Brainstorming Studios: Redefining Meeting Space (Literally)

Last Updated on 14 November 2019

Our current options for great places to hold meetings are minute compared to the number of important out-of-office meetings we conduct.

While there are a handful of creatively crafted locations in the United States, our overwhelming options are hotel meeting rooms and professional meeting/convention space. Boring space. Millions upon millions of square feet of plain, multipurpose rooms. Tan rooms filled with long tables surrounded by expensive chairs.

Below is a Google image search for the term “meeting space.” This is one page, with 30 images, of over 38 million images featuring the same of the same of the same.

But, we don’t have much choice.

Meeting space is a commodity. We get it free when we book enough hotel rooms or buy the catering department’s food package. We then pay crazy-ass prices to outfit the room with basic equipment (LCD beamer, flip chart stand). Yet, we have to settle for this arrangement as it is the only offering.

This is far from a place where we could see the room itself as a tool to help us generate ideas. What I’ve described so far are merely people containers. The positives are (1) we aren’t at the office, and (2) the pool has a swim-up bar.

Form Can Follow Function

Yet, a model exists where form follows function… Movie Studios and Recording Studios.

These are spaces designed and built for a single function. They are controlled environments, fully equipped with the proper tools. They are staffed by professionals with specific skills.

The movie studio has a soundstage and backlot. The lights, camera, and action are all there. Everything you need to make a great movie. A recording studio is designed to achieve desired acoustic properties and equipped with recording and mixing tools. Everything you need to record a song.

This is a concept we understand and value. The word ‘studios’ is fairly synonymous with ‘specialized purpose.’