Is your meeting room killing creative thought?
We all probably spend far more time in meetings than we would like. Did you know that middle management workers spend more than a third of their working day stuck in meetings? For such a lot of time, we really should be doing more to make meetings comfortable and as effective as possible. Few people realise the importance of the room itself and the effect it’s having on the meeting. The room is a core part of the experience and a well-designed meeting room can change the outcome of a meeting completely.
When designing meeting rooms, the first focus is the needs of your team. What size does the room need to be and where should it be located? Do you need a small, intimate and collaborative space or a large boardroom atmosphere? Will outside clients be attending or is the meeting purely for private company business?
It’s useful to take a step back and try to objectively look at what you use a room for and how your business works best. How and where do your colleagues like to collaborate? Once you have chosen a size and location, you can further enhance its effectiveness.
What kind of equipment you’ll need should be the next consideration. When thinking about seating, will people be fixed or need to swivel around to view things? Is the room for creative flow, allowing people space to move freely?
Meeting rooms are often in very high demand in large organisations and poor booking procedures can lead to tress and annoyance in the workplace. Your company may need to overhaul its booking and communication system altogether.
Don’t overlook the importance of lighting in your meeting room too. Too soft and your attendees might be nodding off but too harsh and your staff could experience eye strain when trying to view screens or presentations. The intended use of the room will impact your lighting choices. Softer lighting is recommended for more informal rooms while big boardrooms will require something a bit crisper and brighter, perhaps with dimmable options. For windowless rooms, correct lighting becomes crucial. Ideally a meeting room would benefit from lots of natural light.
Managing the sound in a room is also important. Without a proper layout, unintended sound consequences can become a nuisance. You could end up with echoing, furniture scraping, background chatter, reverberation and feedback from audio equipment. Thankfully, items such as acoustic panels can be easily mounted to walls and ceilings to resolve such issues.