Is there anyone who doesn't believe room sets matter, that as long as people can sit, they can learn? My friend, you need to read What's Wrong with this Room Set by Kristi Casey Sanders. Actually, you don't even have to read it—just look at the pictures and you'll, well, get the picture.
I've been to a lot of meetings in the past few months, and all too many of the session rooms looked like the first in her post: A sterile, ugly room with rows and rows of chairs locked together like some sort of furniture chain-gang, though at least in most cases we could actually see the speakers at the front of the room. Oh how my heart yearns for the second example, with comfy couches and room to breathe.
I know meetings consultant/guru Joan Eisenstodt has been singing this song for years on end, but please, please, can't we do something to at least make our meeting spaces minimally habitable, if not hospitable, if not true learning environments? Kristi mentions this excellent white paper Tahira Endean wrote about designing EventCamp Vancouver in her post, which I would also like to point to as a great resource and/or source of inspiration. We can do better.