Perceived lack of room availability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nDoes your office have enough space to support all of your employees\u2019 meetings? If rooms are full most of the time, try creating temporary meeting areas by rearranging your office space. For example, consider moving desks closer together to free up space for an informal meeting area by grouping chairs and tables together.<\/p>\n
You can also partition off other spaces \u2014 such as a break room or kitchen area \u2014 for additional space to accommodate smaller, more informal meetings. IT managers frequently field user complaints about meeting room equipment, so it\u2019s important to make sure the tools in each room meet employee expectations.<\/p>\n
Consider whether or not it\u2019s time to update your technology to support an increase in hybrid meetings. For instance, if only a few of your rooms include high-quality monitors and video conferencing equipment, it\u2019s probably time to upgrade your meeting room technology.<\/p>\n
Modern meeting room booking systems allow employees to search for space and filter by resources to find the perfect room for their meetings.<\/p>\n
3. Scheduling meetings during lunch hours<\/h2>\n
This can be difficult to avoid if your meeting includes employees and external guests that are attending from a different office location or are joining from another country or time zone. The best way to tackle bad meeting behaviors that involve scheduling is to check people\u2019s calendars and verify ahead of time that the scheduled meeting time doesn\u2019t interfere with their ability to grab some lunch or take a much-needed break from work when they have an available time slot.<\/p>\n
This can be influenced by many factors, but the priority of the meeting can help you determine how flexible you can be with scheduling.<\/p>\n
As a general rule of thumb, try to avoid booking a meeting during someone\u2019s regular lunch hours. When in doubt, confirm that the proposed time works for everyone. You can always offer to record the meeting and pass along the recording afterward.<\/p>\n
4. Canceling recurring meetings without removing the associated room reservations<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s a tale as old as time \u2014 or at least as old as meeting room reservation systems. On one hand, technology has simplified scheduling meetings in the office and helped make the process much more efficient. On the other hand, it introduced a new problem to the mix: recurring room bookings that go unused.<\/p>\n
When meetings are canceled but the associated room reservations aren\u2019t removed, this makes the room appear unavailable for others to use. This often occurs when someone cancels a recurring meeting at the last minute because there aren\u2019t any updates to share, or when all attendees are joining the meeting remotely, so the meeting room is no longer needed.<\/p>\n
The problem is that these bad meeting behaviors waste your available space and stand in the way of collaboration and productivity in the workplace. To combat this, some room scheduling displays have a check-in feature designed to help you eliminate unused bookings and late-start meetings.<\/p>\n
5. Allowing meetings to run late when someone else needs a room<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s worse than running out of time during a productive meeting? Answer: Having to cancel your meeting due to the previous meeting running over.<\/p>\n
Nobody wants to barge in and interrupt someone, but when another meeting runs late it can lead to a lot of frustration. Conference room scheduling displays that show who has reserved the room and for how long can help avoid these types of bad meeting behaviors altogether.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s never fun to cut a productive conversation short, it\u2019s important to be mindful of the time and make sure you keep your meeting on schedule so the next meeting can start on time.<\/p>\n
How can you address bad meeting behaviors?<\/h2>\n
Bad meeting behaviors aren\u2019t just a nuisance, they can completely derail an employee\u2019s schedule and sometimes even result in more tasks being added to their plate. And each time someone has a negative experience in a meeting, it can impact productivity, performance, and engagement.<\/p>\n
Meeting room booking systems can help leaders get rid of bad meeting behavior once and for all.<\/p>\n
Simplify room scheduling<\/h2>\n
Rather than using calendar apps that allow rooms to be double-booked, avoid confusion with a modern-day solution. Meeting room booking systems show room availability in real time, and give full visibility into a room\u2019s availability, resources, and capacity.
\nMeeting room booking tools should integrate with conference room scheduling displays to make reservations even easier, and more accessible \u2014 whether employees book rooms from a meeting room display, an employee app, or from their company calendar system.<\/p>\n
Maximize meeting room utilization<\/h2>\n
If employees frequently complain about not having adequate meeting space, it\u2019s time to address the source of the problem. Often, a perceived lack of space indicates that it\u2019s time to rethink your office design.<\/p>\n
Does your office have the right types of meeting rooms? Can employees see real-time availability from your meeting room booking system? How often do meetings end early or run late?<\/p>\n
The best meeting room booking systems will give you the ability to analyze your space utilization data and provide recommendations you can use to maximize your office space. Workspace analytics can help you uncover how people are using your workstations and conference rooms so you can find solutions for your wasted space and bridge the gaps that exist between your available meeting rooms and the needs of your employees.<\/p>\n
With meeting room booking software and workplace analytics, you can easily dive into insights such as:<\/p>\n