Perfect presentations

Every good conference room doubles up as an efficient presentation room too. After all, how can you make the perfect pitch without sufficient presentation office furniture? Boardroom tables alone won’t prepare you for a dragons den-like grilling.

You need to make sure that you are ready for the tough times around your conference table with high-quality presentation furniture pieces. These can ensure organisation and clarity for you during a difficult presentation, whilst also creating a more digestible experience for your critical audience.

Although boardroom tables are an essential component of conference rooms and indeed a top-quality presentation, we’ll start by looking at our office furniture that provides several possibilities for presentations; these can be found in our Audience range.

As the name hints, this office furniture range is entirely concerned with how your listeners receive your presentation. Although they can’t do the pitching for you, these pieces will showcase the visual data of your presentation in a very efficient manner. Click here to view our Audience selection where you will find wall-hung enclosures to encase whiteboards and flipcharts; these often make an appearance around boardroom tables. There are also units that stand on the floor to house computer equipment, and they very important plasma screen and projection screen.

Aside from the convenience offered by Audience, they also help to put a nervous presenter at ease. This is because they provide an alternative point for people to stare at during the presentation; their eyes will be drawn in another direction with the accompanying text and graphics that appear on the projection or plasma screen.

Our credenza range of office furniture is also a valuable solution to accompany boardroom tables. Maybe your business pitches involve a lot of material like mood boards, different design ideas, and other materials that can’t be projected as effectively digitally. The credenzas that we stock are a brilliant and beautifully crafted storage and display solutions.

Each of our credenzas can be entirely bespoke if you want. You could select a wooden veneer to match your boardroom tables and conference chairs. Furthermore, you can customise the size, number of doors and shelves, and even make the inside bespoke for items like fridges, cutlery, crockery, and computer hardware.

Of course you can’t have a great conference room without the very important centrepiece; the conference table. We have a wide selection of boardroom tables here at Panther Interiors. Here is a list of these kinds of office tables:

Hyform

Oxford

Apollo

Pegasus

Glide

Arkitek

Metra

Contact our office interior design professionals to gain further advice on the design of your conference room. Panther Interiors can help you to build an effective layout with many different pieces from our office furniture range.

Create your own boardroom at home

Nowadays, many people run business right from the comfort of their own home. Working from home means that to create a suitable home office environment, you need all of the office furniture essentials including: office desks, computer hardware and software, office chairs, office storage, and many other important items.

Despite all of the benefits that running your business from home have to offer, most of these business owners won’t get to or even consider having the luxury of special office areas like a reception area, boardroom, or even an official breakout room which is separate from your home life. These functional rooms will often get combined with ‘home’ rooms like the living room, dining room, and kitchen. This means that you’ll not get to experience the benefits that a boardroom table in particular has to offer.

Understandably, not everyone has the space for a boardroom which can be an important part of daily business. So, we have picked out a few of our boardroom tables that are small enough for a dedicated area of an existing room, or that will fit easily into the office room of the house.

This is the Pegasus 2 from our range of boardroom tables.

As you can see, it has a very convenient size together with an attractive oval shape that will blend nicely into most home office interiors. The surface of the Pegasus boardroom tables are made from 25mm MFC or real wood veneer to give that contemporary, smooth finish. This would also make a suitable office desk for anyone looking for one of these and a boardroom table, but who is on a budget.

If you don’t have much space in your office and you’re looking for an elegant addition to your dining or living room the slim, angled, highly-polished legs make Pegasus boardroom tables a great choice; however, not everyone has a contemporary home interior and this is why we’ve also highlighted our Oxford range. These are very simple designs, but ones that have been produced to a very high standard.

This Oxford 3 is an understated, square, timber table that would suit both modern and traditional home office interiors. Choose from oak, maple, walnut, ash, cherry, or beech for the Oxford 3’s solid legs and frame.

For a more minimalistic, ultra-modern finish, we have also selected our Arkitek 6 table.

