What Is a Walking Meeting? Benefits, Best Practices, and How to Run One

Walking increased creative output by an average of 60% in a Stanford University study. The effect was strongest when participants walked outdoors.

If your team spends most of the workday sitting through back-to-back meetings in conference rooms, you may be leaving significant productivity, creativity, and health gains on the table. A walking meeting is one of the simplest ways to change that — and the research behind it is more compelling than most people expect.

In this guide, you'll learn what a walking meeting is, how it works, and how to get the most out of it for your team.

Key Takeaways

• A walking meeting is a work discussion held while participants walk, indoors, outdoors, or on a treadmill, rather than sitting in a conference room.
• Stanford research found walking increases creative output by ~60% on average, with outdoor walking producing the most novel ideas.
• Walking meetings work best for 1:1s, brainstorming sessions, and coaching conversations, not for large groups or screen-heavy topics.
• Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are among the most prominent advocates of walking meetings.
• The format is not new: Aristotle taught his students while walking, a practice that gave his school its name, the Peripatetic school.

What Is a Walking Meeting?

A walking meeting is exactly what it sounds like: a work meeting that takes place while participants walk. It can be a short "walk and talk" with a colleague between office locations, or a structured 30–60 minute discussion held outdoors or around a building.

The format can apply to nearly any meeting type: a 1:1 check-in, a brainstorming session, a coaching conversation, or a creative problem-solving discussion. The defining feature is movement: participants walk together instead of sitting around a table.

Walking meetings are sometimes called "strolling meetings" as a more inclusive term, a practical consideration for teams where some members may have mobility limitations. The informal version is often referred to as a "walk and talk."

A Practice Older Than the Boardroom

The walking meeting is not a modern productivity hack. Aristotle taught his students while walking through the Lyceum in ancient Athens, a method so central to his school that it became known as the Peripatetic school — from the Greek word for "walking around."

Friedrich Nietzsche put it plainly: "It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth."

How Walking Meetings Work

The mechanics are straightforward. A walking meeting replaces a sitting meeting with movement, either outside, around an office building, or on a treadmill for solo walking meetings via phone or video call.

Typical Format

Walking meetings typically follow this structure:

1. Set a clear agenda in advance: limited to 1–2 topics. More than that becomes unwieldy while moving.
2. Choose a route: quiet, low-traffic, ideally with a destination or landmark to give the walk a natural arc.
3. Keep the group small: 2–3 participants is optimal. Larger groups make side-by-side conversation difficult.
4. Walk and discuss: no screens, no slides. The conversation is the meeting.
5. Capture decisions immediately after: one participant takes notes right after the walk, or a brief voice memo is recorded.

Virtual Walking Meetings

You don't need to be in the same location to have a walking meeting. A phone call while both participants walk, each in their own location, delivers most of the same cognitive and physical benefits.

Psychology Today (2025) notes that research supports the creative and mood benefits of walking even when done independently rather than together.

Types of Walking Meetings

Different walking meeting formats suit different purposes.

Benefits of Walking Meetings

Increased Creativity

The most well-documented benefit is creative thinking. A 2014 Stanford University study found that walking, whether on a treadmill or outdoors, produced an average 60% increase in creative output compared to sitting. Participants who walked outdoors showed the strongest gains.

A 2024 review in Discover Psychology of dozens of experiments confirmed that low-intensity natural walking reliably boosts divergent thinking and originality, the cognitive functions most associated with idea generation and problem-solving. The effect was present after just a few minutes of walking.

Better Mood and Connection

A 2022 pilot study by Anna Bornioli, published in Cities & Health, found that walking meeting participants reported feeling more relaxed and energized, with reduced feelings of social isolation. This is particularly relevant for hybrid and remote teams where social connection is already strained.

Baylor University's Human Resources department (2024) cites research showing that walking meetings correlate with higher job satisfaction, workers who use walking meetings report enjoying their work more.

Reduced Health Risks from Sedentary Work

White-collar workers typically sit for most of their working day, putting them at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The American Heart Association's 2016 report identified sedentary behavior as a significant contributor to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and above-average mortality rates.

A 30-minute walking meeting every day contributes meaningfully toward the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. A 2024 randomized controlled trial found that walking was more effective than office yoga at reducing musculoskeletal complaints.

