The Informal Meeting Room: The Future of Meetings

Informal Meeting Room vs. Traditional Meeting Room

More and more, we meet in restaurants, cafés, or cosy neighbourhood spots to discuss business. This trend reflects the evolution of traditional meeting environments.

There are, in essence, two types of meeting spaces: traditional rooms and informal ones. Traditional rooms are practical and professional, perfect for classic, structured, information-heavy meetings. But sometimes, a change of scenery is exactly what your teams need. This is where informal meeting rooms shine. Their originality, flexibility, and comfort create the perfect environment for talents to feel at ease and reveal their full potential.

What Is an Informal Meeting Room?

An unconventional workspace

An informal meeting room is an atypical space. Its layout, furniture, design, colour palette, and even the way the room is used all make it stand out. It’s designed with a different mindset, to work differently. A space carries meaning, and the way it is built shapes what will happen within it.

Whether you’re hosting a brainstorming session, a training workshop, a conference, a team meeting, a team-building activity, or any other corporate event, the informal room adapts to your needs. This versatility is exactly why these rooms are increasingly popular to privatise.

A room that goes beyond the meeting

A traditional meeting room serves one purpose: gather collaborators to exchange around a presentation or project. An informal room goes further. Of course, it supports presentations and conversations — but above all, it brings back the human element. These spaces spark imagination, encourage personal connections, and help teams rethink time and collaboration in ways that generate new ideas.

Why Choose an Informal Meeting Room?

• To break the routine

Revitalise your daily work rhythm with a fresh meeting experience. Spaces radiate energy — change the room, and you recharge the team. Motivation rises, and creativity flows.

• To strengthen the team and free conversations

Décor, layout, playful elements — informal rooms naturally spark conversation. Your teams feel relaxed, exchanges become more fluid, and every voice finds its place. These spaces are built for open dialogue and collective expression.

• To stimulate creativity

Most informal rooms have a theme. Searching for the right room is already inspiring!
Perfect for creative, design, or innovation-focused teams, these rooms turn colours, wall patterns, furniture, and playful details into catalysts for imagination. They’re pure inspiration labs where ideas come alive.

• To blend work and relaxation

We’re humans — and sometimes we simply need to loosen up. Especially at work.
Your collaborators will love gathering in a playful, welcoming environment. Every informal room has its own theme. In a sports-themed room, for instance, teams naturally start playing, challenging each other, and building real team spirit.

• To support employee wellbeing

Choosing a new meeting room is a strong signal: it shows you care about your teams’ wellbeing.
A dynamic, inspiring work environment keeps collaborators motivated and ready to reveal their talents — and happy teams create happy clients.

The Most Unusual Informal Meeting Rooms

What does an informal meeting room really look like?
Here are a few inspiring examples your teams will love: rooms with swings, beanbags, trampolines, ball pits, sofas, inflatable seating, even mini football fields… The trendiest, most original meeting rooms of the moment. You’ll definitely find the space of your dreams.

All these rooms are fully equipped: power outlets, high-tech sound systems, high-speed connection, free Wi-Fi, flip charts, projectors, whiteboards, screens… Perfect for hybrid meetings or video calls. Choose your room based on group size to ensure comfort and easy access for everyone. With their blend of comfort and originality, this might be the first meeting room you’ll never want to leave.

[Comfortable] The Tournesol Room – Château de Neuville-Bosc

Set up like an amphitheatre, this room is ideal for presentations. Participants sink into colourful cushions, often taking off their shoes to settle in like at home.
The atmosphere is soft, calm, almost cocoon-like — the velvet seating adds a gentle touch. Comfort guaranteed, both for presenting and participating.

[Timeless] The Ice Breaker Room – Learning Lab La Défense

The magic of this room lies in its simplicity: board games set out on tables. A return to basics.
The Ice Breaker creates the perfect setting to rebuild connections, clarify complex projects, or co-create new ones on strong foundations.
As its name suggests, it’s designed to break the ice, inspire teamwork, and spark group energy. The board games bring out spontaneous interactions — the kind that make you feel like a child again, just for the time of a meeting.

[Inspirational] La Mode Room – Châteauform’ Monceau Rio

Modular and bathed in daylight, the La Mode Room adapts instantly to your group’s needs.
Move from cluster discussions to a large group session in seconds.
Just like its interlocking tables, your ideas connect, merge, and grow — powering the success of your collaborative project.

[Uncommon] The Mochuelo Room – La Arena

The Mochuelo Room offers all the comfort of a traditional room… with a twist.
Sit back on a beanbag, focus on the screen, and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere that encourages every collaborator to speak freely.
Ideal for small groups and intimate, focused sessions.

[Perspective] The Swing Room – Châteauform’ Landhuis Marienheuvel

Give your projects a lift in the Swing Room — a space designed to quite literally take you higher.
Your feet leave the ground, you rock gently back and forth… and inspiration follows.
Perfect for stimulating creativity, fresh perspectives, and productive teamwork.

[Immersive] The Sports Room – Châteauform’ Schloss Krickenbeck

Bounce on a Swiss ball, shoot hoops, update the scoreboard… and have fun!
This room is tailor-made for energising teams, encouraging friendly competition, and reminding everyone that — above all — you’re a team.
Play together, think together!

And so many more…

There are countless spaces, themes, and ideas to help you work in a warm, convivial atmosphere. Need a large room? A small one? A turnkey package or a tailor-made setup? Explore all our informal meeting rooms available for private hire right here.

The Future of Meetings

Organising an informal meeting

A traditional room leads to a traditional meeting. But in an informal room, the meeting becomes informal — often relaxed, but always intentional.
Integrate activities, group work, playful elements, movement, creative challenges… Your imagination sets the boundaries.

Define your objectives, then choose the room that will bring out the best in your talents and serve your agenda.

Placing the human at the heart

• Transform everyday meetings by bringing in play, creativity, and innovation.
• Alternate between group work and breakout sessions.
• Experiment with new formats.
• In a sports-themed room, for instance, you might shoot hoops, each basket linked to a word or idea around the project.

Let the room become part of the method. Don’t forget breaks: informal conversations often bring the best ideas. Just like during sleep, the brain keeps generating insights, spontaneous and innovative.

Leaving an informal meeting

Your collaborators, and you, will walk out transformed. You’ll have enjoyed the moment, innovated like never before, and you’ll only want one thing: start again. An informal meeting reminds everyone how enjoyable work can be, and unites the team around shared goals and shared passion. You’ll arrive as colleagues and leave as a united team of talents speaking the same language.

End on a high note with an afterwork, a cocktail dinner, a buffet, or a gourmet break prepared with care by our Châteauform’ Chef — the perfect conclusion to a productive seminar or study day.