What Is a Huddle Room and Does Your Office Need One?
What is a huddle room? A small meeting space for 2 to 6 people. Here is what a huddle room needs, what it costs and when your office should have one.
Chris Gore | Updated 2026
A huddle room is a small meeting space, usually built for 2 to 6 people, used for quick catch ups, short video calls and spontaneous conversations. It is the room most offices have too few of, and the room most likely to be over specified when it does get built. If you want to know what one actually costs, our huddle room AV setup cost guide has the numbers, and this article explains what goes into one and whether your office needs it.
What Is a Huddle Room Used For?
A huddle room exists for the meetings that do not deserve a boardroom. Two colleagues reviewing a document, a manager taking a call from a client, a small team stuck on a problem and wanting somewhere quiet. Most of these meetings are short and unplanned, which is exactly why they clog up bigger rooms when no huddle space is available. A boardroom booked for 2 people is a boardroom that is not available for the 12 people who actually need it.
What a Huddle Room Needs
A Display and a Video Bar
The core of a huddle room is a single display and an all in one video bar that combines the camera, microphones and speakers in one unit. At this size, everyone sits close to the equipment, so you do not need separate ceiling microphones or a complex control system. Our explainer on what a video bar is and whether you need one covers how they work and what to look for.
Easy Wireless Sharing
Nobody wants to hunt for a cable in a meeting that was meant to take 10 minutes. Wireless screen sharing, or a single USB connection to the video bar, lets anyone walk in, connect and start. The best test of a huddle room is whether a first time visitor can start a call without asking for help.
A Booking Panel Outside the Door
Small rooms get used constantly, and without a booking panel on the door people never know whether the space is free. A simple panel showing availability stops people interrupting meetings and helps you see how much the room is actually used.
How Many Huddle Rooms Does Your Office Need?
There is no fixed ratio, but most hybrid offices end up short of small rooms and long on large ones, because meeting rooms were designed around the way people worked before video calls became routine. Look at the booking data for your existing rooms. If most meetings have 2 to 4 attendees and are held in rooms built for 10, you need more huddle space. We cover the thinking in our guide on how many meeting rooms your office actually needs.
Common Huddle Room Mistakes
Specifying Equipment for a Bigger Room
The most common mistake is fitting a huddle room with equipment designed for a boardroom. A large camera, a control processor and ceiling microphones add cost and complexity without improving a call between 4 people sitting 2 metres from the screen. If you are weighing up compact camera options for a small space, our comparison of the Owl Labs Meeting Owl and the Logitech Rally Bar is a good place to begin.
Ignoring the Acoustics
Small rooms with glass walls and hard surfaces can sound terrible, and a good microphone cannot fix a room that echoes. A bit of soft furnishing or a few acoustic panels often makes more difference than upgrading the hardware.
Get a Price in 60 Seconds www.wearespor.com/av-pricing-estimator Find out what a huddle room would cost for your office before you speak to anyone. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a huddle room?
A huddle room is a small meeting space, usually for 2 to 6 people, designed for quick catch ups and short video calls. It normally has a display and an all in one video bar.
How big is a typical huddle room?
Most huddle rooms are built for 2 to 6 people, so they are much smaller than a standard meeting room. The exact floor area depends on your layout and furniture.
What equipment does a huddle room need?
A display, an all in one video bar, easy wireless or USB sharing and ideally a booking panel on the door. Separate ceiling microphones and control processors are rarely necessary.
Does every office need a huddle room?
Not every office, but most hybrid offices benefit from at least a few. If your large rooms are regularly booked for 2 to 4 people, you probably need more small spaces.
Can a huddle room be used for video calls with clients?
Yes, provided the audio and camera are good and the room is private. For important client calls, check the acoustics, because echo makes a small room sound worse than it looks.
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