The meeting room is one of the key workspaces in any organization. Depending on the size and situation, it can be designed to solve a variety of tasks: from discussing the current agenda and a status report, to concluding contracts and meetings with particularly important partners. Due to such a wide range of possible applications, a meeting room is often confused with a conference room, but these rooms have significant differences.

Functionally, the conference room is designed to gather more people and implies less comfort and opportunities for communication. As a rule, this is a large room in which a large amount of equipment is concentrated, there is a conference system and large multimedia screens, and the speaker needs a microphone so that everyone present can hear him. Such premises are necessary for the gathering of expert commissions with numerous listeners and do not imply an active dialogue between the audience and the speaker. Also, in a conference room, it is usually not possible to conveniently record the information received by listeners, but there is a system for recording meetings.

The meeting room is much smaller in size and provides an opportunity for everyone present to actively participate in the dialogue. It is suitable for gathering a limited circle of people whose presence is necessary for fruitful work. Arranging and equipping meeting rooms is much cheaper, since they require much less equipment. As a rule, a standard room is limited to a multimedia screen, a small audio system and a simple switching system. In some offices, electronic flipcharts are also installed to emphasize the modernity or some futurism of the room.

In addition, both in conference rooms and in meeting rooms, it will be appropriate to use the so-called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), an approach to work in which an employee uses his personal equipment in the office. Such devices include laptops, tablets and smartphones, which, thanks to their mobility, are ideal for use in negotiations and conferences. In such conditions, the costs of organizing events are significantly reduced, because one laptop easily replaces almost all the required equipment for meeting rooms.

The projector is the main element of the meeting room from budget to elite.

If you plan to hold meetings with partners here and conclude deals, then another important requirement for the room will be the convenience and ease of the atmosphere. Therefore, the design of the meeting room should not be taken lightly, because the effectiveness of future business meetings may depend on it. For example, a room suitable for solving creative tasks by a team or holding planning meetings is most likely not a suitable place to meet with particularly important clients. For this reason, many companies have several meeting rooms for different purposes and use different equipment in each of them.

Types of meeting rooms

Depending on the layout, meeting rooms are divided into several types.

A meeting room in a theatrical style is the closest in terms of device to a conference hall. For its organization, a relatively large room is used, at one end of which the speaker is located, and opposite there are rows of listeners. Tables for meeting rooms of this type, as a rule, are not used, since the main task of this room is the presentation of a finished work or product. Of the equipment, a multimedia screen or projector is usually used to demonstrate videos and slides. If the room is large, additional speakers and a microphone will be required.

A classroom–style room is a room designed for a voluminous report, in which students are required to take notes. In such a room, each employee is allocated a desk for working with notes or installing a laptop, which is especially convenient for long meetings and using the BYOD concept. Such a layout does not contribute to a convenient exchange of opinions, since the tables installed in rows prevent people from interacting with each other.

Meeting rooms are often equipped with group videoconferencing systems - for the effectiveness of negotiations without going on business trips.

A banquet–style room is a small conference room in which all those present sit at one small table. It is suitable for communication of a small number of employees or meetings with partners and clients. Such rooms are used mostly for the exchange of opinions and discussion of issues that do not require careful fixation on paper – it will be convenient to demonstrate presentations in such conditions using the BYOD system – using a tablet or smartphone with the necessary information. In addition to negotiations, a room in this style is also suitable for business lunches.

A meeting room with a speaker in the center. This design implies the arrangement of tables around the perimeter of the room so that the listeners have their backs to the wall. This configuration allows you to mark up a large number of people so that everyone can see and hear the speaker equally well, while multimedia materials can be demonstrated on monitors and devices for individual use via LAN.

If you already have a room that can work as a meeting room, then it will not be difficult to buy equipment for it. The main task is to determine the purpose that the room will serve, and the technical equipment can be entrusted to professionals.