Category Archives: Networking

Walking Meetings

From MindTools:

“A walking meeting is exactly what it sounds like: a meeting that takes place while its participants are walking around.

It could involve just a few minutes’ “walk and talk” with a colleague en route to another part of the building. Or, it could be a more organized 20-minute stride around the park while you and two or three colleagues brainstorm ideas or thrash out a problem. … To stay healthy, the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention, via its Health Promotion Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate intense activity (such as brisk walking or playing doubles tennis) each week. [3] So, by holding a 30-minute walking meeting every day, you would be helping your people to achieve this, giving them long-term health benefits.

Mental health and wellbeing can be improved too, with studies showing that regular exercise can help to reduce anxiety and build up your tolerance for stress. [4] The combination of fresh air, daylight and walking is a great stress reliever, and exposure to daylight helps your body to produce beneficial chemicals, such as serotonin and vitamin D. People with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) will also thank you for the opportunity to get some natural light.

Furthermore, research by the American Psychological Association shows that walking enhances people’s creativity and productivity. According to neuroscientists, walking increases blood flow to the brain, which helps people to express ideas more fluently.

Formalities tend to be dropped when you take people out of the office. This allows them to think more freely and to develop stronger relationships with one another, and with you. And, by taking yourself away from the hustle and bustle of the workplace, your meeting has less chance of being disturbed.

Things to Consider When Arranging a Walking Meeting

To hold a walking meeting, you won’t need any special equipment beyond a decent pair of shoes and clothing suitable for the weather. But you will need a safe space and participants who are able and willing to cover the distance.

You’ll also need to consider the resources that you’ll require, such as refreshments, pens and paper, and how confidential the meeting will be – who needs to be there, who might be in the vicinity of your walk, and who might overhear what you’re saying.

Other considerations include noise that might make it harder for attendees to communicate (chatter in a busy corridor, for example) and how you will chair the meeting effectively outside the more formal setting of a meeting room.

It is, therefore, crucial that you think about the purpose of your meeting carefully before adopting this approach. For example, could a quick standing meeting be carried out in a more formal setting, with a small agenda and ideas submitted via email beforehand?

Walking meetings are best for exploring possible solutions to a problem, brainstorming or conferring on decisions. If you know that you’re going to need a whiteboard or other equipment, it might be better to “walk and talk” to promote discussion and then return to the boardroom to draw everything up together.

A word of warning at this point: please remember that, if you can’t include remote workers, you’ll not only be missing out on their contribution, but they may also feel excluded from the decision making process. They will likely need to be consulted before any final decisions are made to ensure that they can participate in the process.”

Credit: “MindTools | Home.” Www.mindtools.com, www.mindtools.com/af5nfqq/walking-meetings

‌Tips from Harvard Business Review:

Consider including an “extracurricular” destination on your route. Dr. Eytan, whose office is located in Washington, D.C., often mentions the nearby Washington Coliseum as a place to stroll by, and notes it is where the Beatles played their first U.S. concert. Naming a point of interest, he says, provides more rationale and incentive for others to go for a walk.

Avoid making the destination a source of unneeded calories. One of the arguments in favor of walking meetings is the health benefit. However, this is easily negated if the walking meeting leads to a 425-calorie white-chocolate mocha that wouldn’t otherwise be consumed.

Do not surprise colleagues or clients with walking meetings. It’s fine to suggest a walk if it seems appropriate in the moment, as long as it’s clear that you’ll be fine with a “maybe next time.” But if you’re planning ahead to spend your time with someone in a walking meeting, have the courtesy to notify them in advance, too. This allows them to arrive dressed for comfort, perhaps having changed shoes. You might also keep water bottles on hand to offer on warm days.

Stick to small groups. Haimes recommends a maximum of three people for a walking meeting.

Have fun. Enjoy the experience of combining work with a bit of exercise and fresh air. Perhaps this is the one piece of advice that doesn’t need to be given. Our data show that those who participate in walking meetings are more satisfied at their jobs than their colleagues who don’t.

Based on our survey and the clear case to be made for walking in general as a key to good health, there would seem to be no good argument against making a habit of walking meetings — or at least giving it a try.”

Credit: “How to Do Walking Meetings Right.” Harvard Business Review, 5 Aug. 2015, hbr.org/2015/08/how-to-do-walking-meetings-right.

Diane Borsato, Touching 1000 People (2001-2003)

Touching 1000 People

Performance intervention and photographs

2003

I read a study that suggested that when people are subtly touched, it can affect their behaviour and well being. For a month I went out of my way to delicately bump, rub past, and tap 1000 strangers in the city. I touched commuters, shoppers, cashiers and taxi cab drivers on the street, on the metro, in shops and in museums. The exercise was like a minimalist performance. I was exploring the smallest possible gesture, and how it could create an effect in public.

The action was performed for one month in various locations in Montreal in 2001, and repeated for ten days across the city of Vancouver in 2003.

EXHIBITION HISTORY

Vu, How To Draw Winter, Solo Exhibition, with catalogue essay by Amish Morrell, Winter 2006, Quebec City

Artcite, The Moon in my Mouth, Solo Exhibiton and Visiting Artist Talk at University of Windsor, Spring 2006, Windsor, Ontario

Truck Contemporary Art in Calgary, Sleeping with Cake, in ‘Mountain Standard Time: Festival of Performative Art’, Fall 2005, Calgary

Mois de la Photo, How to Eat light, Solo Exhibition curated by Martha Langford at ‘Occurrence’, Fall 2005, Montreal

CAFKA – Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener, Solo Exhibition as part of ‘Peace of Mind’, 2005, Kitchener, Ontario

Gallery TPW, Warm Things To Chew For The Dead, (Solo Exhibition), during Contact 2004: Toronto” (credit)

Inua Ellams, The Midnight Run (2005-)

[credit]

The Midnight Run is a registered social enterprise. Like traditional businesses we aim to make a profit but what sets us apart is that we aim to – reinvest or donate those profits towards creating positive social change.

