First of all, how do you feel when you enter a dull, white room with typical office chairs and a whiteboard? There are not many windows or natural light, and the air doesn’t feel fresh. Not great, right. Better meetings start with stimulating spaces, and this is where we are great. HUONE is a haven for business meetings with its diverse, colourful rooms. But why does space affect our meeting so much? Read more below!
53% of conference-room space is built for meetings of seven or more
And yet these meeting rooms are often crammed if seven people actually show up!
You put a lot of energy and thinking to organising your meeting, don’t you? You prepare the agenda, invite the people, prepare the content and practice your speech. The last thing you want is for your attendees to lose their motivation. You are failing the meeting if your attendees don’t concentrate or are absent-minded. All because of poor meeting environment! When you have your meeting in a stimulating space, your participants contribute more and as a result, you have a better meeting.
At HUONE room setting is everything for us. The venue affects how you behave and it also affects your meeting success big time. At HUONE every room talks to you and stimulates you. For example, our Cabana room will make you more relaxed and the conversation will flow easily. Therefore we ask you, what is the wanted outcome of the meeting, what kind of behaviour you want to encourage – is it to brainstorm new ideas, go through the budget or raise team spirit? We don’t believe in one size fits all, and every event is different. Some events will need cocktail tables and mingling space, the others a teamwork setting. Let’s hear more about how better meetings happen with stimulating spaces!
Link the Meeting Space to the Meeting Behaviour You Want to Encourage
It may be concluded that the meeting room interior has to be adapted to the type of creativity task to gain optimal results.
One thing that we often emphasise: find the WHY of your meeting. In fact, this is important when choosing your meeting space as well. If you need to be creative and encourage out-of-box thinking, a stimulating space will make your meeting better. If you have an important board meeting, an organised and neutral coloured room with a warm ambience will make your participants calm and relaxed. Stop to think of what meeting behaviour you want to see and experience, and choose the meeting environment accordingly.
Stimulating Space is Enough Spacious for Your Meeting
Often meeting rooms are not enough spacious even for the number of people they are designed for. You want your attendees to feel comfortable and happy where they are. You want the atmosphere of the meeting space to manifest your objective. When you have enough space around you, no one feels too tight or uncomfortable. Therefore stimulating space doesn’t happen when you’re crammed! Likewise, if you’re a small group of people in a massive, empty space — well you will feel like half of the party didn’t show up.
Stimulating Space is Flexible
Stimulating space gives you an opportunity to move around. To walk, to talk, to write your thoughts on the big chalkboards. You can throw an energiser or an icebreaker. Perhaps you want to change the seating arrangement. See? A stimulating space gives you more freedom and flexibility, which encourages creativity, innovation and higher levels of energy.
The Design of a Stimulating Space Sets the Tone of the Meeting
Colours and design have a huge impact on how we feel. A badly designed space makes you feel bad. Harsh, strong colors make you feel harsh. Neutral, positive colours make you cooperative. Green is a neutral colour that makes you feel safe, whereas blue and yellow boost creativity.
The materials you use affect the feel of the meeting. Artificial and uncomfortable fabrics on chairs, or a table that feels very light and plastic, don’t give you a steady feel.
You pay a lot of attention to how you present and lead your meeting. Put the same energy to making sure your participants feel good in your meeting environment. A stimulating space is well designed and creates better meetings.
Good Furniture Stimulates Your Participants
We encourage people to be active, stand and walk during meetings. However, you often end up sitting for a big part of the meeting time. And if you’re sitting, we hope you’re sitting on something that supports your lovely bottom well. Furniture has to be designed to be ergonomic and to keep you in a good posture. How can you think clearly if you’re sinking from your middle body?
Stimulating space has good furniture in it, and the good furniture keeps your participants healthy. Good furniture also means it’s flexible and can be moved to accommodate different seating arrangements. In addition, the tables can be turned. Likewise, perhaps there are couches or more relaxed sitting areas for smaller group exercises and creative tasks.
Technology Problems Don’t Exist in Better Meetings
Many meetings have video conferencing as part of them. People join in from all over the world. You share presentations and videos on screens. Stimulating space is not just about good design and good space usage. In addition, it also means you don’t encounter any technology problems — hallelujah!
You should be able to adjust the lighting to different intensities. The sound and audiovisual settings should be easy to use and easy to connect to your device. If anything, someone should be on-site to help you set up. Now, if you agree you want better meetings with easier organisation, we are here for you. We make sure you are at ease when it comes to tech. Our Event Coordinators always help to set up your meeting, whether it’s tech, food or any other requests.
Your meeting will be better when it’s in a stimulating space and honestly — you deserve it. You might not be a rockstar but to us, you are a corporate rock star who deserves the best stimulating meeting space possible!