Meeting room reservation
A meeting room reservation is a period of time for which a room is booked, during which the meeting is considered “reserved.” This reservation is intended to minimize overlapping meetings, room squatters, and overrun meetings. In theory, other employees looking to book a room will open their scheduling platform and see that the room is booked. These employees will then book a different room, eliminating overlapping meetings.
However, this setup doesn’t account for ad-hoc meetings. Most room squatters are comprised of ad-hoc meetings taking over what appeared to be an available meeting room. With no obvious signage, the squatters take over. Their presence often delays the next meeting, as the team who reserved the meeting room waits for the squatters to clear out.
The theory behind meeting room reservations is sound, but is sometimes poorly executed. To smooth out the employee experience, many companies will invest in a meeting room management system with more transparency than an online scheduler. For example, the Joan wireless room display not only clearly shows each room’s agenda, but enables ad-hoc meetings to book a meeting room directly from the device’s touchscreen.
Especially when it comes to hybrid workplaces and flexible workspaces — the more transparency, the better. One of the best ways to improve the workplace is to facilitate a seamless office environment.