Meeting Room Layouts

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Theatre Style

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The theatre arrangement is suited toward more of a lecture or presentation setting, where the goal is not for the audience to work with one another, but rather to consume information being presented.

There is usually an aisle up the middle to facilitate the audience getting to their seats and also to help everyone gain a better view of the middle of the stage. By having an aisle in the middle it means the vast majority of people will be at a slight angle to the presenter so they can see him/her over the shoulders of the people in front, rather than having to look over the person in front’s head.

Meeting room layouts and recommended configurations

The best way to layout a boardroom is dependant on a number of factors including the space available, the number of participants, the level of activity and interaction required. There are 6 main styles which are described below.

Classroom style requires about three times as much space per person as theatre style but provides everyone with somewhere to rest their papers and equipment.

The classroom style is optimal for for interaction of presenters with the audience, facilitating some cooperation with the audience. Dual desks allow for optimal partnership style cooperation.

Should a meeting have fewer attendees than expected, altering the meeting room from "theatre style" to "classroom style" will make the meeting seem more widely attended. For this reason, it might make sense to invest in a folding tables for such circumstances:

Classroom Style

Cabaret style allows meeting attendees to work in small groups around round tables. Ideal for brainstorming, team working sessions as well as company wide huddles. The advantage of "cabaret" is the reserved ability to present while maintaining cooperation options.

This is less appropriate when there will be a lot of presentations from the front of the room, but is good for workshops where each of the groups will be working independently from each other.

When you do want a mixture of presentations from the front and group based work, arrange the seats in a U around each table, so that no-one has their back to the presenter.

Cabaret Style

Small and intimate, private meetings, requiring close interaction, discussion and voting requires the traditional boardroom setup. A projector screen toward one end of the table facilitates presentation engagement.

Traditional boardroom style

For larger rooms with tens of attendees, the horseshoe style facilitates a community style engagement. The central focus can shift between the presenter and the screen to between seated members. This style is great for corporate retreats, as well as training sessions and hotly debated topics.

Horseshoe Style

The round space layout is ideally for Arthurian truly interactive meetings where attendees are equally ranked, and there is unilateral engagement in conversation. A projector is not required here, nor is it encouraged. Facilitation occurs organically and do not require facilitation.

There is nowhere for people to lean on while making notes but the fact that there are no barriers and everyone can see each other helps the collaborative and interactive nature of the event. Of course, the circle can be either a horseshoe shaped open circle or a fully closed circle.

You can’t give long presentations at an Open Space meeting but you do need to have a stron facilitator at such a meeting otherwise the interactivity can quickly descend into chaos.

Round space

Ensure your room is properly equipped in accordance to the right configuration. Arrive early to make sure the right equipment is present for the sort of meeting you want to hold.

Ensure that you provide an incentive for people to arrive on time, and you make a point of encouraging this.

Use the arrangement of the room to work to its strengths,

be it small teamwork or large open discussions.

Allow 600mm - 700mm per person depending on chair width.

Consider power and data requirements.

Regardless of meeting room layout, remember these important rules:

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Considerations when selecting a boardroom?

At the end of the day, it’s all about your choice of design and vision and how you choose to make your conference room stand out with quality office furniture!

If you are looking for a stunning boardroom table to be the centrepiece of your office, look no further than the Sapphire!

We recommend

- Large Boardroom Table

- Sapphire Square Meeting Room Table Litewall

- Modern Boardroom Table Litewall

We recommend

- Folding Mobile Meeting Room Table

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Meeting Room Layouts

Range of boardroom table layouts.

Boris | July 18, 2017