Meeting Room Checklist: Everything You Need To Know

Depending on the type of meeting you are running, your industry, and the audience to whom you will be presenting or meeting, you will likely need different meeting equipment that is perfectly tailored to you.

Here we take a look at the common types of meeting businesses frequently hold and help ensure you have everything well prepared before you attend your next meeting.

Audio Visual Equipment

Meeting room audio-visual (AV) equipment is at the heart of almost any meeting today. Offering an easy way to share ideas, data and images; a screen large enough for all in attendance to easily view is often essential. 

In addition, having effective audio equipment is just as important. At a meeting, you may need to play videos with sound, or even add background music during intervals at a conference. 

What is of utmost importance is having microphones and speakers effective enough to project speakers’ voices across the room you are in, regardless of how many people are in attendance or how much background noise there may be.

If you are planning to hold a large meeting with many attendees on your own premises, then you may wish to either hire AV  equipment or if it’s something you think you would reuse often enough, you could also consider investing in equipment of your own.

Another factor to consider is screens and audio recording equipment that will allow you to readily communicate with anyone who might be joining you virtually. These microphone suggestions from TechRepublic could be a good solution. You could also consider these monitors with webcams for high-quality video calls.

Conference Call Equipment

If holding an international or even a national meeting, meeting room conference call equipment can help you get all the stakeholders together swiftly, without expensive travel costs. In addition, this will simultaneously help minimise your carbon footprint.

Although convenient, there is nothing worse than holding a virtual conference where some individuals struggle to be heard, or their proposals cannot be easily viewed due to poor internet connections or outdated equipment. 

If you don’t have the conference call equipment you need, you could consider purchasing it as an investment or hiring a meeting room from a provider that can supply this and have it set up ready for your arrival.

Furniture

Although meeting room presentation equipment is important, one other vital factor that we’ve yet to mention is the furniture needed for you to host any particular style of meeting.

If holding training sessions, you will likely want seating available for every attendee. Not only must seating be provided, but you will also need it to be comfortable, and you may wish to consider how you will accommodate all attendees, ensuring easy access is provided for wheelchair users for example.

With training sessions, you may wish to set up smaller spaces with tables for people to work together on small tasks. If this is the case, you will also need to ensure you have the necessary resources with you; such as pens, printouts, or maybe a suite of iPads to gather immediate feedback from attendees. WiFi access and nearby power outlets may also be necessary. If this setup is hard to achieve at your own premises, you could consider a professional training room rental.

If hosting a board meeting, again you may like to make sure you have a table large enough for all board members to gather around. If you do not have one, or maybe you don’t have space for one on your premises, you could consider hiring a boardroom for your meeting. In this instance, approaching the rental company with a list of resources and discussing your furniture setup is recommended in advance.

Last-minute meeting room equipment checklist

In a nutshell, the equipment you will want to check you have prepared in advance includes

• Handouts 
• Stationery such as pens, pencils, highlighters, rulers etc.
• Blank paper in relevant sizes - A3 is great for team smacking posters whilst A4/A5 are better for making notes
• Projection equipment
• Sound equipment
• WiFi access - you could even consider some mobile broadband options
• Tables and chairs
• iPads or other tablets
• Your presentation if you have one
• Email it to yourself as a backup so you can access it even if your cloud provider/USB/hard drive fails to load
• Your own laptop
• Register of attendees

Now with an overview of exactly what supplies and equipment you might need for your company’s next meeting, the final most important element is to ensure that your meeting venue is ready to receive you.

If holding your meeting at your own company’s premises, send out memos and implement signage to ensure you are not disturbed. Alternatively, if holding your meeting off-site, call ahead to your meeting room provider in plenty of time and double-check your booking date, time and location. 

This can also be a good opportunity to check arrival information such as the provision of refreshments and where exactly people will need to go upon arrival.