Another clever presentation tool – the handheld, compact projector – also has been in use for some time, enabling professionals to carry their presentations with them practically wherever they go.

Now, there’s another tool coming to market that combines the touch capabilities of the smart board with the portability of a handheld projector. Whether the machine winds up revolutionizing how offices plan spaces and meeting rooms for presentations remains to be seen. The new device could be just another improved form of technology that, one day, allows touch-screen presentations to be made from smartphones. Or even smart watches.

The TouchPico from TouchJet, says Mashable, will run any Android app while projecting a nearly 7-foot image on any wall. The picture is strong enough to light up a room, and the unit comes with a custom stylus for enhanced presentation capabilities.

The stylus is not attached to the handheld unit, which looks as though it can fit into the palm of an adult’s hand. Instead, the stylus has an infrared switcher, which works in tandem with the projector’s infrared camera. As a result, presenters can interact with projected objects using gestures and taps.

The projector unit contains audio-out and HDMI ports. It also has a built-in WiFi system that can work with Android’s Screencast technology.

About the only thing the projector doesn’t yet do is run on its own power, much like a smartphone can. A standard AC power source keeps things humming.

The TouchJet, which is expected to retail for about $500, has launched an Indiegogo campaign for funding. With a little more than two weeks left, the campaign had brought in over 800% of the original goal of $55,000. Units are expected to ship sometime in October.

And then the presenters of the corporate world, as well as planners of office and meeting space, will have the opportunity to see whether the TouchJet is the game changer it portends to be.

The post Projecting a Touchscreen from Your Palm appeared first on Office Space Planners.

You’re still not sure whether you ought to take that one offer you just got, much less the two others that look like they could come through. And you may not entirely be ready to give up your current position.

Since you’ve confided in practically everyone you know, is now the time to discuss your career options with your boss? Would that person be more inclined to fight to keep you, or maybe just let you go your own way?

Experts say that deciding to tell your boss that you’re in the midst of a job search is, as might be imagined, a tricky enterprise. It can be helpful to consider a few main ideas.

First, take a look at you present situation and your present employee-boss relationship. It pays to evaluate this before the external offers start trickling in, because a supportive boss might find a way to keep you (by adding responsibilities, an improved job title or a raise), or pull a few strings to help you move to another department/position within the organization. Talking to a boss who’s hard to read can also be beneficial, because you have taken the time to involve them in the conversation early on. This allows for the possibility of collaboration and above-board communication.

If you’re unsure of your relationship with your manager, or already know that you two are on rocky ground, it’s probably best not to say anything about your intent to move on to other things. This doesn’t mean that you need to clam up, be secretive and do only the bare minimum around the office – in the hopes of blending into the background and escaping any out-of-the-ordinary attention. On the contrary, keep working at your best during the search. Doing so can only help you in the end.

Whatever you choose to do, be sure not to drop hints or reveal signs that you might be looking, much less leaving. Do any online research away from the office and take or make any calls on your personal cell phone, also while out of the office. And be careful about advertising your activities on social media.

However the new search works out, your manager will remember how you handled yourself and your responsibilities in the final days of employment. And so will your colleagues.

The post Office Politics and the Job Search appeared first on Office Space Planners.

One of the pitfalls of making the home-office conversion, however, is miscalculating what you will actually need when it comes to office furniture and equipment. And some of the problems that arise from making unwise decorating choices can serve up more than a design headache – they can make the home office feel uncomfortable and difficult to inhabit for extended periods of time.

Fortunately, those problems can be averted by taking a few minutes to consider a few ideas prior to moving furniture and equipment.

First, it’s somewhat natural to assume that because a certain piece of furniture – such as a hutch sitting on top of a desk – has attributes that appeal to both the home and office sides of things, that it will serve your home office perfectly well.

It might. Then again, such a bulky, though beautiful, item might also contribute to a sense of clutter. Depending on the design and finish of the unit, a large hutch over your desk might darken the room’s overall atmosphere.

One way to alleviate this problem is to compromise, spatially speaking. By removing the top part of the hutch-and-desk unit, the space can be opened up, light- and clutter-wise, while also preserving the homey design touch with the lower desk portion.

If need be, you could consider adding drawer units below the desk to make up for any lost storage space. With a little time and patience, you might even find drawer units that complement the desk’s design, which would help the overall harmony of the office space all the more.

