Got Meetings?

According to the 2020 State of the Meeting Room survey, almost 60 percent of meeting leaders lose at least five minutes whenever a technology challenge occurs, and 25 percent lose more than 11 minutes. And it’s not just technology that’s causing problems: 33 percent say the meeting room environment is a challenge, too. Uncomfortable furniture, awkward viewing angles because of poor room design, poor ventilation – they can all contribute to decreased productivity. At the end, only 1 in 10 meeting leaders say at least 75 percent of their meetings are productive.

Given these sobering statistics, meeting room renovation might be the answer a company’s productivity challenges. As the demand for telecommuting rises and more companies look to seamlessly connect offices around the world, such a renovation could raise engagement and productivity. There are ways to properly execute a renovation to ensure all parties have their needs met, without stretching the facilities management team too thin.

Here are six tried-and-true steps, broken down into three stages: pre-renovation, renovation, and post-renovation (or, if planning, new construction, pre-build, build, and post-build). With thorough planning and continual communication with all stakeholders at every step in the process, FMs can guide their team through a pain-free meeting room renovation.

Pre-renovation: Assess & personalize

Before starting a meeting room upgrade or a similar project, identify and understand who will be using the room and how they will use it. Doing so helps ensure a consistent user experience. By assessing the needs of the employees or those who will be working in the space day in and day out, FMs can determine the exact goals for the meeting room renovation.

As part of the assessment process, FMs should ask internal stakeholders questions like: How will employees most likely use the room – for small “huddles” or for 20-person meetings? Will the various departments within the organization use the space differently? Will the company need customer-facing meeting spaces, or will only employees use the space?

These answers matter because if employees use the room for meetings with clients or prospects, for instance, the furniture, wall coverings and other items would likely be higher quality than if the meeting room is exclusively for internal meetings. The physical space matters, too. It will be easier to plan the renovation of a meeting room with no windows than for one having windows on multiple walls.

Personalizing the room also requires a detailed understanding of users’ technology needs. Most of today’s meeting rooms are built with an eye for teleconferencing – bigger TVs, better visibility of participants for both those in the room and those dialing in, and superior audio.

However, the audience itself will determine other technology needs. If a room will be used by employees only, the technology will have different wireless connectivity requirements versus a meeting room used by guests. The technology must be able to accommodate sharing content by people from outside the company – a tricky ask, as FMs cannot control the type of devices brought into a meeting for sharing content. For example, visitors may not be permitted to load necessary software onto their computer to share their screen, per employer requirements. Or, guest laptops might lack an HDMI port – rendering a room’s HDMI cables useless.

Therefore, make sure multiple connectivity options are provided to ensure that anyone using the meeting rooms have the ability to easily access the content needed for a successful meeting.

Renovation: Assemble & install

During meeting room renovations, it is critical that FMs work closely with internal and external teams to ensure schedules are aligned and deadlines are met. Pre-plan carefully so when technology is installed, it can be up and running when it is supposed to be.

Many times, installation timelines are aggressive, so efficiency is a must. One option is to work with a meeting room technology integrator who can assemble parts of the new room off-site – for example, the TV, its stand and any cabinetry holding the wires. The more a partner can assemble offsite, the more efficient it can be onsite. Another benefit of offsite assembly is the ability to eliminate and recycle waste responsibly.

Another essential detail is scheduling with all partners. During installation, the technology vendor will likely have a small window, say a day or two, to come in to set up furniture and technology and make sure the meeting room space is ready for use. Because of this, it is critical the FM team communicates with the construction company and the technology partner to ensure schedules align and there is adequate time to install and certify equipment.

A final note on installation: one of the biggest challenges to a meeting room renovation is keeping the space open and not used. This is especially true if the business is already strapped for meeting space. It is critical FMs begin communication with employees well before the days the room will be offline. In the weeks leading up to the renovation, be sure to set up temporary meeting space in an unused office, if available, and ensure furniture/technology is available to reduce inconvenience.

Post-renovation: Certify & improve

Now that the room is renovated and the technology is installed, how can FMs be 100 percent sure the room is user-ready? Has every single HDMI cable been tested, or is it assumed since one worked well, they all do? FMs can save themselves – and the building’s employees or tenants – headaches by ensuring a newly installed room is properly tested.

FMs should work with their technology partners to confirm every aspect of the system is delivered as intended and works as it should. When, for instance, technicians plug in an HDMI cable to share content and that content shows up in the meeting room, they must also certify that it works with anyone who’s remotely participating. When they test one mute button and it works, they should make sure the tech team checks every mute button, certifying that the system works in its entirety.

Until a few years ago, once the vendor confirmed everything worked, the project would have been considered complete and the partner would not have been contacted again until something broke. But today’s meeting room technology is different. It provides granular data around how the room is being used so that the technology continues to improve well beyond installation on day one. Facilities managers who understand this can ensure their rooms are fully being used and avoid situations where a team unnecessarily books a videoconference room when videoconferencing capabilities aren’t needed.

Similarly, today’s technologies allow FMs to use a single dashboard and track rooms in use, the number of occupants in each room, the prevalence of meetings and volume of attendees. They can find zombie rooms – spaces booked with recurring meetings, but not actually being used – and release those rooms back into inventory. In short, FMs, through data analytics, can make better decisions about meeting rooms and improve their use in the future.

It’s all about the process

It is a given that meeting room renovations and new buildouts take a lot of upfront work to ensure they go well. Typical challenges will always crop up – like too many cords with no defined purpose, awkward seating arrangements, poor Wi-Fi signals – but they can be easily circumvented through due diligence and proper planning… and a proven process.

When starting this type of project, at a minimum, be sure to take a deep dive into stakeholder requirements before renovating, strive for better communication with internal and external teams during renovation, and build with continuous improvement in mind. Doing so will ensure the investment lasts well beyond day one of installation.

By communicating and holding construction and installation parties accountable, FMs can successfully eliminate complexities and variables, create consistency, and deliver dependable results for their organization.