Huddle rooms have become a necessity for every modern office – they’re places where your team members can collaborate on projects by holding quick meetings away from the „regular“ office chaos.
Designing a quality huddle room, however, is not an easy task. The AV equipment and furniture you choose will determine the productivity of the meetings held in these collaborative spaces.
In this article, we bring you our top AV equipment and AV furniture ideas you can use to design a perfect huddle room for your office.
So, without any further ado, let’s get right to the bottom of it!
Contents
Comfort VS productivity – find the right balance
Since huddle rooms are mostly used for quick, „on-the-fly“ meetings, the furniture you choose should be a reflection of that. Standing desks and other similar pieces can encourage your team members to keep their meetings quick and straight to the point.
Still, this doesn’t mean the furniture shouldn’t be comfy at all. In some cases, your team might get carried away with their ideas, which could prolong those huddle meetings quite a bit. You don’t want them to feel any kind of discomfort in those particular moments – the chairs and tables should be ergonomic at the very least.
Finding the right balance between comfort and productivity can be quite difficult. That’s why your best bet is to invest in specialized huddle-room solutions – designed by AV industry professionals.
Interactive whiteboards are a must-have!
Your team will need a proper workspace if they’re planning on developing any ideas or plans for a future project. Interactive whiteboards are the perfect solution to this issue! They allow your team members to instantly share their thoughts using visual cues that make things easily understandable to the rest of the group.
There are many types of interactive whiteboards available on the market, all of which have unique features and attributes. Pick something that suits your industry and your team size properly.
Either way, having an interactive whiteboard for your huddle room is of the utmost importance – it’s a powerful collaborative tool that will make all of those meetings much more productive from the get-go!
Quality cameras and audio equipment
Remote work has been on the rise for the last couple of years. For our colleagues who’re still working from home, keeping up with everything that goes on in the office can be quite a hassle. Huddle room meetings can be the perfect solution for this issue.
Of course, for it to work, you’ll need to have a quality video-conferencing system integrated into your huddle room. This includes quality cameras, audio equipment, and so much more.
Whatever you decide to do, though, make sure everything is kept accessible. You don’t want huddle meetings to be delayed or complicated because of compatibility issues, for example. Do your research until you’ve found the equipment that best suits your needs and requirements, but also fits your budget properly. You can check this if you’re interested in learning more about custom AV furniture & equipment.
A booking system
As we’ve already established throughout these paragraphs, huddle rooms aren’t meant for large corporate meetings and conferences. They should be able to accommodate around 4-7 people at the most. If your company has a significantly larger number of employees (but you’re planning on having only one huddle room inside the office), you’ll probably need a booking system to keep it accessible to everyone.
You can find many open-source scheduling and calendar applications you can use to solve this particular issue. Whatever you do, make sure your employees can schedule their meetings in advance. Nobody should be waiting to get access to the space – it beats the purpose of having a huddle room.
Involve your team in the design process!
The people who will be using the huddle room should have a say in how it’s designed – don’t forget to ask them for their opinions and ideas! They’ll be able to make your job so much easier, especially when the long-term is considered.
Once you’ve gathered everyone’s input, you’ll know how to choose AV equipment and audio-visual furniture that will accommodate your team’s work style in a proper manner.
Of course, make sure you keep it realistic – you have a budget to adhere to, after all. Prioritize those aspects of the huddle room your team deems the most important, and you’ll certainly have a success story in your office!
Don’t ignore lighting and acoustics
Let’s put it this way: even if you had the world’s most powerful webcam, nothing guarantees it will perform well in a dark room. The same logic applies to your audio equipment – your room should be arranged in such a way as to prevent distortion and other audio issues.
Besides, good lighting impacts focus and productivity in many different ways, so it’s not something to be underestimated.
Overall, make sure your huddle room is well lit and properly designed – it can save you from a lot of trouble down the road.
Seek professional assistance
If none of our tips seem to be helpful enough, your best option is to seek professional advice. AV integrators and huddle room designers can help you create something that suits your specific needs and preferences.
Again, not all companies require the same kind of tech and furniture – contacting industry professionals is a certain way to find a solution that fits your company the best.
Make sure you do your research before you hire one of those services, though. They should have relevant experience with huddle room designs in order to be capable of helping you make the most out of your new meeting zone.
The bottom line
All in all, choosing the best AV equipment and furniture for your huddle room can be a bit exhausting. Ultimately, your choices depend on your specific needs and meeting requirements – something that’s best determined by working with an industry professional.
Either way, we hope our article gave you some design ideas and we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors.