Furniture

Conference Room Furniture: Multi-Tasking is a Must
Don't blame the creative minds behind today's conference room furniture if they feel a little like John McCain or Barack Obama's campaign managers. Just as those political operatives face the challenge of guiding their candidates' runs so they appeals to both party centrists and swing voters without alienating one or the other, so too must today's conference room furniture designers craft offerings that appeal to an ever-increasing range of uses and users.

From information training sessions to formal presentations, classroom settings, and traditional meetings, today's conference rooms are ever-evolving spaces that require furniture that's flexible and functional. It's not merely enough to have a nice looking table and sleek set of chairs: each piece of furniture must work harder to enhance collaboration across a range of mediums.

Can a table, for example, serve as a training room solution in the morning and then be brought together to form an elegant boardroom table in the afternoon? What's more, can it be done without looking like a bunch of training tables ganged together? Adjustable and reconfigurable table bases are on the minds of many manufacturers, and the wish list for the future also includes scalability, rather than one-solution-meets-all-needs offerings.

Another must for today's conference room furniture are innovative ways of integrating and supporting today''s technological needs, whether it be power, data, voice, video, or wireless technology. How power is distributed has long been an important characteristic of conference room furniture and this concern is not going away any time soon. For example, just as the idea of the paperless office may actually end up producing more paper, wireless technology has yet to be completely, 100-percent wireless. Many bases, chargers, projectors, monitors and the like still require cords or power management of some sort and hand in hand with this concern comes accessibility issues. After all, no one wants to spend the first few minutes of a meeting crawling around under a table fumbling with cords or connections.

Another concern: comfort. Is the seating designed for long-term sitting or is it simply waiting room furniture repurposed for a conference room? Can the chairs be stored, stacked and moved easily by one person? Can the furniture handle groups of all sizes and shapes throughout the day, some of who may bring in food and beverage with them? Does the room address audible and visible distractions? Can you write, project, or hang materials on the vertical surfaces?