Trade shows are a hive of activity. There are a lot of activities simultaneously taking place on the exhibitor’s floor and marketing teams face the added pressure of closing deals and maximizing the impact of meetings and interactions. The first step in doing this is to ensure that the meeting space enables team member to create a collaborative atmosphere and shorten the sales cycle. But meeting rooms are precious resources and managing them is not as simple as it seems.
In this blog, we look at five elements that play an important role in getting the most out of your meetings at events.
Location
One of the biggest factors in ensuring that meetings are productive is where meeting rooms are located. The exhibitor’s floor is bound to get noisy and is often burdened with distractions and large crowds. These distractions are bound to interfere with meetings.
In order for them to be productive, meeting spaces require a quiet environment that helps marketing and sales teams create productive interactions with their customers. Therefore, meeting spaces need to be located at quiet corners of the booth.
Capacity
Marketers often overlook the implications of choosing a room that does not fit the requirement of the meeting. In many cases, marketers find themselves having to squeeze a party of twelve in a room that accommodates eight or having to occupy a board room for twenty with only six to eight meeting attendees.
In the first case, it is obvious that having a larger party occupy a smaller room could make them feel claustrophobic and stuffy. And in the second, occupying a larger room could create a lot of overhead cost in addition to creating a lot of open spaces that could convolute the effect that the meeting is supposed to have. The key, therefore, is to ensure that meeting rooms fit the specific requirement in order to get the desired effect.
Calendars
Occupying a meeting room that has been booked for a meeting is ill-advised. There have been many instances where marketers schedule meetings well in advance only to find that the room they have booked is occupied. This can cause massive confusions and can dent the reputation of your company.
Ideally, meeting rooms need to be kept vacant with at least ten minutes to go for the meeting. This gives planners time to set it up for the next meeting. In most cases, meetings are synced with calendars to ensure that there are no conflicts. Additionally, having a meeting management software can provide transparency into meeting schedules and can help avoid mishaps like booking meeting rooms that have already been reserved for pre-scheduled meetings.
Related: The ROI conundrum – Booths vs meeting rooms at events
A/V equipment
Technology plays a definitive role in meetings. Whether it means having the right audio/video equipment or reeling in personnel remotely, every meeting room needs to be equipped sufficiently to cater to the needs and demands of the meetings.
The audio/video equipment needs to be tailor-fitted to the room and should play to the advantage of the acoustic setting of the room. Dual monitors, high-quality microphones, high definition pan-tilt-zoom cameras, a stable internet connection, sockets for all input types (Mac, Windows, etc.,), charging docs, are some of the important things that need to be present in the meeting room to ensure maximum support. Additionally, it is advisable to have one A/V technician to ensure that problems are tackled as and when they arise.
Other facilities
A meeting room does more than bring people together. It helps facilitate better conversations, helps build a better rapport and helps close down the sale. And for this, it is important to ensure that the meeting space helps marketers ease prospects and customers into important conversations. Having additional facilities like coffee machines, workstations, break-out areas, and food and beverage facilities can come a long way in making them feel a lot more at ease.
Choosing the right meeting room can be a daunting task. There are many factors that need to be taken into account. Picking the wrong meeting room or not preparing for every meeting can have devastating effects. Use these tips to pick the right meeting room at your next event and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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