Employees spend an enormous chunk of their time in meeting rooms. It is estimated that middle managers spend about 35% of their working hours in the meeting room, whereas the number increases to 50% for executives and high-level managers. When you add up the numbers, it is enormous!
There is a lot of resources out there who have shared knowledge on how to organize and run a productive meeting, but very few of them have shared familiarity on how to reinvent the whole meeting room. The design and aesthetics of a meeting room can significantly affect the productivity of the meetings being held, and therefore in this article, we will talk about how to reinvent The Meeting Room!
What is the purpose of your meeting room?
Even before we start thinking about how to reinvent our meeting rooms, we need to find answers to the following crucial and vital questions.
1. What is the main purpose of the room? Will it is used for small meetings, or it will be used for large-scale board meetings?
2. Is your team more efficient in smaller groups or behave like a single giant collective?
3. Will this room only be used internally, or it will also be used for client meetings and briefing?
4. Will the room have easy access or will it be far away for increased privacy?
Using meeting room analysis and considering verticals like average meeting duration and room utilization dates will help you get a better picture, after which you can move on to designing the ideal and perfect meeting room for your organization.
Equip the Room
One of the most important parts of re-inventing your meeting room is to understand your organizational needs and equip the room accordingly. The answer to questions like,
1. Will the attendees be seated during the meeting or remain standing throughout?
2. Will they need to swivel to look at a screen?
3. Will they do a lot of creative work in the room?
If the answer to the second question is yes, then you need to equip the room with chairs on a caster which can rotate freely, whereas if there is a lot of creative work that needs to be done, then alternate seating is necessary, as it will allow more freedom and thus allow creativity to flow.
While considering what type of tables to purchase, think not only the size factor but also the usage. If they will only be used for keeping laptops and computers, then a small compact one for each employee would meet the requirement. Whereas if it were used for jotting ideas and doodling, a larger surface area would be required.
Another essential aspect to consider is the power supply. If the power sockets are far away, not only will there be a lot of confusion and hassle between employees, there will be wastage of productive staff-hours. Having USB ports and charging sockets at each table or having them at regular intervals will help save time and increase productivity.
Put the right technology in place
One of the most critical aspects of the meeting room is the technology it houses. If the meeting room is only for internal use, then the requirement of a presentation setup is of utmost importance. Whereas if the meeting room is for client use as well, having a 2-way communication system is of utmost importance.
Since meeting rooms are one of the most demanded places in the office, having displays outside to display the availability and room occupancy will help reduce the confusion among employees and keep the whole process running smoothly.
1. Lighting
Lighting is one of the most important aspects of the meeting room. While dim lights may promote some participants to doze off, bright and harsh lights are not at all suitable for reading and viewing of screens. Technically there should be a sweet spot between the extremes. However, that is missing.
The best way to tackle this situation is to have light sensors and controllers which can be programmed to adjust the dimness and brightness of the light depending on the location. Also having a big window which allows the passage of natural light into the room, will help keep your employees motivated and energetic. But it is to be noted, that blinds need to be present. Otherwise, it will become difficult during meetings.
2. Sound
Reverberation and echoing are one of the most common problems in meeting rooms because the installation of proper sound equipment is one of the most neglected aspects of changing rooms. Wall mounted acoustic felt panels would do wonders combined with the already available acoustic condoms. And make the entire meeting a peaceful and smooth experience.
3. 3 - If one of your primary objectives is to keep unwanted sounds at bay, installing acoustical felt wall covering will surely help you with that.
4. Get Creative
Once the basic amenities of the meeting room is met with precision, creative ideas can be implemented to reinvent the meeting room experience further. Ideas like color schemes, choice of materials and the selection of furniture can be implemented.
Unconventional color schemes like dark green and orange can be used in painting the walls as they have historically proved to energize and keep them motivated for long. Furniture like bean bags and rug carpets can also be used to imitate a homely feeling while keeping the business outlook at its best. Installing acoustical felt wall covering across the meeting room will not only give a different dimension to your room but also make it stand out from the crowd.
Acoustical felt wall covering is manufactured from recycled PET bottle. They are soft to touch, although they are a strong felt material.
If you want a certain level of privacy in your meeting rooms, installing custom felt wall panel will guarantee not only substantial soundproofing to the outside world but also keep unwanted commission and noises from outside at bay.
The above ideas discussed, when implemented will help you reinvent your meeting room, so go ahead and try them out!
