Creative team meeting ideas to inspire your Guests

Meetings. It’s impossible to avoid them at work – we all need to discuss things, create new ideas, update the team, set the strategy. So, how can we make meetings as exciting, productive and energetic as possible? 

The issue isn’t what we call meetings, it’s how we act in them and how we make them as exciting, productive and energetic as possible.

With some of our creative team meeting ideas below, the whole team can enjoy and look forward to them and start thinking outside the box. 

1. Time Management

Be strict about the length of the meeting. If possible, keep it short and sweet.
Or, if that just isn’t on the cards, it is imperative that you schedule plenty of substantial breaks.

And, importantly, make the end of the meeting, the end of the meeting. Give everyone a five-minute warning. No dragging on!

This sense of urgency will help everyone feel like the time is really valuable and encourage the team to throw their all into the short period available. As team meeting ideas go, we think this one is essential!

2. Outdoor Meetings

Energy is the key to creativity. So think about the best ways to energise your staff.
If your team are a lively bunch, think out of the box by holding an ideas session after a game of football or a brisk walk.
Taking your meeting outside the office and outside has lots of benefits for your colleagues and employees including healthier bodies and fewer interruptions.
Giving your employees and colleagues a different environment to think it could lead to some of their best ideas yet.

3. Ice Breakers

The ‘icebreaker’ might be a cliche, but it is effective for creating the right energy and atmosphere in the room. Icebreakers do not have to fit a particular format, you don’t need to tell everyone an interesting fact.
Instead, opt for a game or activity that will re-energise the group before your meeting.
One of our favourite icebreakers here at HeadBox is the icebreaker that helps you get to know each other on a deeper level.
For a creative team meeting idea, split the group into a smaller group and work out what they have in common with others. The group with the most things in common win.

3. Unusual Communication

Communication is key, but have you tried it without speaking?

Make the most of this in your meeting by introducing non-verbal signals. This has many benefits: it can help to avoid interruptions and avoid the situation where the person with the loudest voice gets heard over everyone else.
In addition to this, think about ways to communicate ideas by writing them down. Use Post-its, a whiteboard or an interactive screen. Communicating verbally is just one method; don’t rely on it as the only means of communication!

5. Soft Seating

Introducing soft seating is a great creative team meeting idea to relax people and change in the scenery. This will help you think more creatively and get an outside perspective.
Don’t forget to invite new people. You might be surprised how this can help you to approach a problem from a different angle.

6. Stand up

One of the best creative team meeting ideas is to host it standing up. It keeps the team alert and (excuse the pun) on their toes.
There’s no opportunity to slump back in a chair and zone out – and this kind of negative body language can have a ripple effect in your meeting.
If it’s not practical to host the whole thing standing up, divide up the session. Spend ten minutes talking around the whiteboard before sitting down to discuss further.

 

3. Unusual Venue

We know it’s not always possible to host every single meeting outside the office. But if you have a meeting that might stretch across a whole morning, or even a day, new surroundings will keep the energy high for as long as possible and is one of the best creative team meeting ideas.

It gives the meeting more of a sense of occasion; the whole team feel the gravity of it and commit all their energy and creativity to the session.

And – not only is going outside the office an incentive, but it also gives you a chance to make it more of an event.
Why not arrange team drinks afterwards, or provide some stellar catering throughout the day? If that doesn’t inspire you, we don’t know what will!
Need some inspiration, take a look at our creative venues here.

Hosting an effective meeting isn’t difficult, it just requires a little consideration. And putting these creative team meeting ideas into practice isn’t time-consuming either; they are small changes you can make every time you bring your team together.

It’s about changing people’s attitudes towards meetings. At their best meetings can be collaborative and productive and the ideas for team meetings above should help you to achieve that!

If you’d like to have a look at some of our creativity-inspiring meeting rooms you can take a look at our London meeting rooms collection here.

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