Come Together

Three Fun Ideas for Creating Collaborative Spaces

We recently attended NeoCon 2017 in Chicago. NeoCon is one of the largest gatherings of workplace experts in the world. It focuses on design and furniture trends that shape our workplaces. This is the third installment of our blog series dedicated to sharing those trends with you.

Teamwork makes the dream work, am I right? We’ve seen for a number of years the “open office” trend that involves lowering panel heights (or removing panels all together) and encouraging collaboration amongst employees. So now that more employees are collaborating and working together across departments and teams, companies are realizing that they frequently need to hold small, impromptu meetings throughout the day. In some offices, it’s difficult if not impossible to book a conference room on short notice. Now that everyone is sitting in an open office plan, we can’t exactly go into someone’s office and close the door when we need to work on a project. And, let’s face it, doesn’t a meeting always seem more boring when it’s held in a conference room?

Fear not, because we have a number of solutions to provide great, functional, and dare I say “fun” spaces for these types of meetings.  Izzy’s Nemo Trellis is an architectural element that can visually break up an open space to carve out an area for a small group meeting.

If you’re worried about your team getting too comfy under the Trellis and forgetting to come back to work, you can encourage small group meetings to take place standing up by employing a solution like the Izzy Nemo Bar. The Nemo Bar can be powered up in many different configurations, and like all Izzy products, comes in a wide variety of colors and finishes.

Izzy’s Nemo Bar and Trellis

If you aren’t looking to create a new collaborative space in your workplace, why not spruce up an existing space? A breakroom or cafeteria can be a perfect place to encourage your teams to meet. (We think supplying great coffee for your office encourages comraderie and increases productivity, but that’s a topic for another day.) Mayline and Safco offer a wide variety of breakroom table and seating options.

Safco’s ChaCha Table and Sassy stools

Mayline’s Bistro table and Escalate stools

And while we’re on the topic of updating existing spaces, have you considered using your own waiting area as a meeting hub for your teams? Indiana Furniture’s Britta Lounge collection is one way to do that, and it’s got that mid-century modern vibe that is on point this year.

Indiana’s Britta Lounge collection

The key to a great meeting space of any type is to make it comfortable and functional for the people who will be using it. If you like the idea of adding some impromptu meeting space to your workplace, please contact Rogards today to set up a consultative appointment with one of our account executives. They can lead you through a series of questions to help you select the product to fit your needs, your space, and your budget.

Here’s to working together!

Tonya