Arkitek boardroom tables have beautiful glass tops which can either be frosted, white, clear, black, or blue. The table surface is greatly complimented by the polished frame available in either silver or chrome.

Arkitek tables are an excellent way to accentuate and polish up a tired, old home office interior.

Click here to view the rest of our boardroom tables.

Stay with boardroom tables: the disadvantages of virtual meetings

Virtual meetings are a popular choice for many companies now and who can blame them? Meeting in a virtual setting has many qualities that are difficult to ignore: convenience, no travelling, more time to work, reduced carbon footprint, comfort, and no requirement for office furniture like boardroom tables and conference chairs.

Virtual meetings, probably better known as video conferencing, are usually done in the format of online platforms like Skype. Whilst Skype is a great example, there are a number of other video conferencing tools out there that aren’t limited to a meeting between two people. The fact that meetings are frequently held between big groups of people has already highlighted a number of problems with virtual video communication. The following points will undoubtedly start to make those dull meetings around boardroom tables suddenly very appealing.

• A virtual conference can result in a lot of ineffective communication. A meeting like this between several people who aren’t actually sat next to each other means that they may be more likely to interrupt one another by accident, or ask questions at the same time. Either of these can sometimes be very awkward and are enough to put them off contributing to conferences again.

• Additionally, some employees may struggle with the unnatural feeling of virtual conferencing; especially if they’ve never done it before. Those who find it an uncomfortable means of communication and don’t like that they are being ‘filmed’ could result in a lack of engagement from them.

• Online meet-ups require an excellent internet connection and mean that you’ll also need to purchase reliable hardware, software, and sometimes you’ll have to spend time registering with company websites. These result in more outgoings, reduced storage space, time delays, and meetings which are continually halted by poor equipment and bad internet connection speeds.

• When you aren’t forced to sit around boardroom tables there can be loads of distractions to tempt you away from focusing on the meeting: checking emails, checking your mobile phone, and social media. Concentration is certainly reduced.

• Video conferencing for virtual meetings unfortunately eliminates vital personal contact which is an important factor in building strong business relationships. Furthermore, the impact of important visual and audio cues like body language, voice tone, and verbal noises are reduced. Particularly, body language is an essential method of human communication which gives off many unspoken indicators.

So whilst face-to-face meetings around boardroom tables have their multitude of disadvantages, they also have many benefits and stay clear of the problems we have just discussed. Here at Panther Interiors, we have a variety of office furniture pieces designed especially for meeting rooms including conference chairs, boardroom storage facilities, tables, and credenzas and presentation units.

Contact Panther Interiors for further information about our selection of furniture designs and styles.

Boardrooms in hotels

Boardrooms don’t just have to be limited to offices; they are also a common feature of many hotels too. In last week’s blog post, as a London office furniture company surrounded by hundreds of hotels, Panther Interiors explored the importance of reception desks for hotel reception areas.

Our range of office furniture also caters for the hospitality industry in many other ways too. In particular, our vast selection of boardroom furniture including boardroom tables can very quickly transform an unused room into a boardroom/conference room and can become a profitable addition to your list of hotel services.

A conference room with a high-quality boardroom table can be used for so many business activities. Often business meetings between a company and their clients won’t always be able to take place in the comfort of either of their own offices and instead, they will have to meet halfway in a hotel somewhere. Creating a boardroom in your hotel will make it more attractive these companies who are looking for somewhere to host important business activities like conferences, employee training days, client meetings, business proposals, and presentations.

It is important that your hotel boardroom looks just right as it has to be in-keeping with the overall interior design and branding of your hotel. The boardroom must also reflect how upmarket, mid-range, or affordable your hotel is whilst still looking professional no matter how cheap in price the rooms might be. All of these hotel characteristics will dictate the kinds of companies who want to use your boardroom facilities.

