Why Seating Matters in a Meeting Room

Sep 03

Ashley ChalmersTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows meeting ideas, meeting planner help, Trade Shows 3 Comments

Quick, what’s the best way to get the most seats in a meeting room?

Straight across, theater-style, right??

“Think again!,” says Dr. Paul O. Radde of The Thrival Institute, who has authored a new book, Seating Matters.

“The industry mindset is that straight rows maximize a room, but they don’t – they create dead space,” he says.

“Dead space is any excessive or wasted space in a room that could be excellent seating for participants, such as up front around the stage or down the center of the room. For example, the center aisle, the best seating space in the room, is not set for chairs.”

Radde recalls a meeting at a major hotel where he had arranged to have curved rows with all the seats facing the center of the stage. When he arrived for the event, however, he found that the hotel staff had lined up straight rows instead, believing that was the only way to fit 1,800 seats in the ballroom.

That evening, Radde worked with the staff to reset the room with curved rows and showed them how to fit not only the required minimum of 1,800 seats in the room, he easily had room for another 300 seats for a total of 2,100 – even with the fine tuning of widened aisles toward the back of the room to create adequate space for schmoozing.

Straight-row seating is problematic for Radde on several counts:

1.) It requires people seated facing the wall on the outside of front rows to turn in their seats and turn their heads up to 85 degrees to view the stage.

“Unless people are within the three seats closest to the aisle in the center of the room, they report discomfort within 15 minutes,” Radde says, “and this detracts energy and attention from their positive meeting experience.

2.) “You come all the way across country or the world to meet, network, and learn with your peers and colleagues,” Radde explains. “So you don’t want to be slotted into a straight row when with a little imagination you could be in a more interactive setting.”

Angled and curved row innovations allow people who cannot see each other in straight rows, to see and interact with each other across the entire room.

Seating Matters lays down five principles to troubleshoot and design state-of-the-art seating arrangements in any meeting room. These principles not only increase seating capacity but also reduce stress, promote networking, and enhance learning. More than 70 illustrations and photos give the reader accurate descriptions of innovative setups.

Replacing Rounds

Meal functions at rounds present yet another challenge addressed in Seating Matters. Round tables crowd the room, create huge dead space, and make it difficult for people to talk with colleagues seated directly across the table. They raise their voices to cover the distance, but soon give up and chat with the persons next to them. Then too, half the people at a full round are facing away from the speaker. Turning chairs around is a cumbersome option.

Radde suggests using rectangular tables with the short ends aimed at the stage, forming a room-wide “starburst” pattern. Participants sit on the long sides of the table with one person seated at the head of the table facing the stage. This creates a more intimate setting, allowing people to see and talk to each other and to see the stage without turning chairs around. Tables shaped like trapezoids can also be used to create this type of setting.

“Meetings are supposed to bring people together, but even before people arrive, the straight row seating arrangements have limited the potential interaction and dynamic of the meeting.” Radde declares.

“I hope planners and facilities will read my book and see how a little creativity and innovation with seating will vastly improve the meeting experience for their participants. Best of all, it costs nothing to do this, while creating more value for the meeting.”

The book Seating Matters is available at www.Thrival.com.