How to Manage your Meeting Rooms?
MoveInSync
?? World's largest employee commute platform, serving 300+ clients, including 70 Fortune 500 companies.
Meetings, in essence, have a significant impact on productivity and efficiency. Sitting around a table to discuss and share ideas and working towards a shared goal is a great way to get work done. Especially the kind of work that needs creative thinking. Meetings are such a large part of how we work that the numbers are astounding.?
See, what we mean? Now with people working remotely for the better part of the last 2 years, the number of meetings are up by nearly 13%. With the increased importance that meeting have today, in a post pandemic workplace, meeting room management has become a complicated affair.?
How significant is meeting room management in a hybrid workplace?
The most common misunderstanding about the hybrid workplace is around the importance of the meeting room. Even in a hybrid workplace, meeting rooms play a significant role in how we work. Studies have shown that people prefer to do in-person meetings depending on the importance of said meeting.?
Many organizations have a tough time when it comes to managing meeting rooms. Some of the most common being:?
Like any other facilities in a hybrid workplace, meeting rooms require proper management. To ensure that the meeting rooms are being used just as they are intended, we have summarized a list of tips that you may find helpful.
Tip 1: Use a Centralized Meeting Room Management Software:?
To run a smooth hybrid workplace, you’ll need an effective meeting room management software. Although Hybrid Workplaces are the definition of flexibility, meeting rooms should still be managed as per a proper structure to avoid inefficiencies. A good meeting room booking system lets you manage reservations and maintenance in real-time.?
Ideally a meeting room management software should have the following features:?
The most effective way to manage your meeting rooms is to have a unified and straightforward booking process. For example, if Alex makes a meeting room reservation, it should be reflected when Samar tries to book one for his team’s use they can avoid double booking. And they can avoid the scramble to find another room to conduct their meeting in.?
Tip 2: Create purpose and capacity specific Meeting Room layouts?
So far meeting rooms have always been viewed aesthetically. The practicality part of a meeting room always took a back seat. Now as we take a fresh look at meeting room infrastructure with the hybrid workplace lens, the primary goal is to create layouts that support particular functions.?
Purpose specific meeting rooms are always easier to manage and optimize the usage of space. Letting two people occupy a 10 seater room is a waste of space. Instead, clearly defining the capacity and purpose of the room during the booking process improves usage efficiency. Achieving optimum space utilization should be the objective when designing meeting room layouts.?
Tip 3: Name your meeting rooms
This is an easy one. Naming your meeting rooms is a good way to ensure that employees and facility managers can identify them without effort. This is meeting room management 101. The funkier the name the easier it’ll be to recall. Some organizations have thematic names like famous scientists, entrepreneurs, and such. So, if Audi is booked then check if Ferarri is available.?
Tip 4: Follow a strict Sanitization Schedule
Now more than ever, having a clean work area is important to ensure employee safety. Making sure that meeting rooms are properly sanitized in a timely manner should be a priority. After every use, you should sanitize the meeting rooms with disinfectants. Clean high contact surfaces thoroughly. You can use a meeting room booking system to keep track of occupancy, further ensuring that your sanitization strategy is flawless. It will also allow you to assign the cleaning staff better. To stay on top of your meeting room management game, you need to consider sanitization plans and ace them.
Tip 5: Delegate rooms to Teams
Almost all organizations have several core business units. This implies that space is a hot commodity. Also, with the introduction of hybrid workplaces that intend to reduce real estate, meeting rooms can become territories that different department jockeys may claim. This can make meeting room management a nightmare for you.
To avoid such situations, it is often best to intervene and delegate spaces to different teams. Marketing, Sales, Engineering and Accounting departments can each get conference spaces that only they can use. Or you can separate non-essential meeting spaces from critical meeting spaces.
This brings us back to the second point- a purpose-specific meeting room. With each team delegated a specific meeting area, there is proper accountability. A territorial mindset prevents friction in the workplace. And honestly, management becomes an easier task.
To Conclude
Meeting room management can be a task when not done right. As the significance of meeting rooms increases in a hybrid workplace, the need to manage meeting rooms becomes pivotal. With the right meeting room management software like WorkInSync at your disposal, the process becomes more manageable. Book a free demo and learn more.