When conducting interviews in a noisy dining car, we made time. Standing amidst the sun-baked wreckage of a hurricane, we made time. At the headquarters of a startup that sold for a cool billion, we made time. On every story, my colleagues and I follow one simple practice:
We always build in a little time.
Time for what?
Throughout my career gathering documentary-style interviews for stories featured on broadcasts including the Today Show, the Olympics and Innovation Nation, we’ve always ended shoots by recording about 30 seconds of “room tone.”
For those unfamiliar, room tone is the ambient sound captured to smooth audio transitions during editing. What it looks like in practice is everyone stands or sits silently on set and waits until the audio engineer says they’ve got what they need. The end of most interviews includes that small, silent coda.
Sometime during the pandemic, those 30 seconds transformed into something deeper.
This Was A Chance To Close Our Eyes, To Quiet Our Minds, And To Breathe. Together.
Over the years, I’ve watched people agonize a little during this half minute of silence. They study the ceiling, look at their feet or wiggle away the discomfort. It went like that for a long time until I started reframing that silence as an opportunity for a mini-meditation.
It doesn't matter if the mood is high or low, silly or somber, this collective silence has power in it. When I’ve explained on set for the interviewees what we’re about to do, I let them know they can do as they wish with the silence, maybe even meditate. Almost everyone embraces the opportunity.
Try Being In Intentional Silence With A Group Of 5 To 25 People Sometime.
It’s an interesting study. It’s a little like an awkward elevator ride but with everyone facing each other, and without the elevator music — the kind where that big metal box groans out a yawn and you think it’s broken and nobody knows where to look so they avert their eyes while ears are alert for detection of strange noises or the ‘ding’ that prompts an exhale when you’ve reached your floor.
But close your eyes together, and inventors and grandmothers, athletes and entrepreneurs, curators or chefs all seem to savor the safe silence.
Whether you work in classrooms, boardrooms, or on construction sites, taking even brief pauses for calm can yield measurable benefits. I wish I could tell you I had a metric for you from our shoots, but I don’t. I can tell you that upon opening our eyes after that little break together usually makes you want to take a nice deep breath, maybe even sigh.
Meditation reduces anxiety, promotes mental clarity and bolsters well-being. It transforms.
The next time you find yourself in a team meeting, workshop, or group setting, try carving out 30 seconds for intentional, collective silence. It could be at the beginning of a brainstorming session or in the middle of the day.
What you’ll likely find is a unifying force—a collective calm that strengthens bonds and sharpens minds. A moment of silence has always been a powerful connector and creates a sense of oneness. But use it as a coda not just a commemoration and I bet you’ll create a collective corner of calm.