Let’s start with our Hyform boardroom tables. We believe that these would complement the conference rooms of top hotels that cater for those with a high budget. Made by British craftsmen, these bespoke boardroom tables are of a very high calibre with their real, rich wood veneers.

To accompany your Hyform boardroom tables we have other boardroom furniture pieces to match like this Audience credenza and presentation unit (above). These are extremely useful for conference rooms as they provide storage and valuable presentation options like boards, projector screens and even room for a television.

There can be long meetings and events in these rooms which can sometimes last for a whole working day or more. It is essential that a company doesn’t leave your hotel remarking about how uncomfortable they were and complaining of back ache. Avoid this by purchasing conference chairs with optimum comfort and practicality. For example, our ergonomic Rang conference chairs have soft padding together with similar padded arm rests. The metal stand which supports the chair means that it easily slides out from the table on carpeted surfaces. Click here to view more of our conference chairs.

Panther Interiors can provide you with further advice about boardroom design and help you to choose all of the right furniture for your hotel. Take a look at our previous blog post if you would like to find out more about our reception desks.

Boardroom tables that will encourage the best in your company to surface

Boardroom tables, conference chairs, storage units, credenzas, and not forgetting the water cooler. Whilst all of these are important elements of office furniture, here at Panther Interiors we believe that the table is the most crucial feature which demands careful consideration.

Not only is a boardroom table the centrepiece of a conference room, but they are also a hub of ideas, creativity, productivity, and most importantly the start of success for a lot of companies; however they can also be a very scary place for a lot of employees who don’t feel confident to voice their opinions in front of an intimidating ‘head of the table’, and this is something that should be remembered when purchasing conference tables.

Arguably, this hate for meetings may sometimes arise as a result of long, rectangular conference tables which can create a clear distinction between office hierarchy. Although rectangular shaped ones have their multitude of benefits, some companies may be better suited to office furniture which puts everyone in equally important positions and in a more conversational seating arrangement. (Yes, unfortunately even the smallest of factors, like the shape of furniture, could dictate the performance of your employees and thus, the success of your business; the Knights of the Round Table definitely got it right!).

Opting for a round design can encourage everyone in a meeting to feel on an equal level and potentially make individuals become more confident about showcasing their thoughts and ideas. Without a manager at the head of the table, less confident individuals may not feel as nervous and the meeting will flow like a conversation with everyone’s ideas bouncing off each other.

Here at Panther Interiors we like to make sure that we guide companies towards the most suitable option for them. We have picked out some of our favourite round boardroom tables to highlight just how beneficial a sociable design can be.

This is a high-quality large, circular Hyform table made from birdseye maple veneer and burr walnut which can seat up to twelve boardroom chairs; even with this many people in a meeting, this shape won’t let anyone feel left out.

In addition to this we also stock designs that are ideal for medium-sized business meetings. Also made from Maple veneer, this is one of our smaller Hyform tables which can seat eight conference chairs.

Do your meetings only ever consist of a few people? If so, then this small round office table will be perfect.

So make an investment in the performance of every one of your meetings, no matter how large or small, and make sure that you are choosing the correct table design.

If you would like more information about any of our office furniture, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Boardrooms needn’t be boring

It’s that time of year when the boardroom becomes a hive of activity as you set down to appraise the year’s progress. Whether, you are using the boardroom for a yearly review, AGM or for planning the last quarter, it is important that the room is not only functional but inspiring.

So in today’s blog we will consider the importance of boardroom furniture in setting the right tone for a meeting. We’ve all been in boardrooms that feel like school classrooms or worse still, hospital waiting rooms. Boardrooms can be dull, tired and austere places that appear to reflect the sluggishness and conservatism indicative of failing businesses. However, this needn’t be the case.

A boardroom should be the beating heart of your business; a dynamic and energising space that has the potential to inspire blue sky thinking. Therefore, this space needs to be bright, stimulating and aesthetically pleasing in order to put employees at ease and inspire their creative side.

