Scattered gathering rules
A few scattered rules for gathering that nobody seems to tell you about.
Groups favor circles
Layout-wise, people like to sit in a circle. Trying to hem anybody into any other sort of layout is effectively a fool’s errand unless you’re designing a stadium.
My dining tables are rectangular not because I have poor taste, but because I live in a space-constrained city and that’s how to fit the maximum number of people in the room at big gatherings. I still position chairs in a circle when doing more free-form talks. And people always soften the edges of those rectangles when they arrange their bodies relative to one another.
Max 4 active participants
A conversation can hold a maximum of four active participants at any time. Add a fifth and you will have one wallflower. Add a sixth and you will likely watch two simultaneous conversations naturally appear.
My tables are designed to seat eight for this reason. The goal is always to maximize the number of active participants at any given time. After all, why did you bother coming here if you aren’t going to contribute?
Behavior needs to be anticipated
There is always going to be unconscious stuff that happens in the space that you didn’t expect. Two examples:
- I once saw someone holding a beer while sitting on one edge of my couch. They unthinkingly swiped near the edge of the couch, expecting a side table to be there for them to put the beer. Next time they came over, a side table was there.
- I have a bottle of sunscreen next to a bar of soap in my bathroom. I also have a stack of post-it notes where people can write nice things about each other. At my biggest party of the year, two people used the post-its to anonymously mention that they used the sunscreen as a soap bottle by mistake. I wrote “THIS IS SUNSCREEN. SOAP IS THERE ←” on the neck of the sunscreen bottle.
You are designing the space. Design is a process of anticipatory listening.
People want comfort
This feels obvious, but it has applications.
You want chairs that people will actually like to sit in for a few hours. This disqualifies a lot of chairs. You should think for a little while about what kinds of chairs you like to sit in, and what you can do to bring those parameters into the space.
Outdoors is always a risky thing if you have no alternatives if it’s not perfect, because someone will complain. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It got too cold. The wind is weird. You are managing the situation and it’s just always easier to do with HVAC. But if you want to be outdoors in the cold, a fire pit and some blankets can never hurt.
Finally, for those of you who are trying to grill in Chicago in the spring, if the radar shows that it will be softly, non-threateningly raining for five minutes, everyone will still run for shelter at the slightest hint of any rain. Squalls have ruined us. Plan accordingly.