Have you ever been to a meeting where the room is so cold your teeth are chattering louder than the speaker's voice? Or worse yet, you want to fan yourself with the meeting materials because the room is so hot?...
Have you ever been to a meeting where the room is so cold your teeth are chattering louder than the speaker's voice? Or worse yet, you want to fan yourself with the meeting materials because the room is so hot? How much do you remember about those meetings other than the temperature? There are many elements that comprise a successful meeting or event, but with even if every other element is amazing and perfectly executed, temperature can ruin the entire function.
I recently served as the wedding attendant for a bride who is a colleague and had planned her wedding down to the last detail. My job was simply to execute her plans on her wedding day. The wedding went off without a hitch and the reception room was gorgeous. During the wedding itself, my team was busy setting up the reception. We commented on the temperature, requested several times that the room be cooled down, and even kept the velour drapes covering the windows along both sides of the room drawn until just before guest arrival. We started our set up around 2pm and reception was not until 6pm. There was more than adequate time to cool that room down to 68 degrees or less before 300 people entered the room and temperature began to rise. However, the facility seemed uninterested in accommodating our requests. Since I had not signed the contract, I didn't have the authority to insist that the room be at 68 degrees, but one would think that a facility of this caliber would do everything possible to accommodate a guest who had spent a significant amount of money at their facility.
The end result was a hot venue, sweating guests, a wedding reception that probably didn't last as long as it should have because of room temperature, and a bride and groom who want their money for the room and the hours of open bar that no one used refunded. The facility will have to negotiate with the bride and groom and will have tales of a bad guest experience spread like wild fire all because they were unwilling to turn up the air during a June wedding. Guests may eventually forget, but the bride and groom will always remember how their reception was negatively impacted by room temperature. How ridiculous.
Likewise, a corporation can spend thousands of dollars on a great speaker, a wonderful business theatre environment, the costs of travel, accommodations, food and beverage, and lost productivity of each attendee and still not have a successful meeting. If the room temperature impedes or in some cases supersedes the speaker's message, it is valuable training and communication dollars down the drain. Again, the impact of a speaker's message is composed of many factors, but one that is key and easily controlled (especially in an indoor environment) is temperature.
What should the room temperature be? I thought you'd never ask. I generally request a room to be set at 68 degrees upon guest arrival. Perhaps in some instances for social functions with ladies in sun dresses, inch it up to 70 degrees, but never more than that. Put the temperature request in writing in the facility contract or banquet event order (BEO). The lower temperature will even out once guest enter the room and will make for a comfortable and receptive audience.
