There was a time when designing a lecture hall meant simply finding enough seats to fit in the room so students could passively listen to the professor, take notes, and occasionally look up at a visual aid. That time is long since gone thanks to today’s diverse learning and teaching styles. Designing the perfect lecture hall seating today takes some intuition and thought. Here are a few tips that might be helpful.

Keep the Classroom Style in Mind. You could go with a traditional classroom style, with the instructor at the front of the room and rows of seating moving back from that. You could also go with a banquet round style if you want students to interact with each other more than they focus on the presenter at the front. Another option is to go with theatre style seating, but like classroom style, you’re not going to get much interaction between presenters and students. The key here is to think about how much interaction is needed. In a lab-style class, it’s probably quite a bit. In a more traditional lecture presentation, the chances are good that it’s not much. Options like swivel or moveable seating can help out in this arena too.

Check the Fire Regulations. Your local fire regulations will tell you how many people you can place in each row as well as how many rows can go in each section, so take a look at that even before you contact your local seating company. In most cases, this number is around 20 people per row.

Think About Entrances and Exits. People are going to come and go from the lecture hall late. It’s just one of those things that happens. What’s more, though, is that it can be a real interrupter at times. If you make certain your seating is set up so the entrances and exits are near the back of your seating area, or at least off to the side, someone can slip in almost unnoticed without a problem.

Don’t Forget Obstructions. Support posts, speaker mounts, and more can create real obstructions for students in the room. Factor that in as you design the perfect seating.

Great lecture hall seating isn’t too difficult to achieve. Just make sure you factor in all of the aspects before you select seating that works for you.