How to Stage the Perfect Meeting

Sit right & listen well

If you work in an office, you probably spend a lot of time in meetings—between three and 20 hours per week, to be exact. You’ve probably also heard some of the familiar gripes. Meetings are long. They’re boring. They could have been an email. However an effective meeting can answer pressing questions, spark new ideas and foster team solidarity. The trick is to make sure your meeting is effective.

To host better meetings, you’ll need more than an icebreaker question and a clear agenda. You’ll also need the right kind of physical environment. A meeting room should put participants at ease with comfortable furniture, but also keep them alert with bright lighting and clear sound. It should also provide all the tools they need to give presentations, particularly if you want to include remote employees. To stage the perfect meeting, start with the perfect meeting room.

Meeting space essentials

Comfy furniture

Unless you want your staff to stand for all their meetings (and there are actually some reasons why you should), they need a place to sit. The chairs you provide can make or break their productivity. You’ll want the chairs to be as comfortable as possible, as employees should focus on the meeting agenda rather than their aching backs. However, “comfort” doesn’t mean the same thing in the office as it does at home. Plush, pillowy, oversized seats may lull your staff to sleep.

Instead, look for ergonomic office or conference room chairs. Ergonomic furniture encourages a neutral spine position, which helps employees sit up straight without exerting themselves. If your staff can sit comfortably and attentively for extended periods, they’ll be ready to contribute, even during longer meetings. Depending on the layout of your room, you may also want additional features—armrests, wheels, stackability—but back support is the key thing.

For more information on outfitting your workplace, read Office Furniture for Sale: The Owners Guide to Furnishing Their Workspace.

Natural lighting

While lighting is a vital component in your meeting room, the truth is that you may have limited control over it. Unless you’re willing to revamp your office’s lighting fixtures from scratch, your meeting room will probably have some overhead fluorescent lights and not much else. Still, you can make the most of what you have.

First, check to see whether you can dim your lights. If so, experiment with different lighting levels and see how your staff responds. If the lights are too dim, your employees may feel lethargic and unfocused. If the lights are too bright, your employees may feel distracted and uncomfortable. Start toward the middle and see what works best. If you have multiple lights, consider making them brighter near the person leading the meeting and dimmer elsewhere. That should help focus your staff’s attention.

If your meeting room has windows, use them to light the room as much as possible. Exposure to natural light makes can enhance your mood, reduce stress levels and even help you sleep better. Just remember that light from windows can also heat up a room, so make sure you have adequate ventilation or temperature controls before you start a meeting.

Check out Office Lighting: The Ultimate Guide to Perfecting Workspace Ambience to learn more about how to light your workspace.

Good acoustics

Your staff can’t have a productive meeting if they can’t hear what their coworkers are saying. Likewise, the rest of the office can’t finish their work if they have to listen to a dozen conversing colleagues. Improving a meeting room’s acoustics can be both simple and inexpensive. If the room is too loud or produces too many echoes, you can dampen the sound with curtains, rugs or other soft furniture. You can also install acoustic foam on walls or ceilings. On the other hand, if a room absorbs too much sound, you can remove some of these items—or you can set up a microphone and speaker system.

Smart seating layout

Most office meeting rooms have a similar layout: a conference table in the center surrounded by chairs. At the far end of the room, you may have a screen for presentations or video participants. This arrangement generally works, but it’s not right for every kind of meeting. For example: what if you’re in a brainstorming session, but the employees at opposite ends of the table have to shout to hear each other? Alternatively, what if someone has to give a presentation, but the employees near the front have to crane their necks to see the screen?

You can address most of these problems by simply moving chairs—but that means you’ll have to put some legwork in before every meeting. If employees need to brainstorm together, favor circular patterns and short distances between seats. If they need to watch a formal presentation, consider putting the chairs in rows and setting them at a middle distance from the screen.

However you arrange the room, make sure employees have enough space to maneuver between the chairs and tables. That way, if someone needs to step out, they can do so without disrupting the whole meeting.

To give your employees some extra incentive to attend, read What Are the Best Food Ideas for Work Meetings?

Integrated tech

While tech-free meetings are worth considering, you should still outfit your meeting room with communications technology. This is particularly true in the era of hybrid and remote work. Even if you institute a “no phones” rule, you’ll still need a way to see and hear your off-site colleagues.

Depending on the size of your room, you can use a flatscreen TV or an electronic projector with a fabric screen. With these, meeting participants can give electronic presentations or share visual aids. Remember that the speaker should still be at the center of attention. Everything onscreen should complement what they say, not overshadow it.

You’ll also want a combination microphone/speaker to place at the center of a conference table. This device makes it easy for everyone in the meeting room to communicate with remote participants. A webcam will allow people on the video feed to see you. Go for a model with high definition (HD) resolution: 720p or 1080p. Anything lower than that may look blurry, while anything higher may eat up a lot of bandwidth.

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Design your ideal meeting room with Walmart Business

Staging a perfect meeting requires the right equipment. You can find office furniture, lighting and technology to revamp your meeting space at Walmart Business. When you sign up for a free Walmart Business account, you can buy goods in bulk and see full order histories for both online and in-store purchases. You can also share the account among multiple coworkers and save your preferred payment options.

If you already have an account, upgrade to a Walmart Business+ membership. With it, you’ll get free shipping from Business.Walmart.com,¹ as well as free delivery from nearby Walmart stores on orders of $35 or more.² On orders of $250 or more, you’ll earn 2% back in Walmart Business Rewards.³ Altogether, your business could save more than $500 per year.⁴

¹ Excludes most Marketplace items, freight and certain location surcharges.

² Restrictions apply. 

³ Rewards can only be used toward future purchases on Walmart Business. Additional terms apply.

⁴ Savings based on 1 free $35+ delivery order vs. $9.95 fee and 1 free shipping order under $35 vs. $6.99 fee biweekly, plus 2% Walmart Business Rewards on monthly order >$250 (average value of $400).