Meeting Room Etiquette

Meeting rooms are communal spaces that represent a fraternizing hub among co-workers. It even indicates a private space that’s given for employees and employers. There are certain unwritten rules with regards to meeting rooms that employees need to abide by if the space is to be maintained and utilized effectively by everyone.

Leave the meeting rooms cleaner than the way you found it.

A meeting room being a shared space that is being used by all, needs to be kept clean at all times. No one wants to clean up someone else’s mess. Clean up the room after the meeting before you leave the room. If you are scheduled to other priorities, then inform the facilities personnel to do the job for you. No matter what you do, never let another person clean the mess you just made.

Book your meeting rooms well in advance.

Barging into an unoccupied meeting room might be okay, but that doesn’t mean you have carte blanche to use it without a reservation. What are you going to do when someone else spends their time in booking the room and ending up to be rudely turned away by you when you haven’t even reserved the space ? Schedule your room in order to prevent sticky situations where you end up asking your co-workers to move their meetings just because you weren’t proactive enough in planning yours. In addition, if your meetings get cancelled, make sure you cancel the room you reserved immediately. This will ensure the availability of the room for other co-workers to reserve it for themselves.

Reserve sufficient time for your meetings.

Schedule sufficient time for your meeting to avoid being barged in by co-workers with the next reservation slot. Failing to do so, may result in a situation where there might not be a place available to extend your meeting, therefore leaving everyone in an extremely uncomfortable situation. Whether you nail all the talking points needed or not, evacuate the space when the slot of your meeting has ended. You will end up taking up your co-workers’ time by running your meeting into theirs and I assure you that they won’t appreciate it.

Ensure that you don’t double book meeting rooms.

This is usually an accident , but double check to make sure it isn’t a mistake you commit. Sometimes when we book meeting rooms we select every meeting room in the office in order to see which one is available at the required time. Then we forget to unselect the ones that we aren’t actually using. Now this results in a situation where nobody is able to book a meeting room because you accidently reserved rooms that you aren’t even using. Be considerate and double check after you reserve your room.

 Be accommodative.

If you have reserved a meeting room for two people which can actually accommodate 20, offer to move your meeting to a smaller space. Issues may arise at times and your co-worker might ask to use your conference room in an emergency situation. Understand the need of the situation and help out your peers when you can.

Ensure the doors remain closed.

The people who work around you don’t need to hear your conversation in the meeting room. Do them all a favor and close the door during the course of your meeting, In addition, any of your attendees who interrupt the meeting or barge in late for any reason should knock before entering the room. A closed door of a room indicates “Give us some privacy” and should be considered as a sign that you need to seek permission before entering the room.

Limit your food and drinks.

On a general note, its acceptable to bring your coffee, tea and water to a meeting and sip on it during the session. Anything beyond these common beverages tend to cause a distraction to the attendees of the meeting. In addition, be mindful when you sip the beverage you bring to the room and avoid loud sipping as it can draw all the attention towards you.

Put your phone away.

We are in a generation where our smartphones prioritizes amongst everything, it might even be an important business tool that you use throughout your day. Keep your phone out of sight during the course of a meeting. You don’t want to be distracted or even appear to be distracted while the others are speaking. Ensure you turn off the sound and put your phone in your pocket or bag. If your response to a phone call or a text message attains priority over the meeting, then try and leave the room as quietly and soon as possible.

Don’t get too comfortable.

You might end up getting lucky enough to have some plush and elegant chairs at your meeting rooms, be mindful and refrain from getting too comfortable during the meeting. Avoid leaning back on your chair or lowering the height so that you tend to look like a little kid. Always try to sit up straight towards the edge of the seat so that you look alert and active during the session. Nod your head and answer appropriately so that you are engaged in the conversation and ensure you are on eye level with the rest of the attendees at the table.

Ask questions throughout the meeting.

The last thing you want to do is save all your questions till the end and then throw out a barrage of ideas right when everyone thinks they are about to leave. This is a surefire way to make quick enemies of your co-workers and be the guy who caused the meeting to run over. If you have questions, be sure to raise them at an appropriate time and stay on topic