What makes a good meeting?

Well, there’s the people factor. The participants need to be prepared, engaged, and cooperative. But there is a more fundamental aspect to a good meeting, which comes down to the room itself. 

As a society, we are spending more time in meetings than ever before. We’ve come to realise the importance of workplace collaboration and teamwork, and so often our default answer to problems and questions is to hold a meeting. 

But office workers themselves feel as though this isn’t very productive. A massive 67% of office workers have reported that they spend too much time in meetings and that this lowers their productivity. One important response to this excess of meeting time is just to have fewer meetings.

But it’s also critical to recognise that we can improve the way we do meetings. Essential to this improvement is having the right meeting room tools in place to facilitate a faster and more productive session.  

But what kind of meeting room equipment will help to make for better meetings?

1. Planning and Timing

An essential aspect of a successful meeting is to have a clear idea of what is going to be achieved by it and what the time frame will be. So, a large part of the responsibility for an effective meeting falls on the organisers, who really need to have a thoughtful plan of how the meeting will run and how this will translate into results. 

But everyone needs to be on the same page with the plan. So, the first of our meeting room essentials is:

• A monitor or projector screen that can be viewed by all participants

Having a central monitor allows for the publication of a pre-established meeting schedule, which can be worked through methodically. It can also be useful to use a timer function to break up the items on the schedule and to time the meeting as a whole. 

2. Sound 

A large part of what happens in meetings is the presentation of information. We need to do this quickly and clearly to make the meeting count. So, first things first, we need a good sound system to get our message across.

The workplace changes of the past 18 months have shown us exactly how damaging poor audio can be when conference calling. But this really hasn’t done much more than brought existing scientific knowledge to more people. It’s been known for some time that background noise is distracting, while the inability to hear clearly results in reduced brain function. 

So, it’s clear that we need some top-grade audio equipment to ensure sound quality isn’t detracting from the cognitive engagement of our audience. Some essential meeting room equipment therefore includes:

• High-fidelity speakers
• Microphones (hand-held and lapel)
• A fast internet connection (for when one or more participants are attending remotely)

3. Vision

Next, we need to appreciate that our brains are not as good at remembering what we hear as what we see. What this means is that, in order to enhance the transmission of our message in a meeting, we need some equipment to provide strong visual support. 

So, further meeting room essentials will include:

• Presentation monitors
• Projector screens
• Presentation software (PowerPoint etc.)
• Remote mouse
• Laser pointers
• A fast internet connection (to efficiently access multimedia)
• Flipcharts
• Whiteboards

Just remember not to get too carried away with the visuals. Make sure you keep them to the point, like the meeting itself. 

4. Interactivity

Lastly, our meeting room equipment needs to allow for interactivity between participants. Usually, many different participants will need to contribute to a meeting, whether by speaking up in a roundtable discussion or by reporting some data relevant to their particular work. 

So, a good meeting room will be kitted out to allow different participants to quickly take the podium, whether virtually or in reality. Some essential equipment includes:

• Teleconferencing software (all of Christie Spaces’ meeting rooms come with video conferencing enabled equipment)
• Fast internet connection (so that virtual attendees never miss a beat)
• Diversity of cables to connect different laptops to monitors/projectors (for quick interchange between presentations)
• Communication forums (e.g. Slack) to allow for the exchange of relevant materials to participants in real-time

How to Book a Christie Spaces Meeting Room

Christie Spaces’ meeting rooms are available for members to book their own personalised App. This reservation system works on a points basis with their membership, and they can then use these points to make meeting room bookings. 

With that being said, there are two different ways to create a meeting room booking for Christie Spaces members. The easiest way is to use the meeting room booking system we provide through the Christie Spaces app. When you have the app, you can make bookings at any of our locations across Australia, choosing the facility that suits your meeting size and needs. 

But you can also do other things with the app, including:

• Registering guests for meetings (so that they are given a professional concierge reception upon arrival)
• Submitting support requests, including support for your meeting room booking
• Accessing other relevant workspace services
• Receiving and responding to invitations for professional and social events organised by our dedicated Community Team

Another way to book a meeting room is to approach one of our community team members, who can take care of the booking on your behalf and ensure the meeting room will satisfy your needs. 

At Christie Spaces, we understand how important good meetings are to the productivity and morale of business enterprises. That’s why we offer state-of-the-art meeting rooms with all of the essential technologies needed to exchange information effectively and to bring minds together. If you have any questions about how we can help you facilitate better meetings for your team, please get in touch with a member of our Community Team.