#OutdoorOfficeDay and Business Camp is a story of a shared dream and vision. And an #OutdoorOfficeDay without sharing Ulli Wackenroder’s story would not be complete. Lease meet him, and myBusinesscamp.
Could you tell us more about your work and your vision?
Ulli Wackenroder: I have to backtrack a bit: the reason for the change into the BusinessCamp concept came after an event in one of the usual beige/ grey rectangular seminar rooms: beamer, screen, flipchart, pinboard. Before I left the room, I wondered what city I was actually in. Only the imprint on the hotel's writing pad brought it to my mind.
But our workshops mainly revolve around the topics of innovation, transformation and service quality. These uniform rooms and locations tend to be a handicap. That's why I developed diverse concepts such as BusinessCamp and BusinessTrail in unusual - natural - places, in order to stimulate the participants mentally and to get them out of their company’s familiar bubble. When I heard about your idea of the #OutdoorOfficeDay, I was immediately enthusiastic because it is exactly my approach. I have always been interested in the transformation of cities and empty storefronts or locations.
How do your clients react to the natural environment and your way of working?
I make a strong distinction between prospects and clients. The new prospects are reacting primarily reserved when it comes to work in a natural environment: the culture of the company plays an important role. Often ‘what doesn't take place in the office or seminar room’ is considered ‘leisure time’. But our former participants and clients are highly enthusiastic. When focusing on a certain business topic, the physical and communicative distance from the company headquarters and the resulting creative process (while being for example in the forest) are an important plus point for the clients and their staff. Of course tasks as controlling or accounting would be rather difficult to communicate in nature.
The name myBusinessCamp is divided into three parts: ‘my’ stands for the very individual planning of the event with the client. ‘Business’ stands for the clear reference to business life and "Camp" for the distinction from traditional meeting locations. In the entire (outdoor) process, we try to keep everything as simple as possible: back to basics. Personally - when it comes to my own conceptual work and depending on the weather - I like to go to wild nature spots and concentrate on working on specific topics. But most of the cooperative/ team work in wild nature consists of workshops in the BusinessTrail format or e.g. on a mountain hut in the German middle mountains or in the Alps.
So why is taking work outdoors and the connection with the nature so important for office workers? Any other ideas on how we can improve the relationship between work, wellbeing and (urban) nature? Maybe you have tips and ideas from myBusinessCamp’s experiences for the readers.
Through the spatial distance from the office and exposure to various sensitive impressions (warmth, smell, wind) and surroundings, new mental connections can be established. These are particularly in need for the creative processes. I think that in our cities the transformation of urban spaces is in full progress. As a result of the retail spaces that are becoming vacant, urban planners will also be able to reallocate unneeded traffic areas. Medium-sized cities in particular should use the opportunity to prevent the migration of companies and jobs to the metropolitan regions through this kind of good working atmosphere.
At last, you are a great friend of Outdoor Office Day. Without you we wouldn’t have had the German version of the website and poster. Where will you be on June 15th?
First I will have an outdoor meeting with a director and economic of a spa from a German spa town. After that, I plan to do a work session outside on my own. In the afternoon, an OutdoorOfficeMeeting is planned with one of the best-known bikepacking protagonists in Germany. He started his one-year Workpacking-Tour in early January 2023. Since then he takes all his appointments by bike, all over Germany. That needs SOME good planning! IT IS AS A Vanlife without a van. Bikelife on the eCargo-Bike with a mobile office and tent. On OutdoorOfficeDay he will be in the region of Frankfurt am Main, so we organised a collaboration in a nice, shady spot.