All this considered, it is equally important to recognise that the boardroom is also a place of power. And should reflect power relations and reinforce management structures within your company. Therefore, boardroom furniture needs to be bold and brave, as well as stylish in order to put you in control during those tougher business meetings.

Likewise, a boardroom is the place where clients are received and as such, should feel warm and friendly. It is the face of your business; the front-of-house where image and presentation is all-important in securing contacts and breaking new deals.

The most important choice when it comes to boardroom furniture is the table. At the top end of our boardroom furniture sits the Hyform range of bespoke boardroom tables. These tables are made using the latest laser technology for precision fitting, then beautifully hand-finished by master craftsman.

If the Hyform is beyond your budget then the Oxford is a beautiful table with solid hardwood legs and inset chrome detailing. And for a more contemporary feel we have a wide range of veneer or glass tables including the Glide, Boston and Arkitek, which all have clean, stylish modernist lines. Glass table tops are made of 10mm tempered glass and bases have a high gloss chrome finish. Moreover, some of these tables also give you the option of table top power, data or AV outlets with cabling that feeds neatly into the leg posts.

Here at Panther Interiors we have a wide range of boardroom furniture to compliment your table including chairs, credenzas and presentation bureaus. So, whether you’re entertaining clients or want to create a more dynamic and inspiring environment for meetings we have a the right furniture to create exactly the right impression.

Planning the office party Part 1 – some suggestions from Panther Interiors

So it’s Christmas… again. And chances are you have an office Christmas party lined up in the next week. Office parties can vary in terms of venue and setting; some go to restaurants for team meals; others rent out hotel halls and have a big bash. However, there are some office parties that actually take place at work!

This is the way of things right now in order to save on expenses during hard economic times. Yes, this Christmas it’s very much about tightening the belts all over the UK. Offices in London are doing this more regularly with each passing year. So in today’s Panther Interiors blog we will be giving our best tips on how to throw a successful office-based Christmas party, which is in the opinion of many; the most important work-related social function of the year.

Remember, a Christmas party is management’s way of saying “thank you” to their employees for all their hard work and hopefully a motivating incentive to carry on working hard in the future. Believe it or not, but Christmas parties make a big difference to morale, team building/bonding and productivity. Most importantly of all however, is just making sure everyone has a great time!

Interesting fact worth noting – a Christmas party doesn’t have to be at Christmas. Some companies have their office parties in late November or early January. It’s becoming a common practice that helps to suit staff availability and reducing overall costs.

Whoever has been delegated as office ‘party planner’ will need to consider the following things:

Make a plan. This may sound obvious but writing down all the specifics of the event helps to form a comprehensive checklist. Ask yourself;

• What’s your budget?
• How many people will be attending?
• Will they be bringing guests?
• Will food be provided?
• Will there be party themes beyond Christmas ones?
• What will be the event date? (consider business hours if it takes place on a weekday)
• Will you be using the previous Christmas office party as a template or was that a wash-out?
  Do you want your Christmas party to be reflective of your business’ values?
• How casual or formal will the party be?
• Will there be a dress code?
• Do you want live music or will you be going for CD selections?
• Will you be using catering services to provide food?

These are essential questions to ask at the planning stages.

If the party is taking place in the office make sure you make the room and protect all the office interior furniture. We’re talking about wheeling away the office chairs and putting them along the sidelines whilst laying down some food & drink spreads on the office desks.  Depending on the preference of the party planner and management (taking into account office regulations, health & safety etc) will you be making the boardroom off-limits or will you make use of those boardroom tables and chairs? Will you be putting someone on the reception desk to greet people on the way in or will you simply have an open door policy?

Get a few hands together to help you set-up the office space with decorations and layouts. The more help the merrier. Of course, these ideas don’t only apply to Christmas parties but for any work-related do being thrown whether it be in winter or summer or the months in-between.

Office party planning tips will continue in Part 2 of this blog. In the meantime start making your preparations and write up that checklist!

