Conference room management ensures that employees use these spaces for their intended purpose. Conference rooms can be unavailable or overused if not properly managed, causing additional disruption to staff. Fortunately, managing a conference room is not that difficult. In order to get the most out of your meeting space, it is important to follow some simple rules and guidelines.
Employees benefit greatly from the use of private meeting rooms in the workplace. In addition to the sense of seclusion they provide, conference rooms can also accommodate larger gatherings and reduce background noise in otherwise busy offices. Like all other aspects of the facility, they must be carefully monitored and managed.
When conference rooms are managed properly, employees can make the most of their time in them. Conference rooms may not be available or may be abused, causing more problems for employees if management does not intervene.
Unfortunately, managing a conference room is not difficult. If you follow some simple rules and guidelines for managing a conference room, you will be able to get the most out of it.
1. Join a centralized reservation system
Using a conference room reservation system is essential in today’s workplace. Even though the workplace is becoming more flexible, meeting rooms still require structure. These venues are useful because they can be reserved.
A centralized reservation system must be operational in real time and have the ability to prepare for years to come. It must be able to handle the dynamism of a large office while treating conference rooms as pillars of stability and structure.
2. Maintain a reasonable balance between minimum and maximum occupancy levels
Each conference room has a different maximum capacity. It is too large for two people, but too small for a group of 10 to fit comfortably in a 12’x12′ space. Each room has a minimum and maximum occupancy level to ensure that residents can successfully function in their allotted space. It is the responsibility of facility managers to establish and enforce these standards for their staff.
3. Use delegation when appropriate
Space is a precious commodity in large facilities with many important business units. It is not uncommon for conference rooms to become battlegrounds between different departments. Sometimes the best solution is to step in and assign responsibility for certain tasks.
A conference room that can only be used by marketing, accounting and sales, for example. Room tiers can also be used by facility managers to prevent non-essential meetings from taking place in vital planning areas. For example, sales meetings, performance reviews, and project planning briefings all take place in the same space.
4. Outside the meeting room, use digital displays
Even conference room management systems have become easier to use with new technology. Another approach to making conference room administration easier for both managers and staff is to install digital screens outside the rooms.
5. Train your employees in best practices
Your best practices and policies mean nothing if your staff doesn’t know or follow them. Put mechanisms in place that make it easy for employees to adhere to company policies regarding proper conference room use. Having a conference room available for employees when they need it is a sign of good management.