Improved Productivity

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine study (2021), published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found that moderate occupational physical activity correlated with decreased work time missed due to health reasons and decreased impairment while working. The study found that walking meetings affect worker mood and productivity while measurably increasing physical activity levels.

More Honest, Less Hierarchical Conversations

Walking side-by-side reduces the power dynamics inherent in face-to-face boardroom settings. Eye contact is intermittent rather than sustained, which research suggests makes difficult conversations easier. Managers and direct reports often report more candid feedback exchanges during walking meetings than in formal office settings.

Challenges and Limitations

Not Suitable for All Meeting Types

Walking meetings break down when participants need to reference documents, share screens, or work through complex visual data. Any meeting that requires more than two or three people to track the same information simultaneously is better handled sitting down.

Accessibility and Inclusion

Not all participants can walk, and not all disabilities are visible. Before assuming a walking meeting format, check in with all participants — including about weather, terrain, and physical comfort. Using the term "strolling meeting" and explicitly offering alternatives signals that the format is a preference, not a mandate.

Note-Taking and Documentation

Walking creates a natural barrier to real-time note-taking. This is usually a feature — fewer distractions, more presence — but it means you need a post-meeting documentation habit. Designate a note-taker in advance, or plan to immediately record a short voice memo of key decisions when the walk ends.

Weather and Environment

Outdoor walking meetings depend on weather. Rain, extreme heat, or poor air quality can make them impractical. Having an indoor fallback route, around a building floor, a long corridor, removes the dependency on conditions.

Walking Meeting Best Practices

1. Notify participants in advance so they can wear appropriate footwear and clothing, no one should be surprised by a walk in office shoes.
2. Keep the group to 2–3 people: conversation fragments when groups get larger; paired conversations within a small group can work for brief check-ins.
3. Choose a quiet, low-traffic route: traffic noise and pedestrian congestion both undermine focus. Natural or low-stimulation environments enhance the creative benefit.
4. Limit the agenda to 1–2 topics: the format favors depth over breadth; use it for discussions that benefit from thinking time, not updates that need a whiteboard.
5. Add a destination: walking toward a specific point of interest gives the meeting a natural rhythm and makes the walk feel purposeful rather than aimless.
6. Document decisions immediately after: agree on who will write up the key points within 15 minutes of finishing. Don't wait until end of day.
7. Start with a framing question: begin the walk with a specific question or challenge to focus the conversation before the discussion opens up.

The Future of Walking Meetings

Hybrid and Distributed Work

Remote work has made walking meetings easier, not harder. Phone-based virtual walking meetings, where both participants walk independently while on a call, deliver many of the same creative and mood benefits as in-person walks. As hybrid work becomes the norm, virtual walking meetings are likely to grow as a standard format for 1:1 calls.

Workplace Wellness Integration

Organizations with formal wellness programs are increasingly logging walking meetings as part of tracked physical activity. Wearables and step-tracking platforms make it straightforward to connect meeting behavior with health outcomes, a useful lever for companies trying to build sustainable movement habits for desk-based workers.

How to Get Started with Walking Meetings

1. Pilot with one recurring 1:1: pick your next weekly check-in and propose moving it outside. A single 30-minute walking 1:1 is the fastest way to test the format with minimal risk.
2. Scout a route: walk your intended route alone first. Note distance, surface quality, traffic noise, and any weather shelter if needed.
3. Agree on documentation: decide before the first walking meeting who will capture notes and by when. This removes the biggest friction point.
4. Introduce the format to your team: frame it as optional, not mandatory. Explain the research briefly, offer an alternative for those with accessibility considerations, and let interest build organically.
5. Review after 4 sessions: ask participants one question: "Was this more or less useful than our normal meeting?" That feedback will tell you whether to expand the format.

Conclusion

A walking meeting is one of the simplest productivity interventions available, no new software, no budget, no setup time. The research backing it spans cognitive science, occupational health, and workplace psychology, and it points consistently in the same direction: movement improves thinking, mood, and connection.

Start with one. Replace your next 1:1 with a 30-minute walk, follow up with a brief written summary, and see what you notice about the quality of the conversation. The evidence suggests you'll find more than you expected.