Inspiration.

The Midnight Run is a walking, night-time, arts-filled, cultural journey through a city and a typical Midnight ‘Runner’ has a healthy sense of adventure and seeks experiences beyond the mainstream. It is partially influenced by The Situationists – a political and artistic movement between 1957 & 1972 – started in France. Founders of the movement were tired of the commercialism of art and consumerism and wandered city streets in typical post-war bohemian fashion seeking REAL experiences.

Accordingly, The Midnight Run seeks to negate the frenzy and hysteria of mass media, pop culture, hype and reality T.V. for actual reality, for the simplicity and intimacy of walking and talking. Our idea is to reclaim the streets of a city, to dispel the idea of ‘danger after dark’ instead to ‘discover after dark’. It is to grow urban communities, situate meetings of strangers, for relationships to blossom, to inhabit the confines of glass, concrete, steel and structure as a child does a maze: with natural play and wonderment.

Why artists? 

“During those early Midnight Runs, I’d run writing workshops and poetry exercise specific to locations we visited. After, I’d ask participants to share their writing and I noticed how it created new spaces for communication and conversation. Essentially, I stumbled across a simple way to deepen group dynamics and our appreciation and understanding of each other.”

“Over time I invited artists/activists of various disciplines to run workshops thereby widening the scope of this interaction. Artists/activists are often plugged into fascinating networks and know great spaces worth visiting for playful or aesthetic reasons. Searching for outdoors spaces to compliment their art forms made planning Midnight Run routes vastly more interesting… the artists work on several levels.” — Inua Ellams, Founder

But WHY JOIN A MIDNIGHT RUN?

50% of the world’s population live in urban environments. Despite growing population density we face issues of loneliness, depression and economic polarisation… because of global immigration and gentrification, many cities are rapidly losing their local, historical and communal identities in a land-grab for commercial space. These new paradigms favour younger, faster, richer members of societies, paradigms that are increasingly hostile to the youth and older members of societies.

The Midnight Run experience counters these issues by slowing urban life to talking, playing and creating within various urban spaces. Because the event is for one night only with strangers, participants are afforded anonymity and can attend without any danger of judgement or consequence. By inviting artists of diverse practices, we encourage participants to step out of comfort zones and exercise their creative muscle. By inviting local artists who inform the route, we ensure what is experienced on the night is specific and true to the locality, the inhabitants and their environment.

The ground-breaking idea behind the Midnight Run is a return to simplicity, to entertain without entertainment, to trust in community and conversation, to rediscover our essential creative selves.

INUA ELLAMS.

Born in Nigeria in 1984, Inua Ellams is an internationally touring poet, playwright, performer, graphic artist & designer. He has published three pamphlets of poetry including ‘Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars’ and ‘The Wire Headed-Heathen’. His first play ‘The 14th Tale’ was awarded a Fringe First at the Edinburgh International Theatre Festival and his third, ‘Black T-Shirt Collection’ ran at England’s National Theatre. In graphic art & design (online and in print) he tries to mix the old with the new, juxtaposing texture and pigment with flat shades of colour and vector images. He lives and works from London, where he founded The Midnight Run.

Inua hails from the Hausa tribe in Northern Nigeria, a people synonymous with a nomadic tradition. The Midnight Run came from this tradition, his search for a community to belong to, the transience and transformation of travel, and a belief in the bridge-building ability of arts and artistic interaction.

OUR BEGINNINGS.

The Midnight Run was found in 2005 by award winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams. In 2011 The Midnight Run embarked on a collaborative partnership with CCT-SeeCity, founded by Elena Mazzoni Wagner in Prato, Italy. This marked the beginning an expansion across Europe. To date Midnight Run events have commissioned in Manchester, London, Leeds, Milan, Firenze, Barcelona, Madrid & Auckland.

WHO WE WORK WITH.

Midnight Run events speak to themes of enhancing group communication, making different art forms accessible, supporting local artists and exploring cultural dynamics within urban environments. Events are typically commissioned by arts organisations, cultural festivals, community groups and corporate organisations. Organisations worked with include Southbank Centre, Contact Theatre, PUMA, Tate Modern, The Royal Society of Arts, Bush Theatre, Lomography, Create Festival + many more.

Eve Mosher, Walking the Edge (2020)

map of NYC waterfront

[credit]

“Walking the Edge invites New Yorkers to reconnect to the diversity of the city’s shorelines and have a voice in the city planning process. Walking the Edge uses walking to encounter, reflect upon, and see places anew. Walking the Edge is a collaboration between arts organizations Culture Push and Works on Water with the NYC Department of City Planning. Due to Covid-19, we transitioned to online platforms for this project. See walkingtheedge.nyc for more information.”

Walking Artists Network (2007-), Online / England

Founding Members: Clare Qualmann, Clive A Brandon, Melissa Bliss, Viv Corringham and the members of walkwalkwalk

Via Qualmann: The Walking Artists Network was established in 2007 to bring together ‘all those who are interested in walking as a critical spatial practice’. From 2012-2015 I led an AHRD funded project to extend the network internationally, and I continue to facilitate its online presence and occasional in person events. Find out more and join the network at: http://www.walkingartistsnetwork.org/

Further History