Naming Your Conference Rooms in 4 Easy Steps

By
Johnny Duncan
·
June 7, 2018

Your team is growing and changing, and from time to time, your office space does too (it’s a beautiful day when you no longer commute to your founder’s garage). As a result, you’ll eventually find yourself with conference rooms that need names. And naming conference rooms is no small task; it has big impact on a company. The names become part of your company culture and part of the everyday lexicon of your team, which is a huge opportunity. It can be a way to remind your people, every day, of something your company believes in. And when was the last time you were inspired by a name like, “Room 101”?

Not only do these names help define culture, they help keep things running smoothly. Whether your space is large or small, team members need to know where to go to ensure meetings start on time, and memorable names help avoid people having to give embarrassingly vague directions to their desk mates.

While naming conference rooms is a tall order, you’ve got some help. We’ve put together this short guide for crafting conference room names that stick. We suggest assembling a task force of the creative people in the office, and locking yourselves in a room for a while to get the job done.

Step 1: Decide a direction

You will want a direction for the names, so they fulfill a specific purpose. This should be determined by the type of culture that exists in the office. Is the company fun, compassionate, caring, smart, or something else? Make sure the names match the culture of your team.

Step 2: Decide a theme

This is where things get creative. Themes can come from just about anywhere, but here are a few of our favorite:

  • Local/global geography: Famous mountain ranges, cities, vacation spots, etc. Make sure to stay on the same type of geography.
  • Something a founder or executive has notably said: One company we worked with was looking to do grow a lot, so much so that the founder said they should be the “monopoly player” in their space. When the company moved to a new office, the conference rooms became the properties from the board game Monopoly. “Meet me in Go to Jail.”
  • Your company’s values: the data firm Sprinklr used names like Honesty, Passion,  and Perseverance to keep the most important things on the team’s minds.
  • Mashups: Etsy famously mashed foods with musical groups to get names like: Soy Division, Little Kim Chi, and Slayer Cake.
  • On that note, don’t forget about those eye-rolling puns. Like a retail bank using names like: Lost Interest, Overdrawn, No Credit, and All a Loan.

Step 3: Turn your favorite themes into working ideas

Once you’ve had your whiteboard sessions and time to get all the ideas out, the next step is getting practical and making sure the ideas work with your space.

  • Keep in mind the total number of conference rooms: Make sure the theme scales to the office you have now and any additional conference rooms you could have in the future. If you have 12 conference rooms in your office and your theme is Clothing Steve Jobs Wore, you may run into trouble (turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers is about the end of your list).
  • Use the physical features of conference rooms to your advantage: Use the best names for the big and well-used rooms.
  • Name according to location: If your theme is 90’s Boy Bands, you may want the five connected conference rooms to be named: Justin, JC, Lance, Joey, and Chris.

Step 4: Send out a survey

Once you and your small group of creatives come up with the best working themes, send these around in a quick survey to get feedback from the whole office. This helps everyone feel some ownership of the names.

In short, make sure your conference rooms are memorable, help to navigate the office, and contribute to the kind of culture your company is looking to build. Now go get creative!

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