Creating Space
Whether you are looking to impress an important client, or collaborate with colleagues, the space available to work in can profoundly impact the outcome of your meetings and how a company is perceived.
There are key things to consider when designing a meeting space to ensure that the space reflects the business image and allows for productive and flexible collaboration with others.
Each business has its own identity and approach to collaborative working. Whether in a noisy call centre, a relaxed office or a formal, professional working environment, there will always be a need to come together with other colleagues.
Although spaces created for these different scenarios will vary, the considerations that need to be made when designing a space remain the same:
Is this comfortable and easy to use?
How does this space represent the business?
Does this space provide the tools and flexibility to maximise productivity?
Changing Times
In recent years, we have seen more companies adopting a more informal and relaxed approach to working. There is a greater emphasis on employee comfort and welfare with a view to enabling them to perform more effectively in their working environments, and this naturally impacts the space businesses are creating for their employees.
This has seen more informal breakout/meeting spaces being designed that are closer to lounge areas than the meeting rooms of old. These give employees a place to get away from their hectic desks and engage with others in open, informal conversations. Soft furnishings are used to provide comfortable places to be creative and collaborate, and the tools are changing to products like Post-it meeting notes. The approach in recent years has been to increase versatility in the use of space within organisations. The trends are to breakdown the old adversarial approach and try to find new ways to help staff develop relationships and collaborate better internally and externally. Think about the space you have, design it around your culture and people, and watch as it helps them both develop in the future.
Although these more casual areas can be ideal for informal discussion, there remains a need in business for formal meeting spaces. The boardroom is still essential to businesses of all sizes and can impress clients and supplies to create a stylish, comfortable and functional space that will help to portray your business effectively. Whether traditional or contemporary it is crucial that the space can be used effectively to present to others and engage debate. We can all envisage the long table with a presentation point at either end, but we need to consider the wider room. Organisations are adding services such as 'bean to cup' coffee machines and more technology, for example video conferencing and wireless equipment.
If you need any assistance please get in touch via email [email protected]