And if you miss the elevated spaces that the hutch provided – such as built-in bookshelves – you can always add complementary shelving above the desk. Once again, this takes advantage of the hutch’s qualities without being overpowered by its bulk.

And consider adding elegant touches – simple wrapping paper or fabric can work under the right circumstances — to a desk or computer work area.

Your home office should be both functional and comfortable. By taking some of what works from certain furniture units, and augmenting it with other elements, you can take advantage of the best of both worlds, which allows you to be both productive and relaxed.

The post Uncluttering the Home Office, with Style appeared first on Office Space Planners.

Say hello to the standing desk, a unit – often equipped with electric controls for setting and adjusting work heights – that can accommodate changes in work height. And when the units are properly assembled and operated, some workers report that they come to prefer standing at their desks than sitting at them.

Some standing desks arrive unassembled. Most are easy enough to put together, though you will want to check to see if you’ve got all of the right tools before constructing your custom unit.

Another pre-assembly consideration is where the desk will be used. In order to offer enough stability and reliability, many standing desk units turn out to be heavier than expected. It only makes sense to assemble the unit in the area in which you expect to use it the most.

You might need to take a bit of time to figure out where, exactly, the unit should be parked. Your traditional desk space will likely continue to serve you well, so a standing unit probably isn’t a good idea as an immediate replacement. In shared workspaces, however, standing desks could replace or even complement meeting tables, not to mention common work areas that sometimes only serve as a repository for extraneous items like binders, samples and files.

Depending on the nature of your work (not to mention the moods of your colleagues), you may find that standing desks can become shared workspaces, with two or three users working at their laptops, possibly while also holding an impromptu meeting.

Do take care to check and adjust your posture, especially for the first few days. Take breaks as needed and shift your weight from one foot to the other, as well. And by continuing to augment your workday with traditional desk and meeting spaces, the standing desk will ultimately find its rightful place in your routine.

The post The Rise of Standing Desks appeared first on Office Space Planners.

One of the realities of the constantly evolving workplace is that hiring managers, no matter how expert and savvy, don’t always know what they need in terms of personnel. This doesn’t mean that hiring managers are clueless about their company’s needs; it’s just that, with needs and landscapes changing rapidly, they may not see a problem area arising before it is finally staring them directly in the face.

At that point, the first options that can come to the hiring manger’s mind are how to possibly reassign or juggle work responsibilities so that the salesperson who was tasked with doing digital marketing can drop the latter responsibility in order to focus on the new digital app that streamlines sales.

You get the idea: What are the changes within corporate culture and the marketplace that you might be able to serve, well before the need for finding someone to do so becomes apparent? Why not get ahead of the curve, show everyone you’re a go-getter and pitch the hiring manager on how you can specifically help an emerging situation?

Fair enough. Nothing to be harmed by making a professional, one-time comment. You may, however, need to follow up. When you do, consider the following:

It wouldn’t hurt to re-send the letter (and your resume, if you included one the first time), with the current date the only new piece of information. Hiring managers, like anyone else, can get sidetracked. If the initial pitch rung anything of a bell, an identical follow-up could be helpful.

Wait a couple of weeks and then try following up by email, if possible. You also might consider sending a message through a networking program such as LinkedIn, while seeing if you and the hiring manager know anyone in common who could facilitate communication. And then try making a phone call, not leaving a message but trying a few times until you get the hiring manager on the phone.

After all of that, you’ll be in a better position to offer to solve a company’s problems. And possibly be hired to do so.

The post Solving a Company’s Problems appeared first on Office Space Planners.

One way to stay on top of the moving jigsaw puzzle that is office space leasing is to consider hiring en expert to help provide advice as well as potential location targets that work for your company, you budget and your clients. Just because the space is right doesn’t always mean that it will work, particularly if locating within a certain neighborhood or geographical area is key to your bottom line.

Before picking up the phone and giving a few brokers a call, take a few minutes to consider how brokers work and what motivates them to suggest, pursue and close the right deal for you.

As much as brokers are in the customer service business, they are also in business for themselves. While the most professional brokers will always endeavor to keep your concerns at the top of their list of priorities, it’s important to remember that brokers often make their living by being paid a percentage of the overall value of any lease.

