What expectations do you have for a conference room space when planning a successful meeting?
I am doing some research in preparation of opening a conference room rental center.
What amenities would you be looking for in the space you are renting?
What would be your most important deciding factor, price, location or amenities?
What kind of working environment would you desire - closed door offices or open air work spaces?
How important would it be to have competent staff available who can handle any of your needs; and what would you expect them to be able to provide you?
Please accept my thanks for any input.
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Sep 5, 2018
Hi Paul,
The Business.com team recently published an article on the Best Places to Hold Meetings Without an Office. It covers the different amenities business owners may expect depending on the type of office space (work from home, coffee shop, rented meeting space, virtual meeting space, etc.).
If I rented a physical meeting space, the most important amenity for me would be access to their multimedia equipment. I would expect to easily be able to connect to the wifi and share my presentation/screen in the meeting room. I would also expect the sound to be clear for attendees that may be calling into the meeting virtually.
Location is an important factor, especially if I'm meeting in a busy city where visitor parking can be pricey. I always check to make sure there is free or discounted parking available for the meeting attendees before deciding on a space. Hope this helps!
Nov 1, 2017
Usually venues meet my expectations and sometimes even exceed. Almost always I book venues through room hire service. I was one of the organisers of a small conference last week and booked a hotel through that service. The conference rooms were comfortable and fully equipped. Many delegates also stayed over for the weekend of the conference and said they were very happy with their rooms and attitude.
Aug 26, 2015
10 Ways To Create 'Perfect' Home Field Advantage
1-Location is everything.
2-Ease in finding and getting to the location.
3-Rental by the hour w/ bulk quantity hours options n pricing, to encourage return customers.
4-Wi-Fi that works for all attending a gathering in your room / facility
5-Clean and airy room n furnishings, w/ well stocked easy to find, secure rest rooms.
6-Capabilities to use chairs only, remove the big board room table if need be.
7-Over-head projector w/ universal connectivity for leader.
8-High quality short list of"Favored Caterer" status if & when customer has need when planning their gathering.
9-Formal n brief survey of everyone after their experience at your facility. Live & die by what they are telling you
10-Create a complimentary leader study group series to begin traffic-flow and chatter about the exceptional experience at your place!
SIDENOTES: Once you add access to staff this opens up more challenges, start slow, let your customer dictate what they really want. #1. Quality meeting space. Grow from there. Remember, smells, view, sound, lighting, etc., are little things, but can become 'huge' if not top-notch.
Aug 18, 2015
Hi Paul, Greetings,
Preparing a conference room is a challenging business idea, as most of the large scale and medium scale organizations do have the conference room or meeting rooms, apart from that for the top-line management meetings business hotels get booked and they have all such facilities along with the trained staff moreover for regular clients they have very reasonable rates.
Still in this aspect you can start as a interior designer consultant specialize in setting up conference rooms or Meeting rooms.
To Setup a conference room it should have following amenities:
1. Facilities for Telephonic Conversation with proper Audio Control setups.
2.Facilities for Video Conference with proper Video Control setups.
3. Proper Hi Speed Internet connection (Good to have WI-FI / Wireless)
3. Sound Proof room acoustics Infrastructure.
4. Projection Systems.
5. Attached Mini Pantry
6. Service Staff depend upon the number of people who are coming for the meeting.
7. Staff to setup all the facilities and to troubleshoot in case any technical snag occurs.
I hope my submission will help you in your business setup.
Thanks and Refards
Kunal
Aug 18, 2015
Hi Paul - to start have you looked at competitors in the space, such as Regus? They have office locations across the world and provide meeting space, collaborative space, and virtual office amenities. My suggestion would be to study the competition and see where the gaps are in their product/solution, then capitalize on that.
Competent staff who have a technical background would be ideal, as meetings and presentations involving computers seem to always have something go wrong.
Where are you looking at opening?
I'd prefer closed door offices so that private conversations could be had, as well as open collaborative space. Location and amenities would play a large role, followed by price. Instead of thinking about it as price, I would reframe it as value to the client. The client/customer is investing in the space, just as they would to lease office space. So in that regard, you can show how for a fraction of the price, they get much more value.
Hope that helps.
Aug 17, 2015
In your first sentence you mentioned opening a conference room rental center. This sounds like using a conference room on a per-event basis. Then later you mentioned options for offices, which sound like a longer term use. I'd like to respond to your question, but I am not sure yet what your business model is. I do have some suggestions for the collaborative work space, if you could clarify your intentions.
Aug 18, 2015
Eric, thank you for your response. Our current plans are to create a multipurpose facility that could host a variety of event types ranging from private gatherings (birthday parties, retirement parties, graduation parties, etc.) to different types of business meetings. The makeup of the facility would include a large great room, filled with comfortable furniture and seating arrangements. Adjoining the great room is a comfortable, scalable meeting room with tables and chairs and all the amenities necessary to conduct a successful meeting. During breaks and lunch your attendees can relax in the great room. A floating room divider would separate the two sections.
So, our initial concept is open-air however if there was enough interest in small private office expressed, we might consider that as an option in our design. This space could be used for interviews, private phone calls etc.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of my question.
Aug 17, 2015
I am usually needing room for training purposes so I will answer for that venue. I need table teams that comfortably seat 4 - 6. I want two tables in the front and two in the back. price and location are key and amenities can be contracted when contracting the room. Because of IP closed doors and locked at night are important. I want lots of wall space to hang posters. I usually need room for breakouts or enough room in the main room to break out teams. Competent staff that are empowered to take care of issues at the time they happen are key to success. If I need another flip chart, markers, more water, doors locked for lunch and unlocked ...or meeting me at early time to open the room...logical needs for someone training a team in the space. Hope this helps. Mary
Aug 18, 2015
Mary, thank you for this great answer. You told me what you needed on a personal level as a businessperson and that's what I was looking for. Some very important matters to consider.
Aug 17, 2015
Price is always going to be deciding factor, and most conference spaces have all the same amenities. WiFi Projection, AV equipment etc...but I would say like all real estate its all about location. How large are these spaces? Do they have the capacity for modal alterations? Can they be divided or expanded? Having a staff obviously would help, but it would depend on what they are helping out with. Ask yourself this -- Why would people use your service instead of say, a hotel with all the staff and amenities built in to all their conference centers? What makes you different?
Benjamin,
Yes I've done quite a bit of research on competitors. Gives me a good idea of what they offer, but not so much what the customer is looking for. Not a lot of competition for the style facility we are looking to develop in our area. The site we are looking at has a great location (Syracuse, NY suburbs) adjacent to two major highways, 2 miles to the airport and several hotels. Plenty of parking.
Your last statement is right on. Thanks for your input.