This is a guest blog by Benjy Meyer, CEO at VenueScanner – a company that aims to create a frictionless venue discovery & booking marketplace.

Board meetings can be boringly predictable

  • An agenda that is too long for the allocated meeting time
  • Non-executive board members who know too little about the business to deviate from the plan
  • Everyone wears more grey than they would on a normal day
  • Walkers Scottish biscuits – the stem ginger ones

All of this results in a total lack of creativity.

The move away from “beige”

Your board team is made up of incredibly astute, experienced people. Use them to full effect by engaging them in your business and co-creating with them. Whether you’re thriving or nose-diving, your business needs creativity.

Be sure to allow time on the agenda for creative discussion, brainstorming and collective thinking on the most strategic issues. You’ll get much more value from your board team, and they’ll reward you for removing the boredom factor.

The critical ingredient for a creative board meeting is the venue; the un-hotel, the un-beige, the sort of place you’ll get results and can make true business transformation happen.

Top tips for discovering the right venue for a creative board meeting

1) Avoid the rectangle. Maximise eye contact and drive concentration and collaboration amongst the team with a roundtable. Yes, a circular table – you’ll be super surprised by the results!

2) Ditch the biscuits. They’re a distraction and the opposite of brain food. Try to keep food for breaks, so that you get full and creative concentration from your team. Venues like this excel when it comes to finding the right foods to fuel your guests.

3) Lots of wall space for getting creative. Always ask the venue about what’s best for sticking to walls. Some surfaces work well for post-it notes, others have walls you can scribe on or a big interactive touchscreen. Start with a blank canvas.

4) Get inspired by artistic surroundings. Not just by the visual stimulation, but also by the unconventional thinking that drove the artist to create something of immense emotional value – a great way to brainstorm improved connection with your customers or clients.

5) Ask your supplier lots of questions – do you work with a creative agency? A brand consultancy? A photo studio? Ask them if you can borrow or hire their space for the afternoon.

6) Go home. Get out of the corporate environment and into somewhere comfortable where you’ll find people behave differently and start thinking and communicating in new and groundbreaking ways.

7) Get inspired by victories. Look to get the most out of a winning team. Seek inspiration from those who created their own luck to not only win but also go where others have never been before and break records.

8) A room with a view. No, not for dreaming, but for bringing in outside inspiration, ideas and for avoiding the inevitable and unintentional navel-gazing that happens in so many corporate settings.

9) Get inspired by genius. Museums up and down the country are now hiring space for board meetings and much more. Take some time out of the room to understand what really drove the innovation on show in the exhibition space.

10) Designed by the people whose day job it is to redefine our workspace environments, these guys really know their stuff when it comes to corporate interior design, so be sure to take a look at what’s on offer.

To conclude…

It really is very easy to create a very different type of boardroom ambience. The venue, the layout of the venue, the decor, and the food and drinks all play a critical role in supporting the chair of the meeting and enabling them to achieve the meeting objectives. For your next event, book a creative space to inspire a different kind of board meeting. Once you have that all important venue booked and ready to go, check out this guide on venue management.

For more inspiring venue options from VenueScanner, click here.