The trend towards more open plan workspaces has led to a number of innovations, ranging from sit-stand meeting tables and high meeting tables, to work pods and meeting pods.

Lismark supplies the meeting pods and meeting room furniture Leicester businesses need to create contemporary, productivity-enhancing office interiors, with a mix of open-plan and private areas.

In this article we’ll take a look at meeting rooms vs meeting pods, the advantages of each, and how you can choose which is best suited to your needs.

What are meeting room pods?

Office meeting pods are an increasingly popular modern alternative to a traditional meeting room.

Instead of four solid walls, meeting pods are freestanding and self-contained, taking the form of a high-sided meeting booth or hut, with or without a roof or other canopy.

Meeting room pods can also include essential features like mounting brackets for TVs and digital displays, USB sockets for charging mobile devices and mains power sockets.

What is a meeting room?

The 21st century concept of a meeting room is not necessarily the cramped, dusty side room that rarely gets used.

In contemporary offices, meeting rooms provide a dynamic breakout space for informal chats, brainstorming sessions, interviews and training sessions, as well as a private place for confidential conversations to be held.

Meeting room furniture has evolved too and high meeting tables allow discussions to take place standing up, while sit-stand meeting tables can be easily adjusted to different heights.

This helps modern meeting room furniture to support dynamic discussions and debates, and is also good for reducing the risk of musculoskeletal problems caused by sitting in low chairs for long periods of time.

Benefits of office meeting pods

Meeting pods are a modern and flexible way to create enclosed seating areas for 1-8 people within an open plan workplace.

They offer the best of both worlds, with enough separation to discuss confidential subjects when necessary, but without the seclusion of being fully walled off from the rest of the office.

Meeting room pods can be used for individuals to work without distractions, for face-to-face meetings between two people, or for larger groups of four, six or eight people.

Pods are fast and easy to assemble – Lismark will take care of this for you as part of our delivery service. They can also be dismantled and moved if you outgrow your premises and need to relocate at a later date.

Benefits of meeting rooms

Meeting rooms have their own benefits – the most obvious being that they are a completely separate area where discussions can take place, literally behind closed doors.

Contemporary meeting room furniture combines seamlessly with light, airy interior design to make modern meeting rooms feel more like breakout rooms than the stuffy, formal cupboards they once were.

A closed door sends a clear ‘do not disturb’ message to those outside and can even be locked during high-value meetings that must not be broken up prematurely.

Meeting rooms or meeting pods?

When choosing between meeting rooms and meeting pods, it comes down to a combination of what you need from the space, how it will fit into your wider premises, and sometimes a simple question of personal preference.

If your premises already has side rooms, then equipping these with ergonomic meeting room furniture like sit-stand meeting tables is a good way to make use of your real estate.

However, if you’re furnishing a large open plan area, office meeting pods are a modern alternative that avoid more permanent construction work, while creating inspiring spaces for private conversations and collaboration.

Want to know more?

Lismark offers a wide range of office meeting pods in a variety of sizes and styles, as well as modern meeting room furniture including sit-stand meeting tables and high meeting tables.

Please contact us here or call 0116 251 7741 with any questions about any of our products, or to request a brochure of our complete range of contemporary office furniture.