Updated July 2021

No thing what size concern y'all're in, from a startup with a team of five to a mid-sized business with hundreds of employees, the conference room is a cardinal place where decisions go made.

It's true that COVID is changing the mode that people work—while some businesses transition to fully remote work, others are downsizing while nevertheless maintaining some physical infinite for people to gather and work together in-person.

For businesses that run into the importance of preserving role space, the briefing room is 1 that can't exist forgotten about.

But just because we've all seen and take stepped inside these rooms before, that doesn't mean they're all built the aforementioned. The all-time briefing rooms are set up to facilitate smooth interactions betwixt the people within it. Everything in a well-designed conference room should be intuitive to use, and aye, we're talking about the technology and equipment in there as well.

Throughout the last decade, there's been a shift in what a functional briefing room setup looks like. If you've set foot in different rooms over the years, chances are you've seen it firsthand. Moving away from drab, outdated rooms with more tangled cords than chairs, businesses are being more cognizant of creating uncluttered space with engineering that inspires productivity.

Whether it'southward your offset time setting upward a new room or peradventure you lot're just looking to upgrade an existing space, this article has you covered on everything you need to know about how to organize your team's new favorite meeting space.

In this article, we'll be covering:

  • 6 things to consider when setting upwards a briefing room for the showtime fourth dimension
    • Layout
    • Article of furniture
    • Equipment
    • Tools
    • Accessibility
    • Rules
  • A detailed checklist for how to configure and maintain a briefing room

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vi things to consider when setting up a conference room

An like shooting fish in a barrel-to-use, functional conference room allows people to motility in it freely while providing the tools needed for participants to interact with one some other. Hither are 6 ideas to consider when setting up your next conference room.

1. Layout

The overall layout of a room considers what the people within that space will exist doing. For instance, hosting a presentation versus facilitating a workshop will likely phone call for unlike means in which you'll demand to gear up the chairs and seating in that infinite. For the majority of businesses, y'all'll want to consider two styles:

The boardroom style: With seating around a centralized table or set of tables grouped together, this layout is best for in-person meetings with optional remote participation since everybody is visible to one some other and there's open up space in between anybody to facilitate undisrupted conversation:

boardroom style conference room

The U-shape style: With tables placed against each other to form the shape of a "U", participants sit effectually the outside of the table leaving an open up space for a screen or whiteboard to be the main focus. This is particularly beneficial for meetings that involve key remote participants or are driven by presentations. For workshops, this layout is also ideal equally it allows a facilitator to interact directly in the heart of the infinite:

u shape conference room

If y'all're creating a new or updating an existing layout during a time of physical distancing, be sure to space chairs apart accordingly, and if space permits, bring in an extra tabular array to break out the number of seats per table grouping.

two. Furniture

If you lot are setting upward multiple briefing rooms, information technology can exist helpful to differentiate them visually so that people don't get them mixed up (ever been late to a coming together because you've had trouble finding a room? We've all been there). You can explore unlike themed rooms such as past playing around with colors (using varied colored walls) and materials (dressing up a room with plants or different types of lighting fixtures):

open conference room

An instance of a themed room

As with the remainder of your office piece of furniture, chairs in the conference room should be ergonomic and exist comfortable to sit in for long periods of time (imagine existence uncomfortable in your chair for a total-day planning session!). Although high-cease piece of furniture is considered dainty-to-have rather than need-to-have, subtle choices can make a big difference in mood and productivity. For instance, chairs with wheels tin can subtly encourage people to tuck back into the tables earlier leaving to "reset the room" as a courtesy to others who share the space.

3. Equipment

In addition to setting up the chairs and tables, a modernistic conference room should have the right technical equipment, which makes information technology easy to host virtual conferences.

In addition to your standard tv screen for projecting presentations, a robust video and audio system designed specifically for business organization-grade video meetings is likewise important to have in the space. For instance, a camera that supports a wide, 120-caste view of everyone in the room makes virtual meetings that much easier to follow for remote attendees.

