Review, most employees are unsatisfied with the traditional
format of meetings, with 71 per cent of senior managers stating they found meetings to be unproductive
and inefficient.
A futher 62 per cent felt meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.
The workplace has rapidly evolved over the past decade welcoming concepts such as the
‘digital nomad’, flexible working and core working hours, however meetings have lacked any
rejuvenation.
Here are four tips for those looking to host meaningful, exciting and, most importantly,
fun, meetings.
- Play Around
For a successful meeting, participants need to energised and enthused. Introduce
unconventional activities, games, visual tools such as interactive whiteboards even relaxed
seating such as sofas and beanbags can completely transform a teams’ attitude to a meeting.
At INNSiDE by Meliá we offer an alternative space known as the Big Ideas space. These
relaxed spaces are great for team-bonding and brainstorming. - Get Technical
Everyone gets excited over the latest gadget. Bringing some savy tech into the meeting space
can be a way to get people curious. There are some really cool tech out there designed to
make meetings more efficient. This includes the Owl Labs’ Meetings Owl, a nifty gadget
improving virtual meetings with its 360 degree camera and electronic flip charts which save
brainstorms as handy documents. For larger meetings and events, good quality AV and PA
systems are also vital to keeping an audience engaged.
- Art Attack
Whether you work in a creative industry or not, immersing yourself with art is good for the soul.
Reports from the World Health Organisation and UK Government have found significant
evidence that art can have a positive impact on mental health, productivity and creative
development. Opting for meeting spaces with creative spaces, art displays or even taking a
trip to a local gallery can be a great start to a meaningful meeting. - Go Outdoors
We all know getting out and active is proven to have benefits for mental health and wellbeing
and we should be encouraging more of this in the workplace. Why not opt for ‘netwalking’?
Whether its colleagues, clients or a networking event, a walk in the outdoors is a great way to
get people active and on their feet. We recently launched a netwalking event at our INNSiDE
Newcastle hotel with the help of Newcastle rugby star Tom May which proved a huge success.
