Lounge designs for the modern conference: the un-conference conference look

Mingle your way to closing deals in an environment designed for connection. The Business Casual look is about creating an inviting and unpretentious setting, enough for people to feel comfortable to lower their guards and connect. The happier the space, the better guests will feel. 

How to create lounge areas that encourage connection and, at the same time, feel professional?

When we think of the conferences of today, we think of mingling in a relaxed atmosphere, an environment inviting enough for attendees to feel comfortable and lower their guards and invite conversations. It's also about learning and sharing ideas and insights about the future. In modern conferences, aesthetics is part of the program. It creates the experience. It makes people want to stay longer, leave formality out of networking, and overall feel that it was time and money well spent.

That's what the un-conference look is here to do—a new approach to the traditional corporate summit or conference.

Designing lounge areas with Wood Pallet lounges: A casual and innovative look that's relevant and sustainable.

Each area within a conference has a clear purpose. For example, during speaking sessions, the goal can be to inspire, teach, and open people's minds in the audience. During breakout sessions, attendees want to recharge, catch up with emails, or connect and mingle. If you're planning a workshop, the main goal could be engagement. And happy hour is the time people can wine down and connect.

The event layout brings this purpose to life, and a great layout is the beginning of a successful event experience. 

Using our Pallet lounge collection, you can create almost any layout at your corporate summit or conference. In addition, you can choose from a few configurations that we designed with an attendee experience in mind.

Speaker sessions - casual, unstructured, and uplifting spaces to learn and expand the mind.

When designing a lounge for a speaker session, the most important thing to keep in mind is creating the room's flow around the entrance and the stage. Your attendees will face the stage and go in and out of the room. A good way to break the traditional mold in a speaker session is by replacing formal chairs with lounge furniture. Sure, you might still need to include chairs in your lounge due to hosting a large audience, but still, the main feeling in the room needs to be casual, free from structure, and as colorful and happy as the conference topic allows. 

You can achieve the look by adding lounge furniture at the front and center and scattering around chairs to add seat count.

When the group is smaller, you can create a big main lounge using the sofa configuration. Matching the cushion colors to the conference's colors can make the space look alive, uplifting, and well throughout, like a custom fabrication.

Breakout sessions - a break to recharge and mingle.

Choosing the correct configuration for a breakout session starts with the experience you'd like to create for your attendees; in the picture below, the multi-level lounge is designed to create a communal feel and encourage attendees to relax and enjoy their time between sessions. In this lounge, they can choose to sit or almost lay down.

Is the conference held in a city with warm weather? Maybe you'd like to design the lounges to chill and enjoy the sun between sessions. Or it might be that the venue has a stunning view, and you would like the lounge to face it and give attendees a dose of well-being.