These days, especially when working in an Agile environment, collaboration is rex. Whiteboards are a pop way to allow people to share ideas freely with 1 some other, specially when the ideas are visual in some way.

đź’ˇ Pro-tip:

Whiteboard sizes aren't just limited to what y'all can fit in the back of your car! Some highly collaborative rooms utilise whiteboard paint and so that every wall can be fabricated into a surface for writing on.

conference room whiteboards

At that place are also "smart" whiteboards with applied science that enables touchscreen drawing and automatic saving to a computer, which tin be fabricated editable subsequently. Note that these more advanced technologies might not be suitable and feasible for you as a small business, especially if yous don't have a need for high levels of collaboration on a solar day-to-day basis. That's why yous should be clear on your goals upfront when planning for what types of equipment are needed for your space.

iv. Tools

When it comes to running a smooth meeting, conferencing tools can make or break the experience. Traditionally, concrete telephone systems were the master ways of setting upwards conference calls, but configuring these can be costly and confusing, specially for small concern owners who don't (yet) take an IT squad to become these upwardly and running.

RingCentral Rooms ™ offers an alternative conferencing organisation for the mod business concern that'south entirely operated through the cloud and doesn't require clunky physical hardware to maintain. Using merely an iPad every bit a controller, you can commencement a coming together in seconds, as well as send invitations on the spot to concluding-minute participants. Here'southward how CD Baby's squad does information technology:

cd baby conference room

With the ability to integrate with your agenda, y'all can click an event to first a meeting right away without having to enter a cord of numbers and access codes to join. By eliminating the need for tedious dialing processes, technical challenges are reduced to a minimum, allowing everyone to focus on the give-and-take rather than IT difficulties that traditional conferencing setups can bring.

Another productive tool to use is a briefing room scheduling software, such as JOAN. How many times have you lot walked into a room that was already double or triple booked? What about walking into a room that is just equipped to sit half the number of people y'all expected to come up?

These problems are common yet hands solvable past matching room civilities to meeting needs, and having a booking schedule so that everyone knows when a room is available to be used. Don't get out it up to take a chance—instead, invest in a ready-to-apply scheduling software.

🕹️ Go a hands-on expect at how RingCentral works by booking a product tour:

💰 Yous can also utilise this calculator to see roughly how much your business concern could relieve by using RingCentral to back up your squad's advice with each other—and clients.

five. Accessibility

Wayfinding: When people are looking for a conference room, they should be able to rapidly find its name in an easy-to-spot location with articulate signage or lettering in front of the room. In addition to visual cues, concrete cues (such as Braille) might exist beneficial as well.

Equipment placement: Be thoughtful about the placement of whiteboards, screens, and digital displays. While it might be tempting to just eyeball where and how loftier to install these, remember that not everybody can achieve these tools in the same way. Make sure the equipment you have in the room can exist accessed by everybody, including your seated attendees, with ease.

Entrances and passageways: Doors should be wide enough to pass through by anyone, including those with wheelchairs, and be inside reasonable weight to open and close. Particularly for smaller rooms, mind the space between the piece of furniture that people (specially seated users) take to navigate through. Even though more tables and chairs can fit, that doesn't mean they necessarily should!

half-dozen. Rules

To make sure that every meeting in the conference room runs smoothly, a bones set of rules or guidelines can be provided to allow everyone know the basics of how to use the shared space. These include things such as Wi-Fi network information, ways on how to book the room, and a resources (either a contact number or email or even just a reading link) for general back up. During COVID, consider also including a gear up of health and safety guidelines on how to maintain proper physical distancing and regular sanitation.


Conference room setup checklist

Ready to get started with setting upwardly your briefing room? Here's a detailed checklist you lot can go through that covers all the fundamental steps you'll demand to take within the 6 ideas just shared:

Layout

  • Assess the needs of the space—what sort of meetings, workshops, or types of events will exist held and how much seating is needed?
  • Get the total measurements of the room y'all have to work with.
  • Create a pattern for how yous plan to set up the table, seating, and equipment.

