Inspiring Meeting Areas

Impromptu meeting areas: think of them as a hybrid between lounge and conference areas. Though these spaces are like lounges, they are not strictly made for sitting around and doing nothing, but rather a place where employees can come together and discuss ideas or simply hang out and build camaraderie.

One method of building better communities in the workplace is to force connections between people from different teams. No, that doesn’t mean make them go do laser tag when they don’t want to, but rather to use your space to create opportunities for spontaneous interactions.

If you have a team of programmers near your business development department, encourage them to interact by putting a lounge-type area between them. Both will want to relax for a few minutes, and the common shared space will do well to create a connection between them.

Another use for these spaces is to have smaller meetings that don’t require scheduling a large conference space for two or three people. Sitting around at a desk can be uncomfortable, especially when brainstorming. Having breakout areas throughout your office space can be useful for these quick meetings between smaller groups of people. It can also be nice to make sure these spaces are made for working by stocking them with equipment necessary to work like whiteboards and markers, pens and paper, or hotdesk-type computer terminals.

Let’s check out a few interesting examples of these types of spaces:

(photos used with permission from Officesnapshots.com)