If your business has clients or representatives of other companies coming over for a conference or meeting, it’s very important to make the right impression. No matter what you say or do, if your facilities leave a less-than-favourable impression, chances are you won’t reach your full potential and will remain wondering about what could have been. The best way to put your best foot forward is to make sure that your conference or meeting room wows your clients or customers, and this is all a matter of design. Do you want to impress your clients? Here’s how to design the perfect conference room.
Think about visitors from the start
You want your visitors to be comfortable, with enough space to get up, move around, and sit down again. You also want to have extra space for food, papers, laptops, and so on – so plan ahead and picture it from your visitor’s perspective first.
The right room
Ideally, there will be no distractions in the room – meaning there will be no telephones suddenly ringing, or people passing by (inside or outside the windows). You’ll want a controlled atmosphere where people can focus on the issues at hand without interruptions.
Analyse tables
It’s not just about analysing the tables – you need to make it big enough for everyone to be comfortable – but it’s also about the seating arrangements, and how this relates to a TV or a white board, or to someone making a presentation.
Lighting, heating, and amenities
A lot can be said about lighting, heating, and amenities. Again, it comes back to comfort and minimum distraction. Avoid overhead lights, and use bulbs that don’t give off too much heat. Make the walls complement the lighting, and adjust window blinds if necessary. Make the room temperature comfortable and go ahead – have a fridge and a counter with food.
The right screen
The screen you choose will be the focal point of the room, so it needs to be the right one – and this goes double for the right TV wall mount you choose. The screen should be easily visible and comfortable to view for everyone.
If your main goal is to impress your visitors, however, no conference room will be designed well enough if you yourself haven’t prepared for the meeting. Preparation is crucial. In fact, it’s so important that you should have a dry run – a practice meeting – with some of your staff. Not only will this allow you to see what you might have forgotten in terms of tools, gadgets, paperwork, snacks or gifts, but it might also bring to light important talking points, or answers to possible questions you haven’t considered yet. Preparation, preparation, preparation – it’s half the battle.