Big business in the boardroom

Whatever your business, your boardroom furniture says a lot about you. Get it looking right and you’ll seal the deals – get it wrong and you will be looking at a lost opportunity.

Panther Interiors has extensive experience in creating boardrooms that reflect originality and are of the very highest quality. This sends the best message to your business associates and of course gives you something to be proud of.

The range of board rooms we offer is extensive and can range from a classical look through to something much more contemporary. So no matter what image you want to convey we are in a position to give you the choices you need.

In today’s blog we’ve decided to highlight some of our favourite designs and give you the very best sample from the Panther Interiors range.

No matter what kind of boardroom you like you should find your answer here!

Hyform

Our bespoke Hyform boardroom tables are beautifully crafted in the UK and in our opinion at least, offer the very best level of quality craftsmanship you will find on the market.

Using highly specialised laser technology, the Hyform boardroom range has a really stunning finish and with them being finished by hand, you can expect to send out a big message to business visitors at this table.

The wonderful thing about this boardroom range is that the veneers on offer are extensive and you can opt for stylish inlays or contrasting borders for the ultimate finish.  There are actually six standard veneer bases to choose from as well.

This particular range is also viewable at the Bedfordshire showroom, should you want to get up close and personal with one of our favourite boardroom tables!

Glide Glass

For the boardroom that caters for the more contemporary design look, the Glide Glass boardroom table is an excellent choice.

A clean, sharp and stylish design, the Glide Glass boardroom table smacks of sophistication and cool. It’s the kind of table you may well find in a media office or industry where ‘cool’ and ‘creative’ is essential.

The tops of these stunning boardroom tables are 10mm thick tempered glass. With a choice of clear glass or even coloured, you can opt for some twists on the standard look should you wish.

An additional benefit to the Glide Glass boardroom table is that it is made to order, so you can specify the size and design at your leisure.

Oxford

The Oxford boardroom table is actually sourced from the same manufacturer as our Hyform range and as you would expect offers the same level of quality and craftsmanship.

If you are looking for something that makes a statement without being brash, this is the boardroom table for you.

The Oxford boardroom table uses solid timber legs and frames in a variety of woods including oak, ash, maple, cherry, beech and walnut with a very contemporary rectangular top. Effectively giving you classic with a contemporary twist.

There is also a rather clever cableway within the leg meaning that unsightly cables and AV connections can be hidden away, giving a clutter free boardroom table when not in use.

If you are looking for a boardroom table and want quality, expert advice and help then contact us for more information.

Style Statements – Panther Interiors on the Red Office Look

Panther Interiors encourages people to make a statement and reinforce their brand with our ranges of quality office furniture. The variety and combinations are incredibly diverse, which is why we are continuing this series of Style Statement blogs to help you mix and match ideas to create or refine an unique look for your business’ interiors.

In the last blog on Style Statements we had a look at certain combinations of boardroom tables, reception desks, office desks, sofas and office chairs. You can view that blog here.

This blog will look at creating an office space from reception through to boardroom that keeps the same consistency of colour scheme and style running throughout to envelope the perfect working environment. It always depends on the image you wish to promote to clients and employees of course, but this week’s Style Statement is about being bright, bold and confident.

The “reserved look” is not an option.

“The Walk-in” aka Reception

The Sphera 1 defines vibrant reception desk design.

Reception desks with this kind of verve and aesthetic invention immediately spell out confidence and a sense of individuality to people who walk-in. The coloured glass counters make this highly engineered hi-tech reception desk range razor sharp in style.  Panther Interiors offers alternative colours for the reception desk panels but we think red says it best.

Sphera really is a striking range of reception desks which cannot fail to impress even the best.

The Barolo Chrome 1 chair set compliments the reception desk and waiting area with a consistent colour scheme and aesthetic vibrancy. These red leather chairs bring a warmth to the environment and define a welcoming atmosphere.

