So you’re contemplating whether or not to have an in-office boardroom or simple rent out a hall for meetings. This is not an easy decision to make, and it’s not the kind of thing you can change your mind on after the fact. Hence the decision making process depends on certain factors that must be considered before you make any moves.
One thing to think about is how often you expect to be having meetings. There’s no point hiring out a conference hall if your company requires multiple meetings each month, it simply would be too expensive. In contrast, if you only need to have an annual shareholder meeting for example, you might as well forget the in-house boardroom.
Then there is the question of how many people you expect at your meetings. If you have tens of people attending, you may have to hire a conference room anyway. You could always have a smaller boardroom at your workplace for meetings that only require a few individuals. Select your boardroom tables carefully, of course, as space, shape, size, and material all make an impact on how meetings can turn out.
Equipment also has to factor into these choices. What are you likely to need for your meetings? Do you need high-tech gadgets or just a projector? It can be very expensive to keep renting out high-tech stuff, so it may make more sense to be cost effective and invest in your own equipment for your own boardroom. If your needs are not so great, projectors are affordable and most rented conference halls come equipped with them anyway. Audio-visual presentations, conference calls, and other such tech-related stuff will involve major costs if you don’t have your own equipment for long term use.
Next, what is the purpose of the meeting? This really matters because depending on the purpose, your seating arrangements, furniture, and equipment requirements will vary greatly. For example, for meetings where you don’t need to write or read anything, a theater style layout may be best. This is where seats are arranged in columns and rows facing a stage. If, instead, your meetings require a lot of interaction as well as audio-visual presentations, a U-shaped arrangement may be best. Boardroom style is ideal for, quite obviously, boardroom meetings, but rather pointless for larger groups and when audio-visuals are required.
There are plenty of places where you can rent out halls that are suited to various needs, from size to layout to equipment. So it would not be impossible to have all your needs met by renting. However, it is critical to consider the long term expenditure involved in these kinds of investments. It may be sensible to have a smaller boardroom in your office for general and frequent meetings, and rent spaces for larger and less frequent ones. Instead of exclusively relying on one or the other, you have the best of both worlds.