Whether it’s booking meeting rooms at your place of work or scheduling external meetings with prospects, knowing the correct meeting room etiquette is essential to not only staying professional, but staying on the right side of your colleagues, too! Find out the biggest meeting room do’s and don’ts from our helpful guide on meeting room space protocol.
Conference space etiquette
Booking your meeting room
Before you book your meeting room, ensure that you know the exact number of attendees, and that everyone has been asked and confirmed they’re attending. That way, you’ll know what size meeting room to book; how long the meeting should be; and whether you need to account for lunch or snacks during the meeting.
Depending on your internal systems, booking a meeting in your personal meeting space may require checking against a public calendar first to ensure there are no clashes with your desired meeting time. If you are hiring out a meeting room space, simply ring up your meeting room provider, such as Grosvenor House, and we’ll advise you of meeting room availability.
Double booking
The etiquette for double booking? Essentially – don’t do it. 9/10 times this is usually done by accident – but having a meeting clash can lead to problems, especially if the meeting involves prospects or clients. Having to cancel at the last minute due to a meeting room clash can lead to an awkward situation where you’ll need to decide which booking should have the meeting room, and which unsuspecting group will have to move their meeting into the cold kitchen or the break out area instead.
Instead, why not leave the bookings in the hands of a meeting room provider, like Grosvenor House? That way, you can eliminate the stress of junior staff members accidentally booking over your extremely important client meeting, and you’ll be able to relax in the knowledge your meeting room is taken care of.
Cancellations
Perhaps some of your meeting guests have dropped out? Or the meeting needs to be rescheduled? Ensure you cancel your meeting room with as much notice and as early as possible. That way, anyone else who wants to use the meeting room will be able to rebook the room if they wish to do so.
When you book a meeting room with Grosvenor House and the party confirm, an invoice will be raised which will need to be paid 14 days prior to the event. If you need to reschedule your meeting, we will do this for you at no extra cost (subject to availability of new date), but the invoice remains payable.
Punctuality
This works both ways – both turning up for the meeting on time, and also leaving the meeting promptly at the end of the allocated slot. Not only does this cause issues for people using the room afterwards, but by delaying the meeting, it can also cause problems for attendees who have conflicting events or appointments later in the day. Punctuality at both the start and the end of the meeting not only shows professionalism, but also shows that you’ve accurately accounted for how long the meeting should be.
How to set up a meeting room
Refreshments – whether that’s simply supplying a jug of water and glasses for the table, or noting down a hot drinks order upon your guests’ arrival, ensuring your meeting room is well catered for is imperative. If your meeting is running over lunch, it may be best to order something in from the local sandwich shop. Although, be sure to cater for all dietary requirements if so!
Screen sharing – the amount of times we’ve entered into meetings and there’s some sort of technical problem, usually involving the HDMI cable or screen sharing device, is probably numerous. Avoid awkwardness by sorting out the screen beforehand and ensure everything is in working order prior to the meeting – including the WiFi! Also, ensure the WiFi password is easy to find so guests can hook up their laptops and phones as necessary.
Conference call ability – sometimes, not all members of the meeting can always attend. Therefore, it may be worth ensuring the conference line is set up correctly so you can dial some members in via telephone, if that’s a feature available at your offices.
Notepads – if the meeting is going to potentially be more of a collaboration of ideas, it may be worth including pens and note paper for members to jot down ideas and notes throughout the meeting.
Meeting room hire with Grosvenor House
Of course, with one of our meeting room spaces from Grosvenor House, your meeting room will be set up for you already – meaning you can sit back and relax without having to set up the meeting room yourself. And when you choose one of our meeting rooms, you’ll experience a 5* tailor-made meeting space – perfect for impressing prospects or new clients – with no long-term contracts from just £25 per hour.
Our meeting room spaces can be hired on an hourly, half-day, or full-day basis and include:
- St Paul’s Suite – seats 6 delegates
- Mary Ann Suite – seats 6 delegates
- Executive Boardroom – seats 14 delegates board style/22 delegates theatre-style
- Bar 11 – holds up to 25 delegates
Find out more about meeting room hire in Birmingham today from Grosvenor House – or contact us directly for more information from our helpful team.