Tips for Creating an Ideal Floor Plan to Host Virtual Meetings
Introduction
Before your next virtual meeting, it’s important to think about your conference room floor plan and AV tech layout. The last thing you want is poor sightlines and craned necks distracting your employees from having a productive meeting. A well-designed meeting room means everyone physically present can see everyone on the monitor and vice versa.
The monitor should be big enough and at the right level, the conference room table should be big enough for the room and the chairs around it should correspond properly with the table size. If you set up your meeting room effectively, your virtual meetings will be more productive and comfortable for everyone involved.
Tips to Create the Ideal Floor Plan
Table Size and Type
The table in your conference room should be no smaller than 10’ shorter than the room itself according to both width and length. So a 20’ by 15’ conference room should have a table that is 10’ by 5’ at least. If you have desks in your room, they should be in alternating rows or in a U shape so that everyone can see the front of the room clearly.
Seating
Here is a basic equation for determining how many chairs to put around your conference table:
((Table length / 30 inches) x 2) + 2
So, taking our 10’ table from the previous example:
120/30 = 4
4 x 2 = 8
8 + 2 = 10
So our 10’ table can comfortably fit 10 chairs around it.
Entrances and Passageways
Onscreen participants should not be able to view the entrance to the room so they aren’t distracted by any latecomers or other unexpected entrances. Similarly, there should be no reason anyone has to pass in front of the monitor to get in or out of the conference room. Ideally, people are seated so that if they need to leave the room for any reason, their walk to the exit is as short as possible.
Monitor Size and Placement
There is a fairly simple calculation that will help you determine what size monitor you need for your conference room and where to place it. First of all, you need to measure the distance from the display to the seat in the room that is farthest away. Let’s say your board room is 10’ long, and the person sitting farthest from the screen is 8’ away. Converting this into inches gives us 96”.
Next, divide that by 6 and get 16”. That’s the suggested height of the screen. A display with a height of 16” measures about 33” on the diagonal. This means that the monitor in your conference room should measure 33” on the diagonal so the person sitting farthest away (8’) can read a 24-point font on the screen. A 24-point font is the standard when presenting a PowerPoint on a monitor.
The monitor should be viewable from all angles so everyone on the screen can see everyone in the room and vice versa. Since you’ll want to place your camera at eye level (about 51” on center) for maximum comfort/visibility of the participants, the monitor should go just above the camera, give or take an inch.
If you have a room such as a classroom with U-shaped or theater seating, it’s good to put the camera slightly higher to capture as many participants as possible on camera. This would mean raising the monitor height as well, which, depending on ceiling height, might not be possible. If you need to put the camera on top of the monitor, make sure the monitor is no lower than the table height, aka 36″- 42″ off the ground.
Additionally, the monitor should not face a window or glass wall so that virtual participants are not distracted by activities outside the room.
If you’re interested in other ways to improve your virtual meetings, check out this post about how to improve productivity in your meeting space or this post about hybrid work environments.
How Haverford Can Help
Haverford Systems Integration has been an essential part of the greater Philadelphia community for over 30 years as the most experienced audiovisual installer around. A partnership with HSI is an investment in the local workforce and in the community. We have the fastest and highest quality service, and we always prioritize our customers above all else. Our quality installations of affordable collaboration technology enable companies to hold hybrid virtual/in-person meetings not just in the boardroom but in all kinds of meeting spaces.
If you’re in need of custom technology systems design, integration, installation, service, and support, you can’t go wrong with Haverford Systems Integration. Interested in learning more about the custom AV solutions we can provide you with? Book a meeting with us today.
