Some people like to have a walk while having a meeting, and while that is great for a small group of two or three, it prooves difficult for larger groups or more complex subjects. Outside Society is a German startup that puts your meetings into the lap of mother nature to get your creativity going.
Based in Berlin, Outside Society was founded in 2019 as a joint venture between Paperlain and modulbox mo systeme with a total of six employees dedicated to the project. On the crowdfunding platform, Startnext, they gathered funding throughout the last couple of months, where they reached a sum of 70.933 EUR (about 79.811 USD) from 22 backers.
As always with New Work practices, not every method applies to every team and company but maybe this one is the right one for you.
What is it that Outside Society does?
Outside Society provides you with an event space in the nature for meetings and other sorts of gatherings. They give you the equipment to be productive and the environment to be creative. Ask yourself, do you get better ideas in a meeting room that might not even have been designed for creative exchange or in the nature, during walks, or while hiking? They give you coffee and wifi access as well, and everything follows a sustainable design, so what’s not to like here?
Many people enjoy the outdoors, so it’s an excellent idea to take meetings into the nature. You can not only talk about problems but work together on solutions and develop ideas with a maximum of O² intake as you’re working. Indeed, this might not be applicable for every get-together, huddle conference, or recurring meeting. Still, maybe it proofs to be an exciting choice for your annual strategy workshop or a management summit, in case you’re an SME and not an enterprise with hundreds of people to attend such events.
Social distancing and hygiene compliance
Due to the pandemic that nobody could have foreseen in 2019, it is necessary to follow social distancing practices. Outside Society has recently established a new furniture setup that accounts for the right distance to your fellow meeting participant and thus makes it maybe even safer than meeting inside an office building.
On that subject, Karsten Kossatz, inventor of the Outside Society idea, added, “by leveraging our concept you can work the whole day in a forest and facilitate workshops within a natural environment — yet being compliant to the current COVID-19 requirements. That way, we establish a safe workplace for the participants of meetings and workshops.”
Pricing and availability
Outside Society currently operates only within Germany, and they offer two different services to choose from. You can book the meeting-in-the-woods box for a half-day (for hours) either in the morning or afternoon for 2.700 EUR (about 3.037 USD) or book a full-day event (9 hours) throughout the morning and afternoon for 5.000 EUR (about 5.625 USD). The booking fee includes a welcome smoothie as well as access to a coffee machine, power, and wifi.
YouTube: Outside Society Teaser (German)
Photo credit: The images are owned by Outside Society and were used with their permission.
Source: Direct contact with Outside Society and their press release.
Editorial notice: The quote has been translated from German to English by the author.
