Staff meetings can seem an inconvenience and a waste of time to many. Whilst they are often constructive and extremely necessary, the form that they take can often lead people to switch off before such a meeting has even started and therefore not only will morale be lower around such occasions, but the whole point of such meetings can be wasted.
Trying to find the right balance between being overly-rigid and too informal is extremely important, and there are many things that can help you find the right balance. First of all, staff will not respond well if they feel everything in a meeting is negative, so try to include positives as well to help keep morale as high as possible.
Injecting in humour where appropriate can be very helpful too as people are likely to be far more responsive if the right mood is created. Creating an atmosphere that puts staff at ease is going to be very important as if they feel able to get involved, it will be likely that the points you are raising will actually hit their mark.
Meeting furniture can be very important in this respect. The right meeting room tables should be versatile enough to create a space where everyone feels equally as involved. If anyone feels too exposed or too hidden, they will often find themselves not feeling comfortable in getting involved, or will lose interest in the proceedings quickly.
Meeting furniture should also be comfortable enough to ensure people don’t get restless, but not too comfortable that they start feeling too relaxed either, as no meeting will be successful with a bunch of sleeping staff.
So if you want to create the best meetings, you will need the right approach and the right meeting room furniture to keep the staff interested and involved as much as they should be.