Conference Room Policy

[sisterg]

The conference rooms at my company are becoming a disaster!  Employees don't clean up after themselves, move equipment from room to room without returning it, or show up in a conference room without scheduling and won't leave when a scheduled meeting is to take place.  I have volunteered to set policy in writing on rules and regulations for conference room use.  Any input I can get from all of you would be very helpful. How do you handle scheduling, equipment set up, clean up, etc. for the conference rooms where you work?



We have 5 conference rooms of varying sizes in our building, and it's a one story complex housing approximately 100 office employees (excluding plant personnel who don't normally use the conference rooms).  We have an "open office" concept (a topic for future posting!) with very few real offices with doors.  So whenever anyone has a confidential issue to discuss, they head for a conference room.



All conference rooms are set up for scheduling on our e-mail system.  We also have a contact person (admin) assigned to the various rooms solely for scheduling assistance.  



What am I missing?  Maybe just getting everything in writing and out to all employees will help the situation.  Help!

[solargal]

I can't imagine someone leaving the conference room a mess after using it.  But it does take all kinds.  Before my manager has a meeting, I always go to the conference just to make sure it's cleaned up.  Then if it's not I do it.  I don't enjoy that but that's the way it is.  I don't know how you would change those clods who won't leave a conference room when someone has it already scheduled.  Maybe you should change the system - maybe a live person should do the scheduling (one person per conference room) like here in my office, although in our headquarters office they use the email system and it works fine.

[yankeestarbuck]

Our policy is each floor (4) has one person in charge.  Usually 2 conference rooms for a floor, but on our floor, one of the admins is in charge and a coworker and I back her up.  No meetings take place that aren't scheduled and we kick people out of they don't belong there and another meeting is supposed to start.  Several of the managers have enough room in their offices to have meetings there.  And since our conference rooms aren't as big as some might be, we help out cleaning up, all the admins, that is.  That never bothers me, cleaning up.  But if they're in there and not supposed to be, ask them to leave for the SCHEDULED meeting.  I say, one admin per conference room.  We use Outlook to schedule on separate calendars for the conference rooms and projectwide, several admins can check the room out for availability.  Weekly, one admin will put out the schedule of meetings and where they are being held.  I've had to kick some people out before, but usually it isn't a problem.

[countrigal]

We have one person who is responsible for assigning use of the most-used conference rooms, but they use a program that allows it to be posted to our intranet so anyone can view it to see if a room is availble.  Then we have to call and schedule to use it.  There are some other rooms used that don't fall under that person, but they each have a live person responsible for scheduling it.  And the policy we have states that you call to schedule a conference room. If you have one, you are responsible for both the set-up and clean-up, and if you are in a conference room which has been scheduled for another meeting you are required to leave.  Seems to work very well.  If you don't get pre-approval for a conference room, you get booted.  You call and schedule, you're guaranteed the room, and responsiblity for cleaning is on you and those in your meeting.



Good luck with your situation...

[goldenearring]

We leave a calendar at the front desk and people sign up for conference rooms as they need them.  If there is a conflict, they work it out with the other party or they make other arrangements.  Yankeestarbuck, you are a saint for picking up after some of these people.  I wouldn't do it.  Even our president picks up his own mess where I work.  Yeesh.  I think I'd hire Daisylee and her bazooka to whip some of these meeting attendees into shape!

[daisylee]

YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T WORK HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I have been doing this for over 6 years at our office, and I still get people that won't play by the scheduling rules....and clean up?  Why that's your JOB, isn't it Miss Daisy? (Keep order, yes, play Hazel, no!)  But whomever is the Office Manager should work with you to set up basic rules for conference room use, ie: if the room is not cleaned up after the last time it was used, that person can't book a conference room for X period of time. (Or whatever seems reasonable without causing WW3!) And those rules MUST be posted, and sent out in memo form to everyone!



But here's what we do to keep track of things...l book everything in my Lotus (Outlook works great too!) calendar.  I've named each conference room, and book it by name.  It's a first come, first served basis...squatters and rule breakers are either booted, or sent to another available room.  To keep track of what's required, I have a reservation form, and it MUST be filled out for any meeting that requires more that just a meeting place with a phone. I send it as an on line attachment in the reservation verification I send out from the calendar.  It ask for names of attendees, logistic and catering requirements, just about anything that you would need to know ahead of time to make a meeting run successfully.  I place it in a tickler file, with a little post-it tab with the date and description on it.  Then I have it for reference as the time grows nearer.  It works really well, and as long as you can get people to understand it's to THEIR benefit to fill out the form, there are no hassles. And you have back-up documentation if any problems arise. (Usually, it's something they left out)



The other thing I do is send out notification when I know the facility is heavily booked for a period of time, to let everyone know they need to be sure to BOOK a room.  That way it helps avoid the "I was here first" syndrome.



Don't hesitate to let me know if you need any more information.



Daisylee



Let me know if I can be of further assistance!



 

[sisterg]

Thanks to everyone for your good advice.  I have a meeting Wednesday to get this policy set up and in place.  I've decided to print out a daily schedule each morning for each conference room and post it outside the door.  That way employees will see when the room is booked.  If they slip in unscheduled and run over into a scheduled meeting, they can't plead ignorance and will get booted out.



 

[solargal]

That's an excellent idea about posting outside the door of who's reserved the conference rooms then there shouldn't be anymore hassles.  But there are people in this world who just think that the rules are for everyone else, except THEM!

[kab19]

I like all of these ideas above, I would just add that perhaps a janitor or facilities person could come and check that the conference room is left in good order after a meeting for the next person or group to use. Or perhaps the person who scheduled the meeting should be in charge of ensuring that it is left orderly and clean. Perhaps you could even go as far as making a post-conference checklist as to what should be done to tidy the room after a meeting.













 

[sisterg]

I haven't posted in awhile, but have been "lurking" several times a week since this original posting.  Thanks in part to your response to this post, today a written policy went out to all employees in my company from the Admin. Staff and I.S. Dept. regarding the rules and regulations for conference rooms.  So far, only one tiny complaint from a manager who didn't like the names of the conference rooms - something beyond my control.  They had their names before I came to this company.  I'll just ignore him unless he becomes a pest about it.



Thanks again for all your suggestions.  

[Katie G]

Did I hear that right? He didn't like...the NAMES of the conference rooms?  

Oh, boy, that's a good one.

Seriously, glad to hear that a workable solution was found.  Hopefully it's one less headache for you!

 

[jewels6567]

It just goes to show you that no matter what you do there will always be at least one person that feels the need to complain about something.  



I'm glad everything worked out for you.



Julie

[radaro]

Would you be able to post your conference room policies?  We have none and it shows!

[sisterg]

RadarO - What I did was issue a 7 page memo that contains a ton of detailed information.



Page 1 - introduced the policy and reasons for the policy



Pgs 2 & 3- list each conference room with the following info for each room: phone ext., contact person, their ext., seating, equipment available.



Page 4 - explains how to book each room on our email system



Page 5 - explains how to book our more elaborate a/v equipment on our email system (video projector, teleconference equipment)



Page 6 - gives particulars of all a/v and other equipment possibly needed for meetings, where it's located, how to reserve it, how to replenish supplies of dry erase markers, easel pads, etc., what to do when you're done with the equipment.



Page 7 - my personal favorite - Conference Room Etiquette, aka "Your Mother Doesn't Work Here So Clean Up After Yourself!"  (I didn't add the aka to the memo.  Some people have no sense of humor!)



RadarO - If you'd like more detail, I can send you an email.  Let me know.



 

[radaro]

Thanks, I think I could work from your outline.