This post was written by Mike Baker and Devin Bramhall, co-executive directors of Boston Content. Follow them, @MarketingBaker and @devinemily.
There’s an old saying in the newspaper industry that no news is ever made in the newsroom. In other words, if you want to find a good story to cover, you’ve got to leave the old office scenery behind and find out what’s actually going on in the real world.
You might not think this applies to the world of content marketing (few of us are actually covering breaking news after all), but you’d be surprised by how much your productivity and output can be improved by a simple change of scenery.
According to a recent Atlantic article, “New sounds, smells, language, tastes, sensations, and sights spark different synapses in the brain and may have the potential to revitalize the mind.” And while we can’t all travel when we’ve hit a creative slump, we can still get out of our immediately familiar surroundings (ahem, the office) to kickstart new ideas.
This was the inspiration for #BosConFieldDay, a monthly remote workday for Boston Content members that lets them ditch their (overly) familiar desks and get together for a day of collaboration and independent work in a new setting.
The event took place this past Tuesday at WeWork’s super fun new space at 745 Atlantic, which turned out to be the perfect mix for collaboration and solitary, GSD time. Plus, there was plenty of complimentary coffee and beer. Which, as we all know, are great for boosting creativity and productivity.
"Our goal was to get our members together someplace new and be able to brainstorm with other content marketers and evolve their strategies and ideas," says Boston Content committee member, Trisha Antonsen, who organized the event.
And from the initial feedback we got, we think it did just that. Here's a sampling of some of the feedback we got from attendees:
Change of scenery gives you a recharge
“When the day was over, I felt recharged and more confident. I enjoyed the interaction and collaboration, which I rarely get at my office.”
“Sitting around writing content can get lonesome, so just being around others doing the same thing feels great.”
New people = new perspective
“I talked to someone just starting out his company — interesting to hear about the kinds of things he was doing and the roadblocks he was up against.”
"It's surprising how your environment can have such an impact on the work you produce. Just being in a new setting, surrounded by a different group of people, helped me break through on a few projects I had been struggling with for a while."
...new opportunities
“I was working on sales and marketing for my content creation company and, while at WeWork, I found two new opportunities.”
And new Friends
“I had an excellent conversation with Lyndsey who works with Smart Destinations, after she had an hour-plus of social media strategy development with Trisha. It was intriguing because we're in similar situations (social media strategy in early stages) and thus could swap ideas and war stories.”
Next Field Day is coming up in mid-May. Make sure you're on our email list to get updates on the next one.