Meetings are often controversial in business. Despite the fact that they are usually a necessary form of information-sharing, presentation, and collaboration, some claim meetings to be a timewaster, with a US study showing that American executives felt 67% of meetings were often failures.
But why are so many meetings considered to be a washout? Given the multitude of faux pas that employees may commit in business meetings, or indeed, the challenges they may face in booking and running them, it is no surprise that things do not always go to plan. However, there are simple and effective ways to avoid these issues, with a little pre-planning and some digital solutions.
Faux Pas One: Not Booking the Correct Room for Your Meeting
It seems obvious, but it’s surprising how often this happens. Booking a meeting room that’s too big, or even worse, too small, is not going to get your meeting off to the best start. And what if your offices don’t even have a meeting room big (or small) enough? The easiest way to combat this is to ensure that your meeting room booking system is clear and up-to-date. You should also consider long term options, such as occupancy sensors and usage reporting, to ensure that your workspace functions at its best.
Faux Pas Two: Awkward Last Minute Meetings
Last minute meetings are likely unavoidable for most businesses, but traditionally they can be an issue. Running around the office, trying to find an empty meeting room, is not the best start to a productive meeting. Worse still, you may think you’ve found an empty meeting room, only to discover that you’ve accidentally ‘stolen’ someone else’s room. The awkward shuffle to move out and find another one, particularly if you’re meeting with guests, is not an ideal situation.
To avoid this, the answer is simple – screens outside meeting rooms, simple and easy-to-use ones, that function alongside your calendar. This way, everyone can check how long they can use a certain meeting room for, or if it’s available at all. Consider screens that have LED functionality, with green lights showing a room is free and red showing a room is in use, allowing you to check availability from a faraway glance. Another great solution is mobile room booking – being able to book a meeting room on the fly is becoming increasingly important in our flexible working world, after all. Finally, one more screen feature to look for is RIFD functionality, which allows you to book a room via the screen itself.
Faux Pas Three: Running Late (or Not Showing Up)
In fairness, lateness is sometimes unavoidable. It’s a fact of life. However, sometimes running late, or even being absent, is not a fact of life, but rather the fault of poor calendar management. Ensuring your calendars, meeting room booking system and email system all work together, rather than having to use several different programs and software to plan your working day, is the easiest way to combat this. After all, nobody wants to be the employee who turns up late for an important meeting (at least without a valid excuse!).
Condeco Connect can help solve all these issues. Connect is a user-friendly, cloud-based meeting room screen solution that needs no extra software. Connect seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Exchange and Google Calendar for simplicity.
