So I found myself working with a group in Birmingham last week. Part of what they are doing is creating business plans for 2020, and so I was helping them consider 4 different perspectives: People, Technology, Innovation and Customers. Aside from some of the interesting trends in each of those 4 areas (see previous blog post), what I especially enjoyed was the venue.

Now when I first heard ‘Birmingham Library’ as the venue, I was imagining some dusty facility with people tiptoeing around and ‘sshhhh-ing’ anyone with the gall to raise their voice. However, I was delighted to discover a fabulous new facility which has been recently opened and has been thoughtfully designed to ‘facilitate learning’ rather than ‘provide information’. I couldn’t help myself but grab a member of staff and quiz them about the layout and the operation and the intention. It is the largest library in the UK, the largest public cultural space in Europe and services 5,000 people a day.    

At the back end of last year, we designed an event around ‘The Future of Learning’ and this facility is a wonderful example of how to embrace peoples’ changing needs and leverage technology and design to inspire people to learn. If you haven’t been – make a side trip next time you’re in the area.    

As we start to plan our client work this year, it’s given me a timely reminder about ensuring the environment / location is carefully selected or modified to make it engaging for the team to learn. This can be an afterthought for many team events, but we have learned it can be critical – and so the search for interesting venues in 2014 commences…..

by Jason Miller