OutdoorOffice BarCamp
There is a growing group of like minded organisations actively engaging in promoting connection with nature as part of our workdays. Looking for hashtags as #outdoorffice, #outdoorofficeday, #stickut, #utekontor, #weeting, #buitenkantoor, #businesswalkandtalk, #outsidesociety, #smartworking or #luontotyöpäivä, you'll find thousands of images of people taking their work - sitting or walking - outdoors; it became a network working together in order to raise awareness and inspire more to reconnect with nature and stay active as part of their workday. When Ulli Wackenroder (MyBusinessCamp) and Catharina Nilsson (Fredriksdal museum and gardens) invited us to finally meet in person, exchange experience and learn from each other, a part of the larger group of front-runners managed to jump on the train and headed to Helsingborg.
Why Helsingborg and Fredriksdal’s gardens? Here Catharina Nilsson and her colleagues created a pioneering outdoor office: the ‘Friluftskontoret’ with 36 hectares of urban nature and cultural heritage. The quiet gardens of the museum offer the perfect space to meet, work and walk. You can book here one of the 26 available workstations, there are wireless routers, laptop sunshades and power banks. The privacy is guaranteed and the surrounding lush nature invites you to have a walking meeting and also stay active. The past years Catharina is hosting here each June interesting and informative #OutdoorOfficeDay events.
OutdoorOffice BarCamp
Introduced by Ulli, we worked according to the principles of the Barcamp. Barcamps are open, participatory workshops and events, the content of which is provided by participants. Together with other front-runners from The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Romania (please meet them here: Iris Visser, Charlotte Petersson Troije, Ornella van der Ende, Carina Eriksson, Annika Widmark, Kirsten van den Berg, Juho Jäppinen and Sebastian Capotescu) a broad set go themes were discussed:
theory and research (the Lotus of Outdoor Office Work from Charlotte Petersson Troije’s newly published PhD disertation)
building a movement and gathering the outdoor office family together
a short and compelling history of human evolution by Meijan Polku
practical issues: outdoor work formats and possibilities, places and placemaking
the role of an open culture and a dialogue around the broader theme of what work is.
OutdoorOffice BarCamp
Will me meet again and maybe in a larger group? For sure. Till then we do take work outdoors each day. and inspire others to do the same.
More about this first Outdoor Office BarCamp?
