Walking Meetings: A Month of Taking Calls on Foot

Running this network means a lot of calls. Member check-ins, moderator catch-ups, the odd developer who has broken their install at the worst possible moment. When I added it up for December, it came to about 22 hours on video, nearly all of it at the same desk.

So in January I tried an experiment. Any call that didn't need a screen became a walking call. Camera off, headphones in, out the door.

What I noticed

• Shorter calls. Without slides or a shared screen we got to the point faster. Most one-to-ones dropped from 45 minutes to about 30.
• Better conversations. People seem to talk more openly when nobody is staring at a face on a screen. Two moderators told me things on walks they had never mentioned on video.
• Steps without trying. I averaged around 9,000 a day, up from something embarrassing.

What didn't work

Wind. Bishkek in January is cold, and the wind off the mountains finds every gap in a scarf. I now keep a short indoor loop through a covered market for bad days. Anything involving numbers or decisions still needs notes, so I send a three-line summary after every walk.

This isn't advice, just what helped me feel less glued to a chair. If you run a community and spend your days on calls, try one walking call this week and tell me how it went.