A Practical Guide To Designing Your Executive Meeting Room

1. A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DESIGNING YOUR EXECUTIVE MEETING ROOM HOW TO DETERMINE THE MAXIMUM SIZE FOR YOUR CONFERENCE ROOM TABLE To determine the size of a conference table for your meeting room, start with a list of the number of people you wish to seat in the room, the furniture that you want in the room, the dimensions of the room and of any built-in cabinets in it. The furniture required for a conference room are the meeting table and chairs to go around it. The optional furniture that you may want to include are a credenza, whiteboard cabinet, a cabinet, additional seating, and a large screen monitor. Following are the important design factors to consider. CLEARANCE AROUND THE TABLE Along Sides of Table: Provide a 3’ minimum clearance around the each of the long sides of a modern conference table. This space is needed for chairs and for ingress and egress by people to and from their seats. See drawing A1. Around Ends of Table: Provide a 4’ minimum clearance around each end of the conference table. This space is needed for ingress and egress on all sides of the conference table. It is also for space needed for a speaker at the front of the table to talk at the meeting. ADDITIONAL SPACE REQUIRED: If a credenza is to be placed along a side or end wall, leave 2 feet of additional space plus space for people to stand in front of the credenza. If additional space is needed at the front of the conference table for a speaker and/or table, add the appropriate space. Add additional clearance for doorways and space for door to swing open without interfering with the people or furniture in the conference room. If a whiteboard cabinet is added on one of the walls, allow ample space for the person in front of the whiteboard to stand and make a presentation.

2. For additional seating along a wall in the room, provide at least 3 feet for the depth of chair and person seated in front of the wall. ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONFERENCE ROOM TABLE DESIGNS: See Drawing A2 – a Conference Room design with a 10’ long Los Angeles Conference Table and 10 chairs from jazzyexpo.com for dimensions of a design with a 19’ x 12’-6” executive meeting room .Notice there is 5’ allocated for a presentation area, 4’ for ingress/egress to the other side of the meeting table, 4 ft in front of the credenza, and 3 ft for passageway on the other side of the table. (The math is easier if you convert all measurements to inches before you begin.) The credenza is placed near the door for easy servicing of refreshments on it, and easy accessibility to the guests when they enter the conference room. See Drawing B – a Conference Room design with a 16’ long Baltimore Boardroom Table containing a credenza and additional chairs placed along bother side walls of the conference room. There is 5+ ft allocated for a presentation area, 6+ ft for ingress/egress to the other side of the meeting table, 4+ ft in front of the credenza, and 3 ft for passageway between the table chairs and wall chairs on each side of the room. The math is easier if you convert all measurements to inches before you begin. The credenza is near the door for easy accessibility to people entering the conference room

3. See Drawing C – A meeting room design with a 10’ diameter Atlanta Round Conference Table from jazzyexpo.com. There is 3 ½’ minimum spacing around the table at its closest pint to the walls. The credenza is placed near the entry wall corner to take advantage of the open zone area of the wall thereby minimizing its interference with chairs, and provide a larger standing area for people in front of the credenza. HOW TO DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT CAN BE SEATED AT AN EXECUTIVE MEETING TABLE To determine how many people your meeting table can accommodate, 1st determine the length of your conference table, and then the width of the chairs at the table, the spacing that you’d like between chairs. Add 6” to the width of the chair (for spacing between chairs) and then divide that number into the length of the table in inches. This is the number of chairs that will fit along 1 side of the table. Multiply that number by 2 (fr both sides) and add 2 (for seating at the ends of the table) for the total number of chairs around the table. ADVANTAGES OF A BOAT SHAPED CONFERENCE TABLE A boat shaped meeting table provides these 3 advantages to a straight rectangular shaped conference table: conference table than a straight edge. 1. The curved sides of boat shaped tables with a slight radius provide a longer edge along the of people around the conference table. 2. The ends of the table are narrower than the center of the table for better ingress and egress speaking easier for people seated on the same side of the table. 3. The boat shaped curve on the sides of the conference table make viewing of a person