Tips for choosing your boardroom office furniture

Many crucial decisions are made in the boardroom, so it’s vital to get the furniture right. Depending on the nature of your business, you might hold important director meetings, secure major contracts, or make vital decisions there. Guests may be major shareholders, new investors, new talent or suppliers.

To get the most of your boardroom office furniture, there are a few things to consider – from comfort and style to connectivity and acoustics. Here are some of our tips for styling your boardroom, to suit your company’s needs.

First thing you’ll need to do is decide regarding a style for your boardroom. If you’re a modern company, such as a creative design agency or start-up, you might want to try a contemporary or informal style that’s designed with presentations and collaborative gatherings in mind.

Be Bold!

Use brightly coloured Boardroom furniture paired with laminate tabletops to add a bit of fun, paired with Industrial-style partitions for the current look. Rounded, softer edged tables are also considered to be better for collaboration – an important consideration for a creative company.

Remember, the boardroom is often a focal room in the office, so be prepared to choose meeting furniture that makes a statement.

Examples:-

Private Equity Firm

Clean Energy Investment Company

Asset Management Company

Gold Mining Company

If you’re business requires a more classic approach, such as a law firm or finance company, a more traditional style boardroom might be right for you and your clients.

Plush leather seating and darker furniture creates a sophisticated and elegant look that is more synonymous with conventional businesses. Rectangular, barrel shaped, or square tables also provide a more formal look for your boardroom. Veneers with special cuts, intricate laying patterns and even feature inlays, enhance the aesthetics.

Whatever you choose will need to dovetail with your company’s personality and ethos.

Examples: -

Financial IT Consultancy

Global Investment Firm

Private Wealth Management Company

With long meetings taking place in the boardroom, it’s important to consider comfort. Soft and supportive meeting chairs are a must to keep everyone comfortable and focused while making important company decisions. Flexibility of movement in the chair is also an important consideration for longer meetings.

The lighting will also be a factor in your boardroom furniture choice. Make sure you utilise any natural light, reduce any chances of irritating glare, and provide different options including the light levels in the room for focus and dim the lights for on screen presentations.

It is important that visitors feel comfortable when attending important meetings of course, but not so relaxed that they ‘sleep’ through important decisions!

Ensuring excellent connectivity in your boardroom is vital for meetings to run smoothly, especially in front of clients or other visitors.

Utilising tables with all the audio-visual connections integrated is a great way to avoid faffing around with unsightly trailing cables when presenting. Wireless options allow users to connect without the need for cabling, however microphones, conference phones and touch pad connections will still require integration into the table for a seamless experience.

It might not be commonplace to use your boardroom for video calls, but it should be an option, especially when it comes to speakers and microphones. Some larger systems will require kit housed within furniture items within the room, so this will need to be factored into the design, especially as ventilation will often be required for the equipment.

With important discussions taking place in the boardroom, you will want to get the acoustics right!

Whether you’re presenting to a large room full of people and you want to be heard clearly, having top level discussions that you don’t want to be overheard from outside, or want to reduce echo within the room during loudspeaker interactions, acoustics are important when choosing your boardroom design. Window treatments, fabric covered walls and HVAC sound attenuation, such as cross talk attenuators, should carefully be considered.

For example, noise bounces off hard surfaces, so make sure you combine some soft fabric upholstery along with the tables to help soften the acoustics and prevent echo.

Often, we include fabric covered acoustic panelling as a feature around the TV or acoustic ceiling rafts, to help reduce the reverberation.

Remember, the boardroom may be the only room apart from the reception that will give your clients, staff, investors, and shareholders a lasting impression, which may remain for a very long time!

Get in touch to discuss how we can help you furnish your boardroom with a style that reflects your company and works for your needs.