For most office-based companies, direct interaction with existing and prospective clients will normally occur in meeting rooms. These spaces are therefore crucial: outsiders will form an opinion of your company based on your meeting rooms, your negotiations and business decisions will be affected by the appearance of these rooms, and your company’s reputation may be altered accordingly. Convention dictates that meeting rooms should comprise a large desk, professional-looking chairs and a private setting, but why be conventional? Utilise ground-breaking office design to propel your company ahead of your competitors. We depict our most innovative meeting room designs to convey the professional potential of this forgotten space.
Colour it in
Despite what tech companies will tell you, it doesn’t take a slide or a ball pit to cheer up a room in the work place. Just adding a few colourful elements can transform a bland meeting room into an enjoyable space, and change the whole feel of the environment into a positive place in which to present yourself. Interactive Space was recently commissioned by Look Ahead, a provider of specialist support and care, to oversee the company’s move into a new office. The Look Ahead project incorporated innovative aspects of space planning and design, including colourful meeting rooms to convey the company’s values. In addition to many other services, Interactive Space was responsible for the office’s design. Adding colour to a meeting room can be a simple endeavour; yet it can also be as complex as carefully overhauling the table, chairs, carpet and walls.
Hideaways are a big help
When open-plan offices became popular several decades ago, they brought about an entirely new problem: how best to segregate meeting rooms for privacy? We propose standalone pods as the answer. Adaptable, attractive and easy to install, pods offer privacy for meetings even in the busiest open-plan offices. After all, there’s nothing worse than having your clients unable to hear what you and your business have to say. As part of the Dentsu project, Interactive Space recognised the need for privacy in a busy working environment. Three companies were to share one large work space, so the space analysis phase was crucial. The installation of cost-effective pods provided a solution that worked.
Sense the tone
Office space is nothing more than an extension of the company’s ethos. If your company operates within a creative industry or has an informal relationship with its clients, then why not give your meeting rooms a casual makeover to reflect the company’s creative approach? By creating a fun or relaxed environment, perhaps by incorporating interesting tables or chairs, you convey a fun and playful establishment that is capable of new and unexpected ways of thinking. In the EDC Communications project, we brought the outside in to make meeting areas with a difference. An inventive office propagates creativity and stimulation.
Display your work
Your clients have come to you because they like the prospect of the services you can offer. Don’t be afraid to display awards or the work you’ve done for other clients in your meeting rooms, just like we did for Brand Opus. This inspires confidence in your abilities and shows those you’re meeting with that they’re in safe hands. Plus, it brings an aspect of creativity to the design process, which always makes for a fun touch.
Be transparent
As well as offering light and a feeling of space and openness, having meeting rooms with plenty of glass conveys a sense of transparency and honesty. Nothing is hidden away from your internal staff and they will get the feeling that they work in an environment where things are happening and progress is being made. In fact, some would argue that impressing your own staff is vastly more important than impressing external visitors. At Arnold KLP, we included glass walls for the meeting rooms to do exactly this.
Some excellent ideas, they do sometimes seem intimidating and cold, why not brighten them up!
This is very helpful article for creative meeting room. Thank you so much for this one.