- How remote work has taken over
- The problem with solely virtual operations
- Why having a meeting room rental at the ready is so important
Q: My business is remote; what do I need a meeting room rental for?
A: A meeting room rental provides your business with a private and professional space that you can use for meetings with potential partners, investors, and even in-person training sessions. Alliance Virtual Offices provides meeting room rentals in every state that are equipped with onsite staff, fast Wi-Fi, and several other amenities.
Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a massive transition from traditional office work to remote operations. Many assumed that after Covid-19 had been handled, we would see these remote workers start to make their way back to the office.
This hasn’t been the case. Data scientists are projecting that 25% of all American professional jobs will be remote by the end of the year.
With the transition to remote work showing no signs of slowing down, many small business owners that have made the transition find themselves in a position where they have nowhere to handle presentations, training, or team meetings.
Thankfully, with this influx of new individuals working from home, we’ve seen more remote work solutions become available.
Meeting room rental is an example of one of these solutions. Because many remote businesses don’t require traditional office space, a meeting room rental can provide business owners with access to a professional space they can use for many of their collaborative needs.
Below, we’ll discuss how and why remote work took over, the issues you’ll face when trying to operate your business completely virtually, and why a meeting room rental is so beneficial to established entrepreneurs hoping to bolster their remote operations.
- How remote work has taken over
- The problem with solely virtual operations
- Why having a meeting room rental at the ready is so important
- Moving forward with your meeting room rental
How remote work has taken over
Although many are under the impression that remote work became popular due to the pandemic, people were making the transition long before we were forced to stay at home.
In 2019, more than 5% of the total US population was working remotely.
Despite remote work being on the rise for years, we wouldn’t be seeing the mass exodus from traditional workspaces that we’re seeing now without the pandemic.
Read more: How the internet and technology shaped Americans’ personal experiences amid COVID-19
Once we were forced inside and the majority of professional jobs became remote, workers and business owners alike were able to see just how much time and energy they’d been wasting on the logistics of their operations.
Additionally, after being driven to remote work, there was a global acceptance of remote work’s validity. Before the pandemic, significantly fewer companies enabled their employees to work at home en masse.
That is no longer the case.
People love efficiency. Eliminating long commutes and unnecessary office rentals is favorable to most and goes a long way toward making a business more efficient.
On top of the widespread acceptance of these new working conditions, there was a surge in the registration of small businesses that launched remotely during the pandemic. The first three quarters of 2020 saw a 23% spike in new small business registration.
As a result, there are now a plethora of innovative, competent businesses operating entirely remotely.
Not needing a traditional office saves a large sum of money, the elimination of a daily commute saves money and time, and remote operations are geared towards established entrepreneurs with a mind for expansion.
With these developments, it’s become professionally acceptable to operate remotely. What’s more, it has helped entrepreneurs reach new markets and invest more into their businesses.
The problem with solely virtual operations
Despite the public’s shift in perception regarding remote work, virtual meetings don’t have the same efficacy as face-to-face interactions in a professional meeting room rental.
Platforms like Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams allow employers to interact virtually with potential investors, employees, or partners. But for a small business meeting, these virtual interactions just don’t hold the same weight as an in-person conversation.
Read more: The Power Of In-Person As We Emerge From A Pandemic
Below, we’ve listed some of the biggest problems you’ll face while attempting to run a business that operates entirely online. We’ll also explore how a meeting room rental can help alleviate these potential issues:
- Difficulties with training
- Not as easy to form bonds with coworkers
- Online meetings lack ‘personality’
- Easier to succumb to burnout
- Hard to exude professionality over video chats
Difficulties with training
Most individuals are one of three kinds of learners. Either they learn by watching another individual complete a task, by listening to someone explain a task, or by completing the task themselves.
Depending on the task, individuals that learn best through sound won’t have too much difficulty with virtual training sessions. For those who learn best by watching someone else complete the task or by doing the task themselves, a virtual training session just isn’t going to cut it.
Additionally, virtual training sessions make it far easier for individuals to seem more equipped for the job than they are.
Utilizing a meeting room rental allows you to do hands-on training with potential employees. This means you can show them exactly how you’d like a task to be completed while simultaneously ensuring that they’re as qualified as they’ve claimed.
