Remote work is lonely, no matter how flexible your schedule is.
I started these remote work meetups to get people away from their kitchen tables and back next to somebody else. We’d been doing this all over San Diego, but I wanted to push it somewhere new, and what better place than to trek up the coast to Venice Beach. And on Friday, July 17 we finally pulled it off. In a partnership and collaboration with Logitech and LOST iN, I took over Windward Plaza and lined the boardwalk with real desks, real monitors, real chairs and sand between everyone’s toes.
We called it “the most productive office in America” the week before we did it.
But as the day unfolded, that felt less like a joke than I expected.
The goal was simple: invite people to BYOD(esk) and work remotely from Venice Beach. Only this time, we took it a step further than our previous meetups. With Logitech on board to help really make this the most productive office possible, we ran four setups:
- The Ergo Desk: To fix everyone’s laptop posture for a few minutes and show them ergonomics matter even when working in a remote location.
- The Charging Station: It kept dying phones alive.
- The Walking Pads: I took two calls from the walking pads, because standing still all day sounded worse than the beach itself.
- The “Get Your Promotion”: Beat 22 seconds on the Mobi Fold and Keys-to-Go 2, and you walked away with the gear. Put a timer on anything and strangers turn competitive fast. That line never really thinned out.
What stuck with me wasn’t the gear. It was who showed up for it.
A guy stopped his run to answer an email. A couple on vacation sat down just to say they’d worked from the sand. Two strangers shared a desk for twenty minutes, trading chargers like they’d worked together for years.
I keep saying “make remote work remote again.” Logitech keeps saying “people should have the freedom to work from anywhere.” When you say both on a Venice boardwalk, they start sounding like the same idea.
3 tips for working remotely outdoors
This is my third remote work meetup, but I’ve worked out of enough strange locations by now to know what actually matters. Here’s what I’d tell anyone trying this outside their home:
- Find a spot with shade, or at least the option to move into it. You’ll actually stay put and get comfortable enough to work instead of packing up after twenty minutes. Oh, and bring water and snacks 🙂
- Charge everything before you leave the house, and it’s worth investing in a portable battery. There’s no outlet outside, and batteries drain faster in the sun than you’d think.
- Noise-canceling headphones are a nice plus outdoors, beaches and parks aren’t exactly quiet. But if you’ve got a call that really matters, it’s probably smarter to schedule it for another day.
Thanks to everyone who pulled up a chair, played the game or wandered over to see what the fuss was. This was the third stop in this series and the biggest one yet, thanks to Logitech.
Cheers to continuing on our quest to find the best places to work from anywhere.
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About the author: Scott Muirhead, aka the “Remote Work Guy” is a content creator and remote-work advocate who turns unexpected places, ballparks, beaches and boardwalks into pop-up offices across the country, one city at a time. You can find his content on Instagram @scottymuirhead.
