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Office Conference Room Booking Systems: Designs, Challenges, and Solutions
Almost every state in America is gradually reopening their offices amid the pandemic. According to a survey, nearly forty percent of work from home workers want to return to their workplaces.
But before the company welcomes its team member, they should ensure safety in their conference rooms, office spaces, and shared facilities.
Social distancing remains a necessary action to prevent the virus from spreading. Therefore, the company should remodify their workspaces to comply with government policy and ensure your organization’s safety. Technology, such as office scheduling programs, can help them meet the necessary steps to safer workspaces.
What is an ideal conference room layout?
Proper use of conference rooms can help your team members be more creative and productive when working in teams. Your conference rooms should have a functional design, comfortable furniture, and the appropriate equipment and technology such as room scheduling software outlook integration to make your team member feel satisfied and boost teamwork.
How to create safe conference room layouts?
The pandemic safety measures have remodeled the conference room’s layout for good reasons. Each conference room’s maximum capacity should decrease by half to follow the CDC guidelines. The goal is to reduce the chances of virus transmission, thus, . You should ensure that each seat has a distance of at least six feet apart. Lastly, use the conference room display that showcases the room’s capacity to avoid the room from overcrowding.
Room displays can significantly help you control your workspaces’ density. The conference room booking systems have powerful COVID-19 compliant features that aids you in preventing contamination in your office spaces. Here are the room booking systems with COVID compliant features:
- Thermal Scanner and Mask Detection
- Social Distancing Features
- Visitor Management Software
- Lobby Kiosks, Contactless Room Display, FlexCube Devices
Safe and Creative Meeting Room Layout Tips
Choosing the right conference rooms design should be carefully planned according to its purpose and meeting scheduling program. Here are some simple tips for effective room layout designs.
- Consider Your Clients’ Needs
- Choose a Table Configuration
- Pick the Right Room
- Adjust the Lighting
- Choose the Right Screen
- Provide Amenities
- Keep the Design Consistent
- Run a Test Prior to the Meeting
Creating a safe but functional conference room layout design is hard work. There is a lot to keep in mind. There is no ideal conference room design that fits all the conference purpose. Some conference rooms may have worked for a particular event’s need, but not for others. And it doesn’t satisfy all the needs of your company or your company’s teams and team member, especially in the post-pandemic workplace.
Take a look at the different conference rooms with the ideal design, challenges, and how the conference room display resolves it.
Small conference rooms
This conference room is a go-to place to answer phone calls, meet with clients, shareholders, conduct virtual business meetings, and quickly team meetings.
How to design
To make this room more functional, you may complete the setup with a company room phone, projector, projector screen, square, or round table placed in the center with a chair and a TV on the wall by the table’s head. Most importantly, you may include the scheduling software with outlook integration to sync your reservation in your calendar quickly.
Challenges
You may need this room alone, with special visitors or for just a couple of minutes. And you wanted it to be ready immediately.
Solutions
For hassle-free booking of this space, you can use a meeting room conference system for your immediate needs. As the participants are only a few, the booking process is stress-free because it doesn’t require much preparation.
Brainstorm Session Rooms
This meeting room is one of the patrons of the conference check in systems. As the organizations need to collaborate regularly, they need a particular space dedicated to brainstorming and is ready anytime. This place is where team members unleash the creativity in their mind to derive innovative, profit-making ideas effectively.
How to design
The ideal design for this room is a comfortable and open layout that allows interaction and mobility. And to support and boost team member’s creativity, they need the appropriate furniture and technology such as comfortable chairs, couches, video game chairs, floor pillows, and a set of small tables and chairs to accommodate other participants.
Challenges
Small spaces like this have limited capacity. And to avoid the virus from spreading, only a few people should enter the room at a time.
Solution
To avoid overcrowding, you may use the conference room display to limits the room’s capacity. The touchscreen displays the status of the room and alerts you when it reached the capacity limit.
Training Rooms
Training new and current team members about processes and technology is better if you have a designated room for that. Training rooms are spaces where team members gather to learn new ideas and improve their skills. Training consists of a wide range of activities. So, when designing this room, you may consider the setup that can accommodate such exercises.
How to design
One of the recommended designs is the banquet style, where seats are around in an oval table at the center. This setup improves the communication flows and group interaction by allowing the trainer to easily walk around the room and easily discuss it with the trainee. You may place a large oval table, chairs, projector, smart TV, storage cabinet, and table for snacks and drinks to complete the needed things.
Challenges
The projector doesn’t necessarily have to stay in this room if your company has limited equipment.
Solutions
You can always schedule your use of it with the free room scheduling software along with the room booking. The software sends a notification to authorized personnel when your conference room reservation appears in the system. With the information in mind, they will deliver what equipment you need in your scheduled session. Your trainees can also use a free conference room scheduling app to familiarize themselves with the workplace structure. It will also allow you to invite them to the training room quickly.
Large Meeting Rooms
The company uses large conference rooms for general company meetings, client visits, or more formal gatherings. Having a large capacity makes it best for big organizations’ use, consisting of dozens of team members.
How to design
One of the ideal setups for large meeting rooms is the theater-style. It is where they arrange the seats in a semi-circular pattern. This setup prevents attendees from blocking another’s view of the board, most especially for meetings that have interactive discussions. Or you may choose the open table layout where the table is in the center of the conference room. The setup allows better face-to-face interaction as the attendees are facing one another.
To complete the setup, you can place a large smart TV in the room’s front center, enough comfortable chairs, and a conference room display beside the door.
Challenges
Having a large room is luxurious; therefore, you should ensure the proper use of it. Some people may misuse rooms; they may book the large ones even they only have few attendees. So, others who need it will end up with small ones.
Solutions
To resolve this, you may book the room ahead of time with a conference room software outlook to avoid last-minute finding for a vacant one. The software integrates with Outlook, so your calendar is synchronized with the reservations allowing for more accessible room bookings.
Relaxation or Game Space Rooms
Companies may consider having a place where team members can take a break from their desks and refresh. A place where they can share ideas while having fun. The room should have a good ambiance that encourages relaxation and having fun.
How to design
To design the room, you may put comfortable chairs and sofas in the corner or against a wall, TV, table for games such as billiards or ping-pong, and some refreshments on one side.
Challenges
However, if you have a big organization, and most of your team members like to brainstorm in this kind of meeting room, conflict may arise. Others who always want to use it may reserve it for themself while another team member can’t use it for his team.
Solutions
To resolve this, you may use a conference room scheduling program and inform them to book the place before use. You need to input the necessary details within the system during the reservation, such as your meeting duration, floor, building, etc. This way, the current room’s user will need to leave when their session ends, as the software will open the space within the system. Also, the conference room display will show the room’s status. So, upon seeing that the area is available, other team members can book the room finally.
The Bottom Line
Redesigning your conference rooms may be challenging, adding the considerations of safety guidelines. But with a proper layout design, thoughtful planning, and use of office 365 conference room scheduling, your chosen conference room layouts can perfectly meet your team member’s new expectations and needs.