“The Central Hub” aka The Main Offices 

 Remember, you have opened with a strong reception area that is both boldly bright and welcoming, now you must continue this theme and try to recreate the same atmosphere for the main office itself.

Office sizes vary of course. Some are incredibly small spaces with barely any room to do much with, while others are sprawling halls that span multiple floors.

The red theme reoccurs with the Sona 1 range of chairs that provide a comfortable, adjustable experience for employees with arms rests and wheels for economy of movement. It’s the classic computer chair.

Match those Sona 1 chairs with these Actif 1 desks.  Actif 1 office desks come with a powder coated silver leg finish and 30mm black table tops. This creates the perfect Executive Office image. The Actif range has a comprehensive list of complimentary storage units and accessories that come in the red cherry style to match the chairs and reception desk area.

“The Bubble” aka The Boardroom

Boardroom tables can be elaborately designed or simplistically subtle. It depends on what you what atmosphere you want to create.

The boardroom is more often than not the most serious room in every office. When the board is in session and you need to combine aesthetic artistry with sober simplicity look no further than the Apollo 4 boardroom table.  This compliments the styles laced throughout the reception desk area and the main office without undermining the importance of a boardroom’s primary function.

And this Style Statement combination exemplifies a confident working environment that is great for employees and for visiting clients. Create the aesthetic you want for your business brand with Panther Interiors. Look out for the next Style Statement blog.

If you would like further advice or information on reception desks, boardroom tables or general office furniture please Contact Us.

Training Day Part 2

Training new staff for the job can require an investment of time, money and space in order to get them inducted in and learned up on the business. Training programs can last anywhere between several days to several weeks. If the business is particularly complex and the job role especially demanding, training can even run into months.

So what is the importance of a training room and how can it benefit your business in the long-term? Panther Interiors investigates…

A training room or facility is the certainly the backbone of your company. Without it there is no department where you can allow for expansion, recruitment and growth within your business. New staff members in training is a lot like a rites of passage for them and requires a degree of fostering and nurturing, which can be supplied through those who train them and the environments presented for learning and development. You want to create decision-making environments where motivation and productivity are the keys to effective training techniques.

Aside from the trainers themselves, a lot behind building the right environment for an effective training room is down to the choice of office furniture and its configuration. This has been proven to have a direct influence on productivity and concentration amongst trainees and employees in general. We’ve always thought that a training room should be reflective of the business’ conference rooms – i.e. it is like a gentle reproduction of the real office they shall be entering into without the intensity of the workplace itself. You want them to be able to feel comfortable in the early days!

You’ll want to browse for large boardroom tables that create an inclusive feeling for everybody in the room with comfortable conference chairs that ultimately save on enough space and allow for a decent number of people to fit in to.

Of course, creating a welcoming and warm yet professional atmosphere can be difficult without putting some real thought into it. Office interior design is both a science and an art form as we have come to learn here at Panther Interiors. It’s never as simple as throwing in a table and some chairs. This training room represents to these new employees your business at entry level. If you project the wrong image to them, they might not fancy sticking around for very long. We wish it was as simple as just chucking in some expansive boardroom tables and chairs, but it needs your attention if you take the training of staff seriously at all.

Our recommendations are the following;

The huge demand on a training room to be all things to all people is difficult to pull off. You want it to be as adept at catering for new employees, current staff members, training sessions, team building exercises, group meetings and presentations. Therefore, the room needs to big; big enough to adequately fit a couple of boardroom tables and office desks.

Furniture wise; the key is office furniture that offers a high degree of flexibility. It may be selecting chairs that offer the right degree of comfort and yet are stackable and easily moved, or selecting tables that can be easily reconfigured. It may be making provision for tomorrow’s needs.

Keep watching this blog space as we will be following up this particular blog with a Part 2 where we recommend the finest office furniture to use for training rooms that conjure up this atmosphere and environment we have been talking about.