Corporate Events Guide

Furniture for conferences, award dinners, product launches, AGMs, training days and team away-days. Layout options, chair selection and quantity planning.

Meeting and Conference Layouts

Theatre style

Rows of chairs facing a stage or screen, without tables. This offers the highest-density layout for a given floor area. Allow 0.5 sq m per person as a minimum; 0.65 sq m for comfortable spacing with aisle access. A 200-person conference in theatre style needs 200 chairs and roughly 130 sq m of usable floor space.

The padded conference chair excels for full-day seating, offering superior comfort compared to folding chairs or Eames-style alternatives. Its stackable design (up to 10 high) ensures efficient storage and rapid changeover between sessions.

Classroom style

Rows of tables with chairs behind them, all facing forward. This layout is ideal for training sessions, CPD days and presentations where delegates need to take notes or use laptops. Allow 1.0 to 1.2 sq m per person. A 6ft rectangular banqueting table seats three per side on classroom rows, meaning 50 delegates would require approximately 17 tables.

Boardroom style

One large table with seating on all sides. Commonly used for AGMs, board meetings and executive briefings. Our oval banqueting tables create a single surface for up to 12–14 delegates. For larger groups, several 6ft rectangular tables can be joined end-to-end. Allow approximately 0.75m of table edge per person for comfort.

Dining and Award Dinners

Seated dinners typically utilise round tables to facilitate conversation across the table and allow ample room for service from all sides. A 5ft round table (152cm diameter) comfortably seats 8 guests; a 6ft round (183cm) seats 10.

Networking and Standing Receptions

Standing receptions use poseur tables primarily as surfaces for drinks and plates, not for seating. For optimal functionality, allow one poseur table per 8–10 guests (e.g., 5–6 tables for 50 guests, 10–12 for 100). Standing at 110cm, poseur tables can be used independently or paired with bar stools for added versatility.

At receptions preceding a seated dinner, it's advisable to clear the poseur tables from the main dining area before guests sit. Instead, they can be strategically placed in the foyer or adjacent breakout spaces for post-dinner networking.

Chair Selection by Event Type

Brand Alignment

Event agencies and in-house corporate teams frequently leverage chair colour as an integral part of event design. The Eames chair range offers a broad spectrum including black, blue, green, grey, orange, red, and white. The Eiffel armchair is available in black, blue, grey, red, and white.

For a refined aesthetic, a single, consistently used chair colour is the most reliable approach. While two-colour mixing (e.g., black Eames chairs at guest tables with white Chiavari at a top table) can be effective, it requires strict adherence to the same scheme across every table in the room to avoid appearing accidental or inconsistent.

See the Colour Selection Guide for detailed insights on which colours suit various event contexts, and expert advice on ordering samples before committing to volume.

Volume and Pricing

Corporate events typically cater for 50 to 500 attendees. To provide an indication of scale, a 200-person theatre-style conference using our conference chairs would typically cost around £6,800 at standard pricing. Similarly, a 100-person award dinner, furnished with 6ft round tables and elegant White Chiavari chairs, would be approximately £8,200 for tables and chairs. Please note, bulk pricing significantly reduces these figures.

Trade accounts are available for event agencies, venues and organisations that buy regularly. Bulk order pricing applies from 20 units on most lines.

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