Conference Room

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Conference Rooms, Conference Facilities, Meeting Facilities, Meeting Room, Meeting Space, Event Space, Convention Center

Category

Concessions, Commercial Facilities, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the availability of conference facilities or meeting rooms

	Source	Description
1)	Scheiber	Seven human figures around a table
	ISO 7001	Five human figures around a table
	Tern	Five human figures around a table
2)	ÖNORM A 3011	Five human figures around a table
	Pierce	Three human figures around a table
	UoI	Four human figures around a table
	Zurich Airport	Five human figures at a table
	Aicher & Krampen	Six human figures at a table
	Aicher & Krampen	Four human figures at a table
	UIC 413	Six human figures at oval table
	CNIS	Four human figures at oval table
a)	Unknown	Side view of three human figures at table
	SIS	Side view of four human figures at table, one standing
	O'72	Four human figures at round table
3)	Scheiber	Five human figures at oval table
*)	Picto'grafics	Seven human figures from above, placed around invisible table
	beguima	Plan view of table surrounded by ten chairs
	Kapitzki	Six chairs, each in side view, next to plan view of table
	Kapitzki	Nine chairs, each in side view
	DTM Berlin	Human figure pointing towards rectangle, two human figures below
	HSSS	Human figure pointing towards diagram, three human figures below
	CNIS	Human figure at lectern, three human figures below
	BS 8501:2002	Six sitting human figures in rear view, human figure at lectern plus rectangle indicating screen
	DER	Human figure at table with microphone above three rows of seats
	Ecuador	Two human figures at table, audience indicated by four human figures and three dots above
	Slovenia 2015	Perspective view of three rows of human figures
b)	Simlinger	Side view of human figure at lectern, audience indicated by two human figures and dots above
*)	Unknown	Side view of three human figures in ascending arrangement, facing another human figure
*)	Unknown	Side view of three human figures facing another human figure
	SWISSTRAFFIC	Ellipsis with lines of four dots on each side
*)	Unknown	Rectangle surrounded by eight dots
*)	Unknown	Plan view of traditional class room furnishing
	BTA 1989	Oblique view of book stand or lectern

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a small selection of the wide variety of pictograms used all over the world to indicate the availability of conference facilities or meeting rooms. There are several general concepts and a multitude of visualizations. It seems there is no real single stereotype to express this message, and possibly the message 'Meeting Room' should be differentiated from 'Conference Facilities / Convention Center'.

A few studies present research covering several pictogram variants used to indicate the availability of conference facilities or meeting rooms. Even though these papers are from just one country, they offer some useful information:

In studies sponsored by the Austrian Railways and the Austrian Standards Institute (Brugger, 1995 a and 1995 b) ten pictograms of the table above were examined using the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure. Especially the variants marked with *) were judged as rather incomprehensable with mean and median estimation values below 20. Pictogram variants showing persons at or around a table reached highest judgement scores. Verbal comments of respondents indicated that some interpreted the pictogram labeled a) as people playing a card game or sitting at a gaming table, and that the design labeled b), which was provided for the test by Simlinger, elicited strong associations with 'Lecture', 'Lecture hall', and the like.

In a follow-up Comprehension Tests the three variants marked 1) to 3), all new designs drawn by Scheiber for this project, were examined (Brugger, 1995 c). While the variants marked 1) and 2) performed well, the pictogram marked 3) was misinterpreted as escalator by two thirds of the respondents due to the ambiguous portion of the oval table shown. The pictogram marked 2) and labeled as ÖNORM A 3011 elicited about 80 % correct responses.

Recommendations

Based on the test results known, we recommend the use of pictogram TS0790 Conference Facility / Room, an improved version of the corresponding public information symbols from ISO 7001 and ÖNORM A 3011, to indicate the availability of conference facilities or meeting rooms.

Furthermore we suggest to conduct studies comparing this symbol conforming ISO recommendations with concepts used in the pictograms available from Simlinger and the Chinese standard GB/T 10001, Public Information Graphical Symbols, labeled CNIS in the table above, also among persons who have already taken part in a conference, and to clarify whether the message 'Meeting Room' or 'Meeting Space' should be differentiated from 'Conference Facilities' or 'Event Space'.

Tests of pictograms of referent Conference Room

Brugger, Ch. (1995 a): ÖBB / ON Testserie 1995, Teil 1 Verständnisschätzungen nach ISO 9186. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways) dated January 1995, Vienna.

Brugger, Ch. (1995 b): ÖBB / ON Testserie 1995, Teil 2 Verständnisschätzungen nach ISO 9186. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways) dated February 1995, Vienna.

Brugger, Ch. (1995 c): Verständnistest 1995 - Im Auftrag der ÖBB und des ON - FNA 133. Vienna, November 1995.