This group has been designated for adults age 18 or older. Please sign in and confirm your date of birth in your profile so we can verify your eligibility. You may opt to make your date of birth private.
Designing for conversation can be as simple as planning a pre-work breakfast or it can involve elaborate environmental engineering. Google has been a leader in this kind of engineering. It asked Ben Waber to determine whether there is an optimal amount of time for employees to stand in a cafeteria line to maximize conversation. Waber found out that there is: It’s three to four minutes—short enough so that people don’t feel that they are wasting time, but long enough to meet new people. Similarly, Waber determined the optimal size for a cafeteria table so that strangers wouldn’t feel shy about
...more