Furniture

  • Detect the correct tables and chairs and consider how the size and quality of them will role in the infinite: Are the tables big plenty for the needed number of chairs surrounding them? Are they too large, leaving likewise much room between attendees? Do table and chair heights lucifer? Are chairs comfortable yet stable enough for prolonged sitting?
  • Accept your calorie-free switches easy to find—the ability to control or dim lighting is important for those hosting presentations. For windows that let in natural light, consider mounting curtains to give attendees the ability to control glare.
  • Consider audio-absorbing panels—audio travels differently in different function spaces. Open-plan offices that foster collaboration also tend to produce higher overall dissonance levels, then if you find that some of this noise might leak into your huddle rooms, you tin can explore panel options for sound absorbency.

Equipment

  • Make sure the office's Wi-Fi connection is strong within your briefing room.
  • Find the correct TV screen—depending on the size of the room, you'll want to have a large enough screen and so that the furthest seated person can still see details within reason. Hither's a handy calculator that tells you how big of a screen you need depending on your room size.
  • Functioning audio and video equipment—make sure your conference phones and speakers are functioning properly with the right connections switched on. Teams wanting to create a unified conferencing feel might opt to choose to install a broad-angle camera for the room to exist used during video conferences. In situations where multiple presenters need to share their screen, you might desire to opt for wireless presentation solutions using Wi-Fi to share screens rather than passing effectually multiple cables.
  • Assess the need for smart technology—depending on your initial assessment on the main needs of the room, consider the function of smartboards, voice assistants (like Amazon Echo or Google Nest), or smart lights.
  • Gather general stationery similar whiteboard markers and erasers, viscous notes, pens, and notepads likewise as general tech accessories such as chargers and batteries.

Tools

  • Assess what types of video conferencing needs you accept—for instance, practise you need a mobile-friendly tool (for attendees to bring together via mobile or tablet)? How about the power to screen record?
  • Cull the right video conferencing software based on your needs—an easy-to-use tool that's piece of cake to pick up and integrates with your existing agenda and e-mail customer makes it that much easier for your team to adopt!
  • If yous're a small business organisation with express Information technology support, look for a tool backed by strong customer service support or offers self-service resources .
  • Cull the right conference room scheduling software—advanced scheduling tools tin can provide y'all with analytics on how often rooms are used, how many no-shows there were in a given timeframe, and what equipment exists in your virtually popular rooms. If y'all take only one or two primary conference rooms, opt for a more basic tool that meets your main needs and graduate upwardly as needed.

Accessibility

  • Create articulate signage outside of the room—make room names highly visible and consider adding braille as an choice.
  • Set equipment at heights that are easily accessible past everyone, including possible seated users.
  • Clear pathways in the space for attendees to navigate and move around in without feeling trapped past the furniture or equipment.

Rules

  • Display the Wi-Fi network information—this makes it easier for exceptional users and visitors to connect their personal devices to your office'southward net connection.
  • Share general housekeeping rules for users of the space. These include things such every bit how to book meeting rooms, how to apply virtual conferencing tools, and how to keep spaces organized (for instance, "please tuck chairs back in before leaving").
  • Share health and condom guidelines (for example, how to prevent the spread of COVID in the workplace).

Final tip on setting upwards your adjacent conference room…

At the heart of whatever conference room is the collaboration that takes place inside it. By finding the right mix of furniture, equipment, and tools for your business organization, you can create an surroundings that naturally facilitates discussion with ease and comfort.

Plus, don't forget that personal preferences exist in any meeting infinite! Crowdsource ideas and suggestions from your team so that all voices are heard and represented throughout the process of setting up your briefing room. The greatest rooms don't have to wait the nicest or have the latest technology, but at its core information technology should be an inclusive infinite for everyone to share.

Originally published Aug 01, 2020, updated Oct 08, 2021