A meeting room can be a board room but a board room isn’t just any meeting room. If you would like to know what the differences are between a normal meeting room and a board room, then stick around. We have thought about this long and hard. A board room is tense, it’s serious and it’s only for a select few. A meeting room can be all of these things but a little bit more. Maybe this is why we often don’t see the need to install a boardroom in our own offices. This should hopefully change your mind.

Mics and no mics

Boardrooms have microphones in front of every member. This is because boardrooms are often large, with huge tables. With the air conditioning running and chatter around the room, it pays to have a microphone in front of you.

In meeting rooms, there is no microphone. Everyone has to be quiet, and let one person speak at a time. The tables are usually generic, not that special and they are pretty much the same around the building. 

Chairs and comfort

In a boardroom, there are executive chairs. The board might be sitting for several hours without budging. Lunch and even dinner might be brought into the room as it pays to keep everyone in the same place until serious issues are resolved.

For a meeting room, you will have simpler chairs but there may be more room for your legs as you won’t be always sitting at a table. 

Presentation tools

The boardrooms that Infassure builds have excellent presentation tools. Whether it’s a dropdown screen or perhaps a virtual whiteboard that can be used quickly to solve problems, zoom in on maps and generally help speed up things.

A meeting room might have a screen but it is generally going to be simpler. You may find that in a meeting room, a metal stand and A3 paper pads are used to convey messages and understand complex issues instead.

Privacy matters

Your average boardroom will have privacy. It will be accessible only to a select few people. It might have a password or special key, and it usually will have walls or glass that is opaque. Valuable things are being discussed and prying eyes are not welcome.

For a meeting room, it’s probably not going to be very private. It’s a room that could double as a lunchroom, or maybe where equipment is left and stored. Meeting rooms can sometimes share the same glass executive rooms use i.e. frosted.

Accessibility 

The c-suite, board, internal audit and the second line of defense i.e. risk, are the only teams to have access to the boardroom. It’s pretty easy to understand why, as sensitive reports are sent and received from this room.

Most people in the business have access to meeting rooms. These rooms might be in the middle of the office floor, only blocked off by glass panes. Everyone can come and go from these rooms.

Now that you know the difference, it should be clear the advantages of having a boardroom for your top teams.