Tag: Meeting Rooms

Why opt for a hired meeting room in Leeds?

Leeds is home to over 536,000 individuals, making it the UK’s second largest city. The business-oriented city attracts many organisations to its trendy cosmopolitan streets, creating appeal around hiring quality, well-facilitated and flexible spaces to hold meetings, events and seminars.

Leeds is a practical city to run meetings out of, with fantastic transportation links for the whole of the North and even to the south, it makes it simpler for anybody across the UK to attend a meeting.

Whilst the transport links offer convenience, Leeds offers more practicalities, with a plethora of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars for food and drink to be gotten from. Being surrounded by so many options can reduce the time spent navigating to the nearest local shop.

Leeds is a developing city, with money being put into improving the city’s infrastructure and green spaces. This means that whilst you may want the convenience of a meeting room in an urban environment, you can still find green spaces to enjoy your lunch or a long walk.

Potential issues to consider with hiring a meeting room?

Hiring a meeting room comes with a lot of considerations to be made, whether it is the budget, the capacity of a space, or the technological capabilities. Considering each aspect of your ideal meeting room will set you up for success.

• Ensure the space has the technical capabilities and IT support for those days where it may be causing some issues.
• Will you have access to other facilities? I.e. printer access or a kitchenette
• Location is king, make sure everyone attending can get there without it costing too much money or time!
• Consider taking a tour, there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re trapped in an arrangement that doesn’t meet your business needs. Try before you buy will help protect from any issues.
• Make sure to book with plenty of time to prepare. Don’t try booking the day before, make sure you and your meeting room provider are prepared for your attendance, more so, making sure they’re not booked up!

Stretching your meeting room budget

Looking for ways to make the most of your meeting room budget? Accessing a high-quality environment for meetings helps increase your business’s credibility and can contribute towards the general success of your organisation.  However, stretching your budget isn’t always a practical solution for just the one meeting, so we’ve come up with some ways you can stretch your budget:

1. Connect with another business – Do you know anyone that would be interested in sponsoring your meetings? This could be in the form of anything from providing the catering for your meeting to handing out branded goodie bags to your attendees. If you do the relevant research and get a bit creative with your approach, this tactic can really pay off.
2. Look for hidden costs – Some of the seemingly-cheaper meeting rooms often come with a variety of hidden costs. This could be for anything from the catering to using the wi-fi! We can’t stress enough how important it is to ask exactly what is included in the price before you make your booking.
3. Opt for all-inclusive packages – It could be a lot more cost-effective to book an all-inclusive meeting room package. Take time to look for a package to suit your business and you could end up saving a lot of money on things you usually pay extra for!
4. Host out of the city – People often assume that a city centre location is perfect for your meetings, but that’s really not the case! More rural locations don’t just tend to be more cost-effective compared to city-centre meeting room facilities, but they may also provide a more convenient location for your attendees.
5. Have a fixed budget for all meetings –Sometimes it can really help to visualise things by writing them down on paper. Take some time to work out exactly how much you can afford to spend on each meeting, down to the penny. From here, you can keep this figure in mind when booking your meetings to make sure you don’t go over your budget.
6. Create an opportunity for funds to be raised – This is no short-term solution, but creating additional means to fund your meetings can be a great way to subsidise any excess costs from your budget.
7. Booking in bulk – Some meeting room providers offer discounted rates for bulk bookings. Simply ask around and find the perfect place for you.
8. Electing to use a smaller space – Consider the size of the space needed to comfortably conduct a meeting. Instead of picking one, you can roam around in, look for one that comfortably sits attendees and provides you with the necessary amenities to conduct.

For more tips on finding meeting space and overcoming the challenges involved in planning and running meetings, the WorkWell blog is a mine of useful information and advice – subscribe today for regular updates.

Meetings can be a one-off chance to bring a group of key business people together for an important objective.

Getting the meeting room set up right is so important. If the meeting’s objectives are not met because people are uncomfortable, tired or unable to network due to space or timetable issues, then an important opportunity has been lost.

Here are some easy-to-follow tips on creating the right environment for your meetings and choosing the right meeting room set-up for your planned activities.

(1) The Guest List: Meeting Size

My golden rule when it comes to numbers is ‘walk before you can run’. If this is your first seminar or you haven’t held one for a while, then keep numbers small. It is much better to run 5 smaller sessions for 12 people, than one seminar for 60 people, where half of them don’t turn up. Keeping numbers low allows you to give very targeted content and is much more personal, with each member of the group feeling more valued. This decreases the dropout rate and keeps discussions lively. You can send messages out to larger groups via email, through newsletters or video instead.

(2) The Guest List: Planning Numbers

Follow the “50%:50%:50%” rule. If given sufficient time to diarise a relevant meeting, expect around half the people you invite to give a positive RSVP.  From 60 positive RSVPs, the chances are that 30 will show, especially to a free event. As you still need to book and pay for all confirmed attendees, this is even more reason to keep numbers low and maintain personal contact to decrease dropout rate.

(3) Amount of Space

Meeting rooms should be large enough to comfortably accommodate however many people you expect to attend, including all their equipment (bags, coats, briefcases, luggage, etc). Speak to the meeting rooms manager for advice on appropriate space. They should be able to give you detailed information about how much space would be required for meetings with different numbers of people and different seating arrangements.

(4) Best Seating Arrangement for Planning

The best seating arrangement for planning meetings is the ‘horseshoe’ arrangement. If all participants are required to contribute to the same discussion led by a single speaker, the ‘horseshoe’ (with the speaker at the front and everyone in a semicircle around them) allows everyone to comfortably see each other and the projector screen.

(5) Best Seating Arrangement for Discussions

The best seating arrangement for encouraging networking and interactivity among participants is ‘rounds’, whereby you place small tables seating 6-8 people each around the room. If you’re using a projector for some of the meeting, people will have to adjust their chairs so they can see the screen, so there should be sufficient space for them to do so.

(6) Plan for Networking Time

Allowing networking time before and after your event for networking serves a number of purposes. It allows a buffer time for people running late, it allows you time to build personal relationships before the main speakers begin, and if you present at the meeting, it allows you time to answer individual questions afterwards.

(7) Plan Regular Breaks

For meetings of over 2 hours, we recommend that you take a short break, at least every 90 minutes. Even if people just simply stand up and move around, the physical activity will increase blood flow and oxygenation, which will liven everyone up, help them to re-focus and promote better discussions.

(8) Don’t Sell

It is important to show your audience respect, so if they’ve given up valuable time to come to an event, you must not simply sell to them. Giving them valuable information that is relevant in the current economic climate and is targeted to them is the way to encourage people to return. The time when selling may be permissible is in response to questions asked after a presentation, if you identify a business need from your audience that you may be able to help them with.

(9) Offer Refreshments.

Providing refreshments is not only polite, it can give people an opportunity to network informally together during break times, rather than going off-site to buy food. Many new ideas and new business ventures have begun with a chat over coffee.

(10) Appoint a door monitor.

An appointed door monitor avoids those awkward moments and disturbances when outside noise occurs and everyone jumps up to shut the door (or everyone looks at each other wondering who will), or when new people arrive and don’t know where to sit. The door monitor takes charge of opening and closing the door for temperature control and noise level. This allows individuals sitting near the door to concentrate on the meeting, rather than worrying about the comings and goings of other meeting participants.

If you would like to discuss your meeting requirements, do please give us a call. We have many different types of meeting rooms available across the WorkWell locations, and we will be happy to chat with you about how we can help make your meetings successful.