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Who Has the Room? How to Deal with Conference Room Scheduling Issues

28 August, 2019

Over 50% of meeting time is wasted. That's according to Paloma Cantero-Gomez, a writer on leadership and proactivity. She says we attend 61.8 meetings per month — meaning we need to get better at managing meetings.

Conference room scheduling issues can cost your company money and create an unhappy work environment. Here's how to fix this growing problem.

Conference room scheduling system

Conferencing room scheduling can be a headache. Making meetings productive can be tough enough without scheduling issues. And yet, there's a solution to these problems.

A conference or meeting room scheduling system can provide a central source for all the relevant information about meeting rooms and equipment. It can decentralize the booking process so people can schedule meetings, book rooms, and organize equipment. Calendars and email are also integrated.

Wherever you are, you can plan meetings or indeed cancel meetings and free up rooms. It's possible to have tablet-based equipment just outside a meeting room to check room availability and make last minute bookings.

Double-booked

A common scheduling issue is double-booking. This is when two groups of meeting attendees turn up at a room at the same time. Both think they have the room booked.

This kind of standoff is the kind of unnecessary organizational conflict that gets in the way of efficiency and good morale. It takes time to resolve, and meanwhile, two groups of people are being unproductive.

A room scheduler overcomes this problem by making room availability clear. Book a room, and it is now not available for others to book.

No-shows

If you've ever tried to book a room and found that there are no rooms available, it can be very frustrating to see an empty room at the very time you wanted it. No-shows are a frustratingly common room scheduling issue.

A room booking system can incorporate in-room check-in. This means that if someone does not confirm their meeting has started, say within 15 minutes of the scheduled start time, the booking is cancelled. This makes it available for anybody else to book.

A no-show report can identify repeat offenders. This encourages better room etiquette and improves room use.

Where are we meeting?

In some organizations you see people wandering around before a meeting asking where the meeting is being held. Time is wasted, and productivity is disrupted, as people find the meeting and file in after the meeting has started.

A meeting scheduling system allows everybody attending the meeting to be invited, prompted to participate in, and advised of the venue. The productivity improvements are very apparent.

Equipment woes

Most people get a little nervous before speaking in public. You rehearse your presentation carefully and prepare some informative slides. You're ready.

Then you discover that the meeting room does not have a projector so you can't show your slides. Somebody suggests everybody tries to view the slides on your small laptop screen. Your careful preparation dissolves into nerves and chaos as you start with an apology.

An inventory of equipment such as projectors, flip charts, and screens can be included in the information help about meeting rooms on a meeting scheduling system. Booking a room that has the right equipment then becomes straightforward, so you can avoid meeting room surprises later.

No more scheduling issues

With a good conference room scheduling system, employee productivity will increase and room utilization will be maximized.

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