Projects survive and thrive on meetings. We use them for status updates, for reviews, for sign off of important milestones and hundreds of other reasons. We have regular meetings (which should be cancelled if not required) and one-off meetings. While you should not schedule meetings for the sake of it, meetings are an essential part of how we get things done on projects.
As a result of the recession, many companies considered their office space and how to get the most out of it. I know many companies who lost their meeting space as a result of shifting to a smaller building or, through pulling down office walls to make space for colleagues from other buildings that were then closed down. In fact, dedicated meeting room space can be a bit of a luxury. If you are used to having a project ‘war room’ or dedicated project room, you might have to consider other options.
While I don’t advise you hiring an external venue as a long term option for creating a project ‘war room’, you can use external venues for one-off or regular meetings when you can’t find anywhere else. Once you have exhausted using the staff kitchen, break room, empty offices, canteen – I even once scouted out a staff shower facility to see if we could fit a meeting table in the dry area, although we didn’t stoop to use it in the end – then you have to look externally for your meeting venue. Here are some tips to get the best result from hiring meeting room space.
Book early
If you are trying to get a room during an event like a local conference or sporting event like the Olympics, or Wimbledon tennis championships, you need to reserve your room early. Demand for venues often goes up – and prices do too.
Negotiate
The venue will tell you the price for the room, but see if you can negotiate. Can you get the projector thrown in free? This could be essential if you are planning on projecting your Seavus Project Viewer plan for everyone to see, or on capturing notes real time in a project blog.
Check the resources
Will the venue supply flip charts, pens, a projector and screen? If not (and you don’t want to pay for them) you’ll have to take your own from the office.
Refreshments
Project teams need feeding and watering, so check that your venue will supply tea, coffee, water and biscuits. If you are hosting an all-day workshop you might also want to check that you can get lunch there. If the venue won’t provide catering (or it is too expensive), see if they will let you get your own sandwich platters delivered from a local cafe.
Check the times
What time can you get in to the room? While your meeting might not start until 10am, you will want to arrive early to set up your laptop, prepare any project resources required and be there to greet attendees as they arrive. Also check what time you will be expected to leave, and that your meeting can be finished in plenty of time.
Check the location
Many chain meeting room facilities have a number of rooms for hire in various locations, some quite close to each other. Check you are hiring a room at a venue that is convenient for you and your attendees, so that no one has to travel too far.
Check the contract
The venue will give you a contract for the room hire. This can run to several pages and is often in small print! In essence it will confirm your start and end times, the number of people attending, the room rate or delegate rate and what equipment and refreshments you are paying for. Check the rest of the small print though so you know what your cancellation rights are.
Confirm again
Call the venue a few days before your meeting and check that they have your reservation. There is nothing worse than arriving with all your attendees only to find that they lost your contract, have never heard of you and the room is now double booked.
Take your paperwork with you
Take a copy of the contract or confirmation email with you to the meeting venue, along with contact details of the person you booked the room with. That way, if you get a new member of staff on reception when you arrive, you can make their job easy for them and get into your meeting room more quickly.