It's easy to criticize formal rooms.
But sometimes, formality is useful.
Imagine a session where the goal is:
Approving a plan
Validating compliance decisions
Reporting performance
Aligning executives around clear accountability
In these moments, clarity matters more than exploration.
Hierarchy can reduce confusion.
Structure can prevent drift.
A clear "head of the table" can speed up decisions.
A highly flexible space, in this case, might create unnecessary ambiguity.
When the objective is evaluation and commitment,
a conference room often supports that objective well.
The real mistake is not choosing a conference room.
The mistake is choosing it automatically,
without asking what kind of thinking the session requires.
Different outcomes require different conditions.
The room should match the work.
