Managing meeting rooms in a multi-site workplace

Meeting rooms: the challenges of booking across multiple sites

In a large multi-site organisation, meetings set the rhythm of the working day. Teams meet regularly to share information, move their projects forward or prepare important decisions. To organise these discussions, they need to book a meeting room that suits the number of participants and is available at the right time.

In some workplaces, meeting room booking still relies on manual, non-automated methods. Employees enter their meeting in a shared Excel file or write their booking on a paper sheet displayed next to the meeting rooms.

Teams then use a variety of tools to organise their meetings:

• An Excel file shared between several departments.
• A paper sheet displayed next to the meeting rooms.
• An internal board where everyone writes down their booking.

At first, this system seems to work. Employees check availability, note down their meeting and assume the meeting room is booked.

However, as the organisation grows and meetings become more frequent, this approach quickly shows its limits. In a multi-site workplace, many employees use the same spaces and need to coordinate their diaries.

Booking a meeting room then becomes a genuine organisational challenge.

A common scenario in multi-site organisations

Imagine a large company with several meeting rooms on the same floor. One Monday morning, several departments arrive at almost the same time to hold their meetings.

For example:

• A project team needs to hold a strategic review on the progress of a project.
• Another team is preparing an important presentation for a client.
• The human resources department is running a group interview.
• The board of directors also needs to meet.

All these departments head for the same meeting room.

Doubt soon creeps in. Each department is convinced it has booked the space for its meeting. Employees start checking the information entered in the Excel file or on the sheet displayed next to the meeting room.

Discussions begin in the corridor. Teams compare times, try to work out who booked the meeting room and attempt to find a solution.

The situation quickly becomes confusing. Some meetings have to be moved, while others start late as employees look for another available space.

Even in a multi-site organisation with several meeting rooms, this kind of situation can disrupt how the workplace is organised and make coordination between entities more difficult.

Meeting room booking: methods that are quickly outgrown

In a multi-site workplace, meeting spaces are shared by many teams. Employees need to be able to organise their meetings easily and quickly check whether a meeting room is available in their multi-site workplace.

In some multi-site organisations, booking still relies on non-automated tools such as a shared Excel spreadsheet or a paper sheet displayed next to the rooms. This kind of approach may seem adequate when there are only a few meetings in a multi-site workplace.

But when several departments use the same spaces, coordinating bookings becomes more complex.

The limits of booking meeting rooms in Excel

When meeting room booking in a multi-site workplace is managed in an Excel file or on a paper sheet, several problems can arise.

For example:

• Some meetings are moved without the file being updated.
• Several teams can enter a booking for the same time slot.
• Meeting room availability is difficult to check.
• Some rooms remain unused while others are overbooked.

These situations can cause confusion and make it harder to organise meetings in a multi-site workplace.

Why is meeting room visibility a challenge?

In a multi-site workplace, employees need to be able to see quickly which meeting rooms are available and suited to their needs.

When a meeting needs to be organised, teams must find a free space without wasting time. They also need to know whether the meeting room can accommodate the number of participants and whether it has the necessary equipment in the multi-site workplace.

The information needed about meeting rooms

To plan a meeting effectively in a multi-site workplace, teams need access to certain essential information:

• Which meeting rooms are available.
• The capacity of each room.
• The equipment available in the space.
• Which meetings are already scheduled.

When this information is not easily accessible in a multi-site workplace, operational teams spend more time checking bookings than preparing for their meeting.

How meeting rooms are used in a multi-site workplace

In a multi-site workplace, meeting rooms are used by different teams throughout the day. Some meetings last a few minutes, while others take up a space for several hours in the multi-site workplace.

Without clear visibility of room use in a multi-site workplace, it becomes difficult to understand how spaces are actually occupied. Some rooms may appear to be permanently booked when they are sometimes left empty.

Teams may then face several difficulties in the multi-site workplace:

• Some meeting rooms are booked but not actually used.
• Meetings are held in spaces that are too large or too small.
• Some meeting rooms are in high demand while others are underused.

Over time, these situations complicate the overall management of meeting rooms and make organising the multi-site workplace more difficult.

Teams then have to spend more time looking for an available space or rearranging their meetings.

When organising meetings across multiple sites becomes complex

When teams do not have a clear view of bookings, organising meetings can quickly become complicated.

In some situations, several employees may turn up at the same meeting room in the multi-site workplace, each believing they have booked it. They then have to check the available information and find a way to hold their meeting.

Disorganised meetings in a multi-site workplace

In this kind of context, stakeholders in a multi-site workplace may face several situations:

• Moving their meeting to another meeting room.
• Waiting for a space to become free.
• Adapting their meeting to a less suitable room.

These interruptions can slow down work and disrupt coordination between different departments.

In this context, improving meeting room management becomes a priority for many organisations.

Looking to organise meeting room booking better across your multi-site workplace? Would you like better visibility of space availability and use? Find out how to optimise the management of your meeting rooms and simplify their organisation. Book a meeting with our experts.