How to Hold Brainstorming and Coworking Sessions Using Room Scheduling Software

While there are many upsides to remote and hybrid work, it’s difficult to deny the power of meeting in person.

Whether it’s for a coworking session or a brainstorm, getting together in a room is a great way for employees to communicate, collaborate, and flex their creative muscles.

Coworking is also a great way for cross-functional teams to keep a pulse on what everyone is working on and share ideas (or just share each other’s company while working), and holding brainstorming sessions in person can make it easier to communicate and work through ideas that aren’t fully formed yet. 

In this article, we’ll explore why in-person meetings are so effective, and how proactively scheduling in-person collaborative time with a room scheduling tool can help your organization better facilitate these types of gatherings.

Why in-person working sessions are so powerful

There’s evidence to support the fact that in-person meetings are highly effective. New research shows that in-person meetings generate more creative ideas compared to videoconferencing. 

Here’s why: 

We rely on visual cues

Our environment heavily influences the way we think. 

Paying attention to visual cues—such as reading the facial expressions of your coworkers during a meeting—can spark ideas, improve collaboration, and help us think outside the box.

Unfortunately, with virtual meetings, you’re limited to the screen in front of you. One study found that this causes people to narrow their cognitive focus, which constrains the associative process underlying idea generation. 

Movement stimulates creativity

Have you ever noticed that your best ideas come to you in the middle of a workout, or when you’re on a long walk around the neighborhood? 

We now know it’s because movement stimulates creativity.

During in-person meetings, we naturally look around, use our hands, or even pace around the room. But during virtual meetings, we’re confined to our desks. This can limit our ability to think creatively. 

In-person interactions build psychological safety

Most of us have had the experience of getting in-person time with our coworkers and feeling instantly bonded to them. This is because face-to-face interactions cause the release of the feel-good hormone, oxytocin. 

But it’s not just about the warm fuzzy feelings. Building trust with teammates creates a culture of psychological safety, which is the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.

As you may imagine, building psychological safety is key to having productive meetings. In fact, a study from Google furthered the importance of psychological safety, naming it the most important factor for a team's success.

How to use room scheduling software to improve meetings and support your next coworking or brainstorming session

If you’re on a hybrid or remote team, as many of us are, meeting in-person provides a rare opportunity to get together as a team. 

Proactively scheduling time to brainstorm, cowork, or solve a specific problem using room scheduling software can help you get the most out of your time together. 

Here’s how: 

Reserve space in advance

The last thing you want is for everyone to make time to come into the office, only to find out that no meeting rooms are available. 

With a room scheduling tool, you can secure the appropriate space days, if not weeks, in advance. 

A scheduling tool also allows you to proactively build in time on your teammate’s calendars for in-person collaboration. 

Let’s say, for instance, you reserve a room for every other Thursday from 2 pm to 3 pm. Knowing that this space is available to them, your colleagues can use this time to meet in-person for brainstorming or coworking sessions, or even host office hours for people to ask each other questions. 

This allows you to reap the benefits of in-person collaboration—without necessarily needing to schedule a “meeting” to do so.

Streamline ownership 

There may be last-minute changes to your in-person meeting. Some people may decide not to attend or, alternatively, others may decide to join. The meeting date and time could also change.

Rather than emailing back and forth with the admin team to switch to a different room (or leaving it up to chance), your employees can use a room scheduling tool to see what else is free and make updates as needed.

This added convenience will keep all the meeting rooms running smoothly and encourage more people to take advantage of the in-person collaboration opportunities that are available to them.

Choose the right space for your group

Most room scheduling software also allows you to see capacity limits, so people can choose a space that makes sense for their group size.

You can also choose a meeting room that has the amenities you need—whether that’s a projector or a whiteboard. 

Having insight into these meeting room features ensures that your employees get the most out of their in-person time. 

Get the most out of your in-person time with teammates

Don’t miss out on the benefits that come with collaborating in person.

Regardless of your work setup, getting the team together for a brainstorm or working session can be a powerful way to generate new ideas, deepen relationships, and increase productivity.

By using a room scheduling tool, you're enabling your team to take advantage of the benefits of in-person collaboration—which then creates more value for your organization as a whole. 

If you’d like to learn more about room scheduling and determine if a room scheduling tool is a good fit for your office, book a demo with us today.