If you regularly host internal or external meetings such as board meetings, appraisals, investor meetings, pitches to potential clients and so on, then you will understand the value of creating great first impressions and making your employees or clients feel confident and comfortable.
Modern boardroom design captures these sentiments, reflecting your corporate branding and offering you and your colleagues and clients a welcoming place in which to do business.
With video conference meetings on the rise and shifting preferences of individual employees to work in the comfort of their own home office, one might think office and boardroom design becomes less important. However, the current Zoom meeting trend is bound to lose popularity again. After all, nothing replaces a real-life face-to-face meeting.
Boardroom Design Guidelines
Read on to find out how you can achieve a contemporary and professional vibe in your meeting room or boardroom.
#1 – Use Lighting to Make a Mark With Your Boardroom Design
If you regularly hold meetings after sundown, then plan your artificial light, too. Ensure that your boardroom is well lit, without the light being too harsh or unnatural. A good way to mimic natural daylight is to use LED lightbulbs, which are both energy-efficient and long-lasting.
Consider that you are likely to need a flexible lighting scheme. So, the ability to dim the lighting in the room when you show a presentation is an advantage at meeting time.
#2 – Why the Colour Scheme Matters for Your Boardroom Design
It makes sense to tie your colour scheme in with your corporate branding. So if you have a colour palette to describe your brand that’s already in use, choose one or all elements from there. You can also tie in some complementary shades of your branding’s principal colours.
Know that in corporate boardroom design, individual colours will convey particular meanings. Blue suggests productivity and professionalism, yellow stimulates the intellect, while green has a calming effect. If your company has a bold ethos or represents creativity in some way, you can get away with more striking colours like red and orange, which are stimulating and energising.
Alternatively, you could opt for a neutral colour scheme for your walls. This allows you to add in accent pieces such as abstract paintings in primary colours, canvases depicting your business or other artworks to add interest and contrast.
A great way to incorporate colours into your board room is by using office wallpaper and decorative window film.
#3 – Contemporary Boardroom Chairs & Tables
By its very function, the boardroom is where long and involved meetings will take place, so comfortable office chairs are a must. Opt for boardroom chairs that combine comfort and ease of manoeuvre with a classic look, such as high-quality leather boardroom chairs.
For chairs, leather colours like black and brown never go out of fashion, yet this look is versatile enough to withstand you refreshing the decor of your boardroom every now and then to keep up with a modern boardroom design and ergonomic office layout principles.
Drilling down to the detail, it’s important to consider boardroom chairs that have adjustable features such as seat height and angle and the same for the chair backs to allow delegates to get comfortable in long meetings.
If you have more than one office to furnish, you will also need to know about the practicalities of purchasing bulk office chairs. This makes sense in terms of saving money and furnishing your offices according to a single corporate look.
And bear in mind that your boardroom table is going to be the centrepiece of your room, so it deserves careful consideration and selection.
First off, consider the proportions of the room. While your boardroom table will be the main item of furniture, it shouldn’t be so big that it dominates the room or makes walking around it tricky.
At the same time, your boardroom table should be of adequate size to accommodate laptops, phones and notes that delegates will bring to their meetings.
Think about the shape of your table, too, and the message it conveys. If yours is a traditional company with particularly formal meetings, then a long, rectangular table will fit the bill. But if you consider your company to be more collaborative in approach, why not opt for a circular table as an alternative?
#4 – Where Tech Fits In
Your boardroom ideas will come to nothing without up-to-date technology to allow your meetings to run smoothly. So, you must factor in sockets, wireless internet access, charging points, cable ports and USB points into your boardroom design.
And bearing in mind that many meetings nowadays are being held by videoconference, you will need to provide adequate technology to manage these, along with a centrally placed screen for easy and seamless participation.
#5 – The Finishing Boardroom Design Touches
Your meeting room ideas should stretch to those extra touches that will personalise your boardroom and inspire your delegates with a feeling that their unique needs have been considered.
A bowl of enticing and healthy fruit is always welcome, or have some greenery or floral arrangements to bring a feeling of calm and luxury into the boardroom. You can also supply newspapers or magazines relevant to your industry, as well as your own newsletters and marketing materials.
It’s these little extras that add up to a big difference in how you can make a lasting statement with your boardroom design.
An Investment Into the Future
Your boardroom or meeting room should be the hub of your office, the place where you create ideas, make decisions and plan for the future. It’s also a space to think out of the box, challenge stereotypes and express yourself.
For these very reasons, planning its design carefully to make a lasting statement is key. Take time to consider the look and feel of your boardroom, down to the details like your centerpiece table and chairs. Time and thought spent creating the boardroom that describes your company will, without doubt, be a sound investment in the future.