4 Socially Distant Seating Layouts for Your Next Event

Becca Nunes

Author: Becca Nunes
Marketing Coordinator

AV Event Production

Jacksonville, FL

Coming into 2022, the world is working on finding its new normal. We all still know how important it is to keep social distance at the top of your mind when it comes to seating and floor plans at your next event. No matter your role, the safety of your guests is the number one priority and must go beyond doling out hand sanitizer and asking that everyone wear their masks.

We’ve created 4 socially distant room layouts to let you easily plan where your guests will sit, where the stage will be placed and how the flow of the event will look like.

1. Dinner Seating (Group Seating)

Staggered dining tables makes it easier to fit more attendees while still distancing each table by 6ft. With 8 seats at an 84-inch table, it allows you to seat guests who are from the same household or office together. This seating also allows the stage to be in view of all tables.

2. Cocktail (Networking) Hour

A great way to keep people socially distanced during a pre-event cocktail hour is by using furniture, draping and floral to your advantage. By strategically placing these furnishings, you can keep guests apart while also keeping the room from looking large and empty.

Making sure that your guests have access to multiple food and drink stations is important because is limits the amount of people gathering in a single area. Along the same lines, having multiple different seating options, allows for guests to stay spread out while still having the opportunity to walk around. The use of boxwood walls and different greenery, lets you place safety measures but in an eye-pleasing way.

3. Pod Seating for Conferences

If your venue has theatre style seating, consider a pod seating layout By having designated chairs marked off, it lets you seat your guests who came together, in their own ‘pod’ of seats. This seating layout is also very customizable to your needs. Whether you want ‘pods’ of threes, every other row non-seated or only two seats per ‘pod’, it’s easy to switch it up.

4. Soft Seating

Soft seating is a trend that we will be seeing a lot of this coming year. Depending on the nature of your event, this may be an option for a more relaxed feel while keeping guests spread out. Couches and accent chairs are spread alongside coffee and end tables. This seating style would be perfect for an end-of-the-year employee hybrid award ceremony.

These 4 seating layouts are only the beginning of what can be done at your next event venue. Our team of project managers will work one-on-one with you throughout the entirety of your event timeline to ensure that it is safe and extraordinary.

5. In-the-Round Seating

This style of seating first became popular for theaters in the late 1960s UK and Europe. It offers your guests a more intimate feel with your speaker and depending on your content, it may be the right move for your event.  

We’ve created two seating charts in this style option. If a dinner is being served, round 84in tables with 8 chairs each allows for easy dining and a good view of the speaker. If going the soft seating route, a semicircle of couches on either side of the stage lets the speaker engage with the audience more closely.  

Start Planning with Us Today!