Wheels on chairs? Who cares.
One of the things we like to talk about at Learnerfirst are our chairs. It’s not that they are super-duper high end ergonomic chairs. But we did put some thought into what makes a chair effective for adult learning. All aspects of the physical environment, and our virtual environments as well, affect our ability to learn. And since we spend the better part of the learning day seated in a chair, it's important that we consider the role it has to play in the learner experience.
Wheels on chairs, who cares.
We do. And so will your adult learners - especially early in the day when they are seated beside complete strangers. Imagine getting to a training session, sitting down, and all of a sudden there is someone right beside you, invading your personal space. You don’t want to be rude, but you need a bit of space - so you try to push back your chair and it doesn’t move. Instead you need to thump it around a bit to get it to move. It's obvious, intrusive and might be signaling to the learner sitting next to you that you are uncomfortable being so close.
It’s what you get at most hotel meeting rooms or conference spaces.
Now imagine that same scenario, but this time you swivel your chair towards the learner, while discreetly rolling your chair a bit further away as you say good morning to the person beside you. It’s a much better, friendly way to get some space.
That’s what happens when you have wheels on your chairs.
Lumbar Support
Have you ever experienced piercing pain shooting through the lower region of your back? If you have, you’ll know how difficult it is to focus on anything else. Sitting all day is difficult, and without the proper support and posture you start to really feel it in your back. That makes it tough to stay focused and engaged in learning.
Lumbar support prevents back pain because it properly aligns your muscles and spine. Overall, it reduces the tension in your lower back.
By choosing to use chairs that incorporate lumbar support we aim to help avoid the inevitable pain associated with sitting all day in order to help learners in our training space to stay alert and engaged with the learning program.
Adjustable Height And Arm Rests
No all learners are built the same. Yet so many hotel meeting spaces offer non-adjustable stacking chairs. That might be great for a short meeting, but what about an all day training session? Adult learners need to be comfortable in order to focus. That requires a seat that fits their physique, adjustable for their height, and with arm rests to lay their arms on while they listen to the facilitator. Think about that last point for a moment. Most training sessions combine lecture with practice, either alone or in groups. During those lecture periods what are you doing with your arms to stay comfortable? You can lean forward, elbows onto a desk —not the most comfortable over a long period. You can lean back in your seat and cross your arms — but that presents body language that says you are closed off, disconnected from the instructor. This is a universal gesture for almost any culture and situation that can be identified as something defensive or negative. Something as simple as having adjustable armrests will have an effect on the learner experience.
So why do most large hotel meeting rooms use stacking chairs?
The answer is simple — space. Larger, adjustable chairs take up more space. With the need to have flexible event set ups, chairs need to be stored when not in use. That storage space is at a premium, so meeting room centers use stacking chairs to save space.
But, it's not only a storage issue. Larger, more appropriate seating takes up more meeting space. That means less people in the room. And since most hotels make their money off of catering and guest rooms, more people equals more money. It's one of the reasons that you have to take a meeting room’s advertised capacity with a grain of salt.
At Learnerfirst Learning Studio we’ve made the choice to bring in adjustable, comfortable chairs. Sure, it means turning away some of the larger meetings, but when your entire mission is to be hyper focused on the learner experience, that is just what you do.
So the next time you are calling around, looking for a meeting room ask these three questions:
Do your chairs have wheels?
Do they have lumbar support?
Do they have adjustable heights and armrests?
If the answer to any of the above is no, then keep looking. Your learners will thank you for it.