Preparing Your Conference Room For The Meetings Of The Future
The office space is changing at a rate never seen before. Organizations are having to adapt to account for alterations in the way individuals and teams prefer to work each day. As these changes continue to roll forward, it is important for organizations to think to the future and design office spaces, and conference rooms, with the needs of the employee top of mind. Specifically, preparing conference rooms for the meetings of the future needs to be a priority.
What do you think of when you think of a conference room for a meeting? You usually think of a room of decent size, with a circular or rectangular table. There are chairs around the table but beyond that not much else. The rooms are bland, albeit clean and tidy. Are these the conference rooms that will serve meetings of the future? Based on current trends in the workplace, it’s highly unlikely.
Employee Interactions Shape Conference Room Designs
Interactions between employees are always changing and now more than ever, the pace of change accelerates. The way employees work together in the year 2019 (and beyond) is significantly different than in the past.
Specifically, the traditional formality of meetings held in conference rooms is being disrupted. Gone are the days of individuals walking in with suits, sitting in big leather chairs, and giving professional presentations. Now, people are far less formal, with the dress code is typically business casual at best, and individuals use a lot more technology. These shifts in how people interact are paving the way for new conference designs to emerge.
Here’s a brief look at how our landscape of work has changed and evolved to meet the needs of evolving organizations over time. As times change, so do the methods in which we accomplish our work. Adapting the environment to complement those needs help organizations flourish and grow.
The Shift to a Flexible Workforce
The workforce no longer consists of a set of employees that trek into the office together every single day. You now have remote workers and cross-functional teams, as well as multi-location teams that work from various locations around the world. So, how do you account for each of these types of workers when designing the conference room of the future?
Firstly, remote workers can present a challenge in lieu of technology. Without video conferencing capabilities, it can be a challenge to keep track of who is present in meetings, as well as what their body language is like. Body language plays an important role in the reception of information and miscommunications are more likely to happen when it’s not present. Hence, the conference rooms of the future need to adapt to the technology requirements of a remote workforce. By enabling video conferencing and giving people a way to easily share information via screen sharing, remote workers will be able to contribute their expertise and continue to feel like part of the team despite not being physically present.
Secondly, cross-functional teams also demand some changes to conference room design in order to work properly. In the past, departments worked in isolation with very few teams working across boundaries which led information to be siloed and operations to less efficient. Now, teams are more dynamic in how they operate and jobs often demand that people work across multiple departments. Conference rooms play a significant role in facilitating these interactions and, as such, must be built in a way that flexibly accommodates the needs of disparate teams. Modular conferences rooms are highly adaptable and promote a cohesive, collaborative working environment that is ideal for cross-functional teams.
Finally, like remote workers, multi-location teams rely on technology to a great extent. For companies with multiple offices, conference rooms should be sized differentially to ensure the workforce at each location is accommodated. For example, if there are 20 people at Office A but only 5 people at Office B, not as much square footage will need to be allocated to Office B. Considering capacity will help ensure offices are designed to be efficient. Also, like remote workers, conference rooms must have conferencing capabilities to ensure employees at different locations have the ability to interact and collaborate.
Technology at the Forefront
Technology has to be the first thing you think about when designing a conference room of the future. Every conference room needs to have the video conferencing capabilities to ensure everyone–including remote workers–can be present at meetings. In situations where you have employees calling in from many different locations, video conferencing can help make it seem like everyone is physically present.
Audio technology is critical as well. Again, with employees in different locations, having microphone placements around the room to pick up verbal discussions is critical to the inclusion of everyone else taking part in the meeting. The same goes for speakers to display those talking via a phone line as well.
Ever think about the connectivity of the employees in the room? Very few Millennials go to meetings now without their laptop. These devices need power, they need the Internet, all so that the connection can be easy, seamless, and able to extend to whatever length the meeting goes.
Making Use of the Office Space
Every company needs to be able to use office space wisely, without sacrificing form for functionality. At Aura, we employ the use of the Periodic Table of Design Elements to help our client visualize their conference room of the future. Using this tool, we can develop a comprehensive workspace plan for a conference space that is visually stunning and highly functional. Environment and ambiance are just as important as the function.
Increasing the capabilities of remote and digital communications starts with the redesign of conference rooms. Internal meetings and even meetings with clients will rely on all this technology and more. Simple having a massive conference room will no longer be enough. Office design and technology need to complement one another to ensure everyone, no matter where they work, are included.
Key Takeaways:
- Deploy voice & video technologies to maximize the clarity of virtual meetings
- Be cognizant of sound-proofing & ambient noise when deploying conferencing technology
- Presentation & video technologies help support ease-of-access for information sharing
- Consider multi-purpose uses such as in-house meetings vs. remote meetings
Using the Aura Integrated Experience, our unique approach to delivering a seamless execution of your design-build project, we work closely with you to build an understanding of your needs and expectations; your space and location requirements; and the type of office environment that would best fit your company culture. Get in touch for a complimentary design consultation and learn how we can create an experiential office environment that celebrates and enhances your distinct company culture.
