Which conference room best suits your business?

Depending on your industry, individual presentation styles and amount of people you are meeting with, you may be interested in conducting your meetings in different styles of conference rooms. 

In this article, we have set out some of the key features you might be interested in looking for when you hire your next meeting room or conference space and help give you some ideas as to what meeting space layouts are available.

Boardroom meetings

Meetings that take place in a stereotypical boardroom often follow this stereotypical pattern where individuals can sit around one long table. This style of meeting is a good choice for meetings of up to about 20 people, as it offers space for everyone in attendance to place laptops or other writing materials and handouts in front of them.

Fully equipped boardrooms usually come with optional presentation space at one end of the table, including overhead projection equipment for sharing your ideas with others in attendance. Boardroom meetings following this style are intimate enough for sharing ideas, impressing potential clients and easily conveying ideas to others in your company.

Individual presentations

Depending on the number of people you intend to present to, who they are, and the content of your talk, if you’re presenting on your own, there are several meeting room layouts you might wish to consider.

A table layout where others can sit around you in a square or circle while you speak can be a great option for when you want to present with just the sound of your voice and perhaps a few handouts. Presenting with the aid of projection equipment is not as easy in this layout, however, so it might not be the best for presenting large datasets or statistics.

Teaching and learning

Sometimes you might want to hire a conference room rental for the purpose of training your employees or colleagues. You could also be interested in holding small seminars for paying customers. For smaller groups of about 20-30 people, classroom style layouts might be suitable. 

Rows of desks facing forwards can work well, especially with gaps between them large enough for you to move about or for participants to move about and partake in group tasks as part of the session.

An alternative yet popular choice for classroom teachers is to use a “U” or arc-shaped layout. Layouts like this make for easy eye contact with all in attendance, which readily enables conversation between yourself and your attendees; a great option if you are making major proposals and are looking for feedback.

For a classroom style that also facilitates group work, if you have any small tasks planned for your congregation, you could also consider an E3 style layout. The beauty of this setup is that attendees can more easily speak to each other as well as view anything you might be presenting at the same time.

Large groups

For any conference hosting upwards of 30 attendees, the best style of layout is to have all of the chairs facing the front in the same direction. This way, you can fit more attendees into the room, and everyone can easily view your presentation and clearly hear what you are saying. One element that you will likely want to check before you start is that you have a suitable microphone and sound equipment. Hiring a conference room in a hotel is a good solution as they have often invested in their own audio/visual equipment for such purposes.

Networking and collaboration

If the nature of your meeting is to encourage individuals to collaborate on certain tasks, you could be interested in a table layout consisting of several round tables with seating around them at all angles. This could be uncomfortable for some to have to swivel round in their chairs for extended periods, so it might not be best for conferences where attendees need to follow long presentations, but it is a great option for collaborative work. This layout works well for events where you might like to set up different ‘work stations’ on each table and get the groups to change at regular intervals.

Regardless of your chosen conference room’s layout, there are a few non-negotiables that you will likely be looking for, such as the availability of toilet facilities, the potential for catering to be provided and presentation equipment that is fully operational. The majority of conference rooms for hire in London come with all of these features. 

RELATED: Meet safely

When booking yours, communicate clearly about the expectations you have of your conference room’s layout and ask that it be set up before you arrive so you and your team can get in and get to work straight away.