Walking meetings, done right.
A walking meeting is exactly what it sounds like: a one-on-one or small-group discussion held while walking, instead of sitting in a room or staring at a video call. People tend to find them more focused and more candid, they add movement to an otherwise sedentary day, and there is real evidence that walking lifts creative thinking. A 2014 Stanford study found that walking, indoors or outdoors, increased people's creative output by an average of about 60% compared with sitting. They are best for brainstorms and check-ins, and a poor fit for anything that needs a screen.
What is a walking meeting?
It is a meeting you take on foot. Two colleagues talk through a problem on a loop around the block. A manager holds a one-on-one while walking to get coffee. A small team kicks around ideas on a path instead of around a table. The conversation is the same, the chairs are gone, and a chunk of the day's sitting quietly disappears with them.
Do walking meetings actually work?
For the right kind of conversation, yes. The Stanford research by Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz found walking substantially boosted divergent, creative thinking, and the effect carried over briefly even after people sat back down. Beyond creativity, walking meetings break up sitting, which is good for energy and health, and many people find that walking side by side makes hard conversations easier than sitting across a table. They are not magic for every meeting, but for brainstorming and one-on-ones they earn their place.
When should you use a walking meeting?
Match the format to the task.
Good for
One-on-ones, brainstorms, creative problem-solving, catch-ups, mentoring, and conversations that benefit from a bit of informality. Anything that lives in talking.
Not great for
Anything needing slides, a shared screen, detailed note-taking, large groups, or precise data review. Forcing those onto a walk just makes them worse.
How do you run a good walking meeting?
A few simple rules keep them from descending into a confused stroll:
- Keep it small, two or three people. Bigger groups string out and lose the thread.
- Pick a known route and a set duration so it has a clear end.
- Agree up front who captures any decisions, then record them with a quick voice memo or a few typed lines at the end.
- Offer a seated option so the format includes everyone, whatever their mobility or preference.
- Keep the pace conversational. The point is the talk, not the workout.
A single thirty-minute walking meeting can replace a block of sitting with a block of moving, with no extra time spent, because the meeting was happening anyway. Of all the ways to add movement to a workday, swapping a seated meeting for a walking one is among the lowest-effort.
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