UX should apply to your working environment. Naming your conference rooms as funny names will actually change the culture in your office. Here are a bunch of name themes I have collected that are fun. Some are better than others. This is meant to inspire you to name with some fun.
Snow White
- Snow White
- Happy
- Sleepy
- Sneezy
- Grumpy
- Dopey
- Bashful
- Doc
Note: The seven dwarfs were named individually for the first time in 1912 in a Broadway play titled Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Their names in this play were Blick, Flick, Glick, Snick, Plick, Whick and Quee.
Wu-Tang Name Generator
Not for the feint of heart, but you can put the founders names in and see what you get.
http://www.recordstore.com/wuname/wuname.pl
- Tha Prickly Comedian
- Sullen Choirboy
- Gratuitous F-REEK
- Spunky Misunderstood Genius
- Lazy-Assed Destroyer
- Contagious Specialist
- Action-Packed Mentallist
- Asthmatic Enemy of God
Things kids pretend to be
We use this one at Marketo. I love it.
- Pirate
- Monkey
- Robot
- Ninja
- Captain
- Wizard
- Troll
- Zombie
- Princess
- Superhero
Muppets
Not everyone knows the Muppets, but they are so awesome.
- Kermit
- Piggy
- Fozzie
- Gonzo
- Beeker
- Rowlf
- Animal
- Camilla
- Scooter
Monsters
If treated right can be fun.
- Dracula
- Frankenstein
- Wolfman
- Mummy
- Blob
- Thing
- Godzilla
- King Kong
- Loch Ness
Monopoly
One of the most popular games int he world for almost 100 years.
- Boardwalk
- Park Place
- Marvin Gardens
- Atlantic Avenue
- Saint James Place
- Baltic Avenue
- Mediterranean Avenue
- Electric Company
- Water Works
Bad Things
Just because they are bad, doesn’t mean they aren’t fun. #7 is my favorite.
- Sub-Prime Mortgages
- Windows Vista
- Godfather Part III
- Running with Scissors
- Fighting Chuck Norris
- Knife at a Gun Fight
- Land War in Asia
- Crossing the Streams
Marketo Things
Think of the equivalent in your own company. What are your objects?
- Smart Campaign
- Landing Page
- Model
- Form
- Munchkin
- Snippet
- Segmentation
- Stream
- Program
Oxymorons
A little intelligence makes people smile, and think.
- Great Depression
- Jumbo shrimp
- Clearly confused
- Act naturally
- Deafening silence
- Definitely maybe
- Virtual reality
- Random order
- Original copy
- Awfully good
Elements
I’ve always loved this theme. I used it for product releases as well.
- Hydrogen
- Carbon
- Chlorine
- Argon
- Potassium
- Oxygen
- Neon
- Sulfur
- Zinc
- Obviously, you can look at the periodic table.
Emotions
Where are we meeting? We are in Love. ♥
- Love
- Delightful
- Awesome
- Funny
- Brilliant
- Incredible
- Clever
- Wonderful
Rooms in the game Clue
Another very popular game
- Kitchen
- Study
- Conservatory Hall
- Dining Room
- Billiard Room
- Lounge
- Library
- Ballroom
Star Trek
To boldly hold meetings where no one has met before!
- Kirk
- Spock
- McCoy
- Uhura
- Sulu
- Scotty
- Chekov
- Enterprise (choose the biggest room)
- The Bridge
Superheroes
Empower your employees!
- Superman
- Batman
- Robin
- Wonder Woman
- Aquaman
- The FlashGreen
- Lantern
- Hawkman
- The Wonder Twins
Deadly Sins
Any company who uses these is living La Vida Loca. But I dig it!
- Gluttony
- Greed
- Wrath
- Sloth
- Lust
- Pride
- Envy
Peanuts
Ah, nostalgia
- Charlie Brown
- Snoopy
- Linus
- Lucy
- Woodstock
- Marcie
- Peppermint Patty
- Schroeder
- Pig-Pen
Planets
Maybe a little boring, but it’s schence-y so I like it
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
- Pluto (Yes it is!)
Confusing
My absolute favorite. Just answer the question: Where are meeting? – We use this one on the floor I work at.
- I Don’t Know
- Who?
- When?
- Which Meeting?
- It was canceled
- Guess
- TBD
- Over There
- Right Here
- Why?
- Outside
- Downstairs
Meeting Theme
This allows you to choose the room you need for a specific meeting. Finish the sentence “Let’s go to…”
- Prepare
- Work it Out
- Brainstorm
- Get Work Done
- Deliver Status
- Waste Time
- Creative Thinking
- Nail Down the Details
- The Woodshed
Time
This works if you have a circular floor. Put them in order with 12:00 at due north. The name of the conference room should be oriented on a clock as if you are looking down on the floor. It makes it easy to remember where the room is. Orientation is critical for this one to work.
- High Noon (north)
- 3:00 (due east)
- 6:30 (a little north of west)
- etc etc
Based on the floor
We have lots of floors at Marketo. These are the ones I named for the 5th floor. You can imagine similar for other floors.
- FIVE Fingers
- Jackson FIVE
- FIVE Alive
- FIVE Spot
- Cinqo de Mayo
- Fiddy Cent
- The FIFTH Floor
- Pentagon
Mixing Food and Music
I saw this oneline. Brilliant. Absolute Genius.
- Ace of Bouillabaisse
- Bon Bon Jovi
- David Lee Broth
- Fleetwood Mac ‘n’ Cheese
- Froyo Ma
- Johnny Cashews
- Lil Kimchee
- Nine Inch Snails
- Oreo Speedwagon
- Pjork
- Public Edamame
- Red Velvet Underground
- Soy Division
- Sushi and the Banshees
- The Rolling Scones
- Wu Tang Clams
Rooms in a Row
If you have three rooms in a row, you can theme those together. You can imagine more of the same, but here are a few tripplets
- A Rock
- Between
- A Hard Place
- Yesterday
- Today
- Tomorrow
- Past
- Present
- Future
- Too Hot
- Just Right
- Too Cold
- Yes
- Maybe
- No
Countries
I originally names the conference rooms at Marketo countries because I couldn’t remember which was way north and south. I put the northern country names on the conference rooms in the north side of the office. The lesson here is that the shape of the office matters.
- Greenland (North big room)
- Iceland (North small room)
- Australia (south big room)
- New Zealand (south small room)
Old Testament Characters
I am helping out a team in Israel. Maybe this would cause more problems than it solves?
- Adam
- Eve
- Moses
- Joshua
- Elijah
- Samson
- David
- Goliath
- Noah
- Job
- Delilah
Best Typefaces of all time
I love typography.
- Clarendon
- Gill Sans
- Times New Roman
- Franklin Gothic
- Verdana
- Myriad
- Trajan
- Garamond
- Futura
- Helvetica
Worst Typefaces
Ok, I am losing steam, obviously.
- Arial
- Papyrus
- Brush Script
- Copperplate Gothic
- Comic Sans (of course)
The list can go on and on. What is important is to have fun with it. Make it contextual and amusing. It’s supposed to lighten the mood. Don’t try to make it boring or corporate. Don’t make focus groups. Be inspired. Have fun. It’s an important opportunity to build culture.
Feel free to post other ideas below.
Whatya think?