And going from “Yes, this is exactly what we’re looking for in an office!” to “Yes, the lease is negotiated, revised, signed, sealed and delivered!” can amount to much more work than typically meets the eye. The process can be as much work for a broker whether the total square footage covered by the lease is in the hundreds or thousands. Many brokers could be unwilling to help if you are downsizing to, say, a 500-s.f. space – if only because the time and costs involved make their involvement unwise.

On the other hand, no one stays abreast of business landlords like brokers do. By knowing that landscape thoroughly, a broker can help you navigate the waters to focus on those landlords whose business styles best complement your needs. This is probably one area where you don’t want to go it alone!

Brokers can also offer a creative approach to forging a favorable deal, operating on current knowledge and proven tactics to customize a lease. They could, for instance, attempt to structure any rent increases over timeframes that naturally work with your product cycle launches. And if your space needs dramatically change in a short period of time, a broker may be able to work with the landlord to get the space you want without having to explore expensive external options.

Rather than eye a broker’s commission as the sole metric for hiring one, consider what your specific needs might be, and proceed accordingly.

The post Using a Broker to Find Office Space appeared first on Office Space Planners.

New York-based developer Steve Witkoff was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal recently. Three years ago, he purchased a second-class office building overlooking the city’s famed Madison Square Park; now, Witkoff is on the verge of completing the building’s transformation into luxury condominiums. Looking back, he has some misgivings about his plans—“Tech firms have poured into this area,” Witkoff said. “I bet you today, we would have had a tough choice between a condo and an office building.”

Witkoff is far from alone—many developers are adjusting their strategies to accommodate the skyrocketing demand for space from tech and creative startups. New York’s older office buildings, which have long been a fertile ground for residential complex developers, are now being targeted by newer businesses.

The trend figures to continue, according to some experts. Cushman & Wakefield senior broker Josh Kuriloff is one of them: “The office market is starting to gain enough momentum in the next couple years where we’re going to see office market become a better value than residential conversion,” he said.

The city will have to strike a fine balance, meeting demands for more offices while still being able to accommodate the housing demands of a densely populated and ever-growing metropolis. And Kuriloff isn’t alone among those in the know—many are expecting the demand for offices to rise further in New York. “Ensuring that there is adequate office supply for growing industries is critical,” opined Thomas McKnight, executive vice president at New York’s Economic Development Corp. “At the same time, we want to make sure there are adequate housing opportunities.” And, as cheap Class B and Class C buildings are repurposed rapidly for non-office needs, the demand indeed will likely continue to surge.

Every company needs an office that caters to its own specific needs. Office Space Planners is the name you can trust for all of your office planning needs—with a track record of successful offices designed in all fifty U.S. states, we know what it takes to get the job done. Get a quote today!

The post Growing Demand for Office Space Faces Developers with Dilemma appeared first on Office Space Planners.

-First, know where you want the office to go. The available options will depend on the size of the room your office goes in. If space constraints may be an issue, it could be best to plant your office in the corner of your room—this will maximize the available workspace and allow you to quickly move from one desk or work station to another.

-Draw a floor plan and furniture plan for the room, to scale. Take exact measurements with a tape measure before following through with the plan—you don’t want to find out that your furniture won’t fit after you’ve already picked it out and bought it! Make sure to account for electrical outlets, windows, doors, etc.

-Arrange the furniture in your floor plan, accounting for traffic (are other people moving about in your building or home?), efficiency, and other factors. Bear in mind the natural flow of the room—are you going to face interruptions, block out features of the room, or encounter other design problems? Draw walking paths on your floor plan to avoid any such issues.

-Buy containers and systems to organize your space. Keeping clutter and mess down in your office is a very important task, and a simple one—systems of cubbies and bins can organize and hide cluttered supplies in a hurry. Make your office space look more put-together and professional this way, and keep the plan functional and accessible!

-Plan a place to leave notes, reminders, and critical documents. Whether a whiteboard, cork board, or just a drop box or folder, it is important to have a “priority” messaging area that grabs your attention and helps you keep tabs on your most pressing work. Place this in a spot that you look at frequently—on the wall above or on the door to your office area will do.

You can design a small office yourself. If you want to take on a bigger office planning challenge, look to the professionals at Office Space Planners for guidance!

The post How-To Guide: Planning a Personal Office Space appeared first on Office Space Planners.