Not as easy to form bonds with coworkers
Not many people go to work to make friends, but employees working in an environment that fosters kinship between coworkers are far more likely to stay with the company that provides this.
That said, you don’t need a traditional office to provide this kind of bonding. To get employees well-acquainted with one another, a meeting room rental space can be used for team-building exercises or other employee bonding activities to help kickstart this kind of environment.
Online meetings lack ‘personality’
Although not all business owners find themselves in a position that requires them to find a partner, many entrepreneurs enjoy having another person to meet goals and split responsibilities. Similarly, if you’re looking for investors, it can be a more difficult task to get them interested in your business if you don’t meet in person.
With solely virtual operations, you’ll be meeting any of these potential partners or investors virtually, and while that isn’t inherently an issue, nothing beats the personality and depth of an in-person meeting.
A meeting room rental allows you to host meetings in a private and professional space without being forced to utilize busy coffee shops, expensive hotels, or other lower-quality settings.
Read more: How to Find a Business Partner – Don’t Miss These Crucial Tips
Easier to succumb to burnout
Concurrent with the transition to remote work, the American public has begun taking mental health far more seriously than ever before. While working from home provides innumerable benefits and is largely more productive than traditional office spaces ever were, working from the same place where you relax can take a toll on the mind.
With a meeting room rental, you have the option of working remotely from somewhere other than your home, which is often all you need to overcome burnout. Routines can be nice, but when your routine is forcing you to spend most of your time at home, any break in that routine is welcome.
Hard to exude professionality over video chats
Possibly the biggest downfall of virtual meetings is the difficulty with which you present yourself professionally. Meetings with potential partners or clients are tricky over Skype, and it’s much more difficult to sell yourself or your business when you’re trying to do so virtually.
With a conference room rental, you can host these meetings without the impersonality of an over-the-phone conversation.
In each of these negatives, a meeting room rental is a solution that provides entrepreneurs with a healthy way to balance their remote work operations and their base need for human interaction.
Below, we’ll take a look at why it’s so important to have a meeting room rental at the ready, and how you can procure one of these spaces yourself.
Why having a meeting room rental at the ready is so important
When you’re operating from your home office, a coffee shop, or a coworking space, you might find it difficult to host a professional, well-organized meeting. If you’re approached by a potential partner or investor who’s hoping to meet with you, where do you host them?
A meeting room rental is a critical piece of making your remote small business operate at full capacity. You’re given all of the savings, efficiency, and convenience of remote operations while still being able to interact with others face-to-face.
The act of making sure you have a small meeting room rental at your disposal is enough to alleviate stress and ensure that you never have to worry about the “where”. You’re free to operate remotely without sacrificing any of your professionalism or peace of mind.
What should you look for in a meeting room rental?
Not all meeting rooms are created equally. If the space you’re renting looks disheveled and doesn’t have onsite staff to help you with any potential issues you come across, then is it any better than a crowded coffee shop or overpriced hotel?
Here are three key aspects to keep in mind during your search for a high-quality meeting room rental:
- Cost
- Location
- Onsite staff
Cost
Meeting room rental rates are generally priced by the hour, half day, or day. When you’re searching for a rental, you’ll want to make sure you’re paying the right price for services.
That said, if you’re paying what you feel is too much but the meeting room rental has multiple locations, onsite staff, and is professional, you’re in a better spot than you would be if you were paying a more affordable price that doesn’t have those benefits.
Remember, you’re not paying meeting room rent for the entire year, just by the day.
Location
Because of the flexible renting style, you may want to use a meeting room rental service that provides several locations; perhaps even a service that has meeting rooms in every state.
Because remote work is so geared towards expansion, having a meeting room rental available in every state means that no matter where your business is taking you, you’ve got a professional space for in-person interactions.
Onsite staff
A professional and highly-qualified onsite staff is beneficial for several reasons. Not only are you able to have help with any issues you might come across when getting your meeting room rental set-up for presentations, but the presence of this staff lends to your business’s legitimacy.
If you’re using a space without an onsite staff, you have no one to call when you run into issues. There’s nothing worse than finding a technical problem and not knowing where to turn to have it ironed out.
Booking a meeting space
So, now that you know what kind of meeting room rental you’re looking for, how do you get set up?
Below, we’ve listed the steps you’ll need to take to reserve one of these spaces, so if you’ve ever searched “meeting room rental near me” then this guide is for you!
