IACC External Meetings Demand Report 2022

Decision Making Factors of the meeting rooms

The trends of 2021 considering the design of the meeting rooms have been outlined in the following paragraph. The first one being virtual reality design, this entails that companies can use VR headsets to visualise a meeting space and whether it is a fit for their specific meeting. Another trend are flexible spaces, this can be done by installing removable wall dividers or mobile furniture. Companies will be able to customise the space into the desired layout and size. Others include the rise of LED Video Walls and Interactive Whiteboards (DGI Communications, 2021). Video conferencing equipment is a must in a hybrid meeting environment.

Face-to-face vs. Virtual Meetings

Due to governmental orders to work from home since the start of COVID-19, there has been a major increase in the use of virtual meetings. As mentioned before, it is estimated that most of the business meetings will certainly remain online after the pandemic. In-person meetings will carry on being crucial and irreplaceable. One of the reasons being that 84% of executives stand behind the beliefs of higher team productivity when their employees are meeting in-person. Furthermore, 78% of people are planning on attending an equal number of in-person meetings or even more when COVID-19 is nearing its end. In-person meetings create fewer distractions and/or interruptions since all the attendees find themselves in the same space. Besides that, they make brainstorming, creating something, and working together easier since employees are in a room together, and can use meeting supplies such as a whiteboard. Another advantage is that the engagement is higher than in a virtual setting. It builds relationships and team bonding between colleagues because of the small talk before, in-between, and/or after the meeting. In-person meetings also create a relaxed atmosphere where body language stimulates attendees to be more expressive and makes them less afraid of being misunderstood. Lastly, in-person meetings require less technology used, making it less likely that there will be any technological issues (George,2020) There are also advantages of virtual meetings. According to Timely Blog (2021), these are some of the followings: There is less time wasted since there is no need to book a room, less small talk, no travel time to get to the office. In addition, the meetings held virtually tend to be shorter but more efficient, leaving more time for the attendees for their own tasks. Another advantage for the companies holding virtual meetings is that it costs less. Being virtual costs the company little to no money, making it more profitable for companies to hold big events virtually instead of flying out and accommodating their employees. Lastly, there is the ease of declining. Meaning that when a meeting seems to not be relevant for some of the employees, it is easier for them to just leave the meeting virtually than in-person.

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