What to Look for in a Conference Room Rental
Meetings, gatherings, and events may play a major role in your business. This means it’s important to find the right conference room rental. Read for details.
Whether you need to hold a special shareholder meeting, prepare a presentation, report to clients, or provide a pitch, there are always going to be times when having the right space to physically bring people together in a professional setting is going to matter. Even in the day and age of increasingly remote businesses and fully remote workspaces, some meetings are best held in person.
But it’s unreasonable to assume that every business that’s better off operating mostly remote will have access to a physical location appropriate for a corporate conference. Renting a space to use as your own seems like the natural thing to do – especially if you are building a company from scratch, starting with modest capital, no commercial space of your own, and a keen eye for cost efficiency.
There are rental spaces, and then there are rental spaces. Finding the right one for your meeting or conference is all about finding the common ground between what you need and what you can afford. Thankfully, short-term leases and rental options for corporate spaces have become plentiful in the age of modern coworking spaces.
Here’s what you will want to keep an eye on.
Accessible and Sensibly Priced
Accessibility matters. How far away is your potential venue from the nearest transport options? Nearby hotels? What potential parking spaces does the venue offer? If it doesn’t have a private parking space, is there a nearby parking building? Is it close to the city center? Is it in a business district?
Location is the alpha and omega of real estate, both commercial and residential. And while it might seem superficial to place value on an address alone, that too can matter depending on the kind of meeting or conference you are holding, and who is in attendance.
Aside from the location and accessibility of the venue, there’s also the simple matter of physical accessibility for the disabled. Are the elevators in working order? You wouldn’t want to host your meeting on a day that they happen to be under maintenance.
If there is a ramp and other accessibility options, but these are far from the meeting room or not obviously signposted, you will want to consider planning ahead with the proper signage and staff to guide attendees to the meeting room, provide a printed map to explain how to reach the right entrance to the building from the street, and give a basic layout of the inside of the venue to highlight the path to the elevators.
Financial accessibility matters as well. Your budget will determine what kind of conference room you can afford – and whether its specifications are going to be enough to host the meeting or conference you plan to hold.
Critical Amenities and Equipment
Is the meeting room equipped with everything you need for your conference or presentation? Do you have the proper video conferencing tools to host attendees that couldn’t physically make it? Is the projector in working order? Are all monitors working?
The last thing you want to take care of in the final few minutes before the meeting starts is a bunch of technical troubleshooting. Rehearse and make use of the equipment to double check that everything is fine, test the connection, make a few test calls to check connectivity and audio equipment, and so on. If it’s a longer event, you will want to see if you can arrange for catering or some snacks in the meeting room, or if there’s a restaurant nearby for a business dinner afterward.
A Supportive Staff
Staff behavior and willingness to communicate can be a sign of excellence or an immediate red flag, depending on how well you get along, and how certain operational challenges might be handled during the event.
Are the staff helpful and accommodating, providing signage for guests and adjusting the amenities to suit the event? Is the front office staff welcoming and professional? Rude or confrontational front office staff can give a poor first impression, both on the venue and you, as the person in charge of choosing the venue.
Privacy
Business events are likely going to be a private affair, especially if you plan to host a meeting with the owners of the company, any clients, shareholders, or even a potential new hire.
The last thing you want is for an employee’s first interview or a client consultation session to be overheard or hosted in the middle of a busy office floor. How isolated and private is this meeting room, and what kind of assurances do you have that you will not be overheard?
A Coworking Space for a Conference Room Rental?
You don’t have to rent out an entire office or restrict yourself to the same hotel and convention meeting rooms and conference halls that have occupied classified ads for decades.
Coworking spaces are commercial office spaces designed to appeal to modern startups and middle-level enterprises, providing a combination of the highest quality in amenities and an ambiance that matches up with the vibrant and exciting work culture of most modern lean startups.
Aside from by-the-hour room rentals, coworking spaces usually provide monthly rental options for companies in need of an office space to host clients, receive correspondence, or provide a professional environment for both onboarding and long-term work.
Hybrid and remote-focused companies can use coworking spaces as a low-cost, high value workspace option, without the financial and time investment needed to set up an office space of their own.
Coworking spaces have continued to grow in popularity over the last few years, and with the leap towards an increasingly remote landscape in the workspace, coworking spaces can be a tool that gives employers increased flexibility to offer a professional office, with all the amenities it bears, for new employees who might not have the means or preference to work from home.
Even businesses with office spaces of their own can benefit from coworking spaces in other cities and regions, allowing them to hire and onboard remote talent without hampering their productivity or efficiency, and while helping them become part of a greater team.