We’re living in an increasingly technological age. That means many of the things we used to do or have, aren’t necessary anymore.
In the workplace, technology covers so many different aspects of day to day work. This was a blessing in some ways when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, as it meant that people could still remain in touch and continue to work, albeit it from home.
One thing which has been affected by the rise in technology is the old fashioned, sit down meeting.
Once upon a time, every single business had several meetings per week. These usually involved sitting around the boardroom chairs for an hour or even more at a time and discussing an issue. The problem is that meetings often go on for longer than they should and sometimes don’t yield results.
These days, we’re focusing on ways to cut down on unnecessary meetings and we’re also utilising technology, in the form of Zoom meetings. Video calls have been a true lifesaver during the pandemic but they’ve been in use for much longer than that. Remote workers often use video calls to take part in meetings.
So, this brings us to the question of whether we still need dedicated meeting rooms with boardroom furniture or whether they’re going to be obsolete in the near future.
What do you think?
Regular corporate office design has always included a space for discussion and collaboration. These are things we still need. But, perhaps we simply need to think more carefully about whether the meeting is necessary or whether it could be held in a different way.
The likelihood of meetings being totally obsolete is quite low. But, there is a chance that they will be less commonplace than they ever used to be. Businesses will still need a formal space to hold such discussions, although it could be a space that is flexible, e.g. a breakout space that is used for both collaboration and discussions whenever the need arises.
Whether you hold your meetings via Zoom or you have sit-down chats around the boardroom chairs, it’s unlikely that the meeting room is going to disappear completely but it may change as we move into an even more technological age.