For this guide, we’re going to be booking a meeting room in Brooklyn, New York.
- Make your way to the Alliance Virtual Offices website.
- From here, scroll down and click on the tab that reads “book a meeting”.
- On this page, you will find a plethora of information and useful tips about the meeting room rentals available.
- Not only does Alliance Virtual Offices provide meeting room rentals in all 50 states, but they’ve also got global options available as well.
- After exploring the page, you can scroll down to see some of the most commonly used meeting rooms in the most popular states. To view the options in each state, click the “see all states” tab.
- Alternatively, if you’re looking for a meeting room rental in another country, click the “see all countries” tab.
- From here, you can easily click on any state to see what offerings are available
- Now, we will go ahead and click on New York
- Because New York is such a populated state, Alliance provides several conference room rentals and meeting rooms in numerous locations. For this guide, we’ll get a meeting room rental set up in Brooklyn
- After clicking through to the Brooklyn offerings, you will see a list of all the locations available in the area.
- For the guide, we will set up shop at the Court Street location in Brooklyn, NY
- Now that we’ve decided on an exact location to host our meeting, we just have to configure our meeting room options!
- First, you’ll need to set your date and time. If you want to be safe, make sure to give yourself a little bit more time than you feel is necessary. Meetings tend to run longer than expected, so it’s nice to have some wiggle room.
- Now, you will have to decide whether or not you’d like to rent an Office, Small Meeting Room, or Large Meeting Room.
- Keep in mind that each of these options comes with a suite of available amenities for you to use during your meeting. Use the option that caters precisely to your needs!
- After deciding on a time and picking a meeting room, click the “book now” button.
- And that’s it! After filling in your information, completing the payment, and receiving confirmation from the Alliance team, you have a meeting room rental available for use.
Although it might seem like many steps, the actual procedure is simple. Additionally, Alliance Virtual Offices’ website user interface is incredibly intuitive and will helpfully guide you through the process.
With meeting room rentals in every state, Alliance Virtual Offices has thousands of spaces for you to choose from. The onsite staff, fast Wi-Fi, variety of room options and sizes, and countless other amenities in all of these rooms makes it the best choice for finding a meeting room rental by a considerable margin.
Moving forward with your meeting room rental
Remote work has become widely accepted. Despite this, some meetings simply require the personal touch of a physical gathering.
As we continue to transition to larger work-from-home initiatives, many executives are frustrated with the change and are hoping to bring employees back to the office.
This disconnect between executives and employees is nothing new, but with meeting room rentals, you’re able to continue with your remote operations while still offering your employees a convenient space to hold meetings and training sessions.
Read more: Making sense of why executives are eager to get employees back in the office
Procuring a meeting room rental allows virtual business owners to continue their remote operations while retaining the professionalism and legitimacy of traditional workspaces.
Having a meeting room rental reserved means that no matter what, you have a place to take investors, potential partners, and employees.
Additionally, if the routine of working from home becomes too much to handle, you have a private space for you to use to get away from the house when necessary.
Further Reading
- Remote Work Is Here To Stay And Will Increase Into 2023, Experts Say
- How the internet and technology shaped Americans’ personal experiences amid COVID-19
- The Power Of In-Person As We Emerge From A Pandemic
- How to Find a Business Partner – Don’t Miss These Crucial Tips
- Making sense of why executives are eager to get employees back in the office
Alliance Virtual Offices provides established entrepreneurs and fledgling entrepreneurs alike with a multitude of virtual solutions for their remote operations. With meeting room rentals available in every state, Alliance is ready to guide your business to success, no matter where you’re located.
Additionally, Alliance’s virtual office plans offer reservable meeting places in the virtual office centers. This means that if you’re using one of Alliance’s virtual office plans, you’ve got a workable meeting room available for reservation whenever you need it.
Whether you’re already using one of our virtual offices or just hoping to use a meeting room rental, when necessary, we’ve got you covered.
With Alliance Virtual Offices, you can rest easy knowing you always have the space you need.
It doesn’t matter if you’re just getting started or hoping to expand your virtual operations, Alliance is ready to help you meet your goals and plan for the future.
Contact us today for more information about meeting room rentals, virtual offices, and several other virtual business solutions.
