Category: Uncategorized

What’s in a (Meeting Room) name?

meeting room 2

What do you call your meeting rooms? Do they have names? …or are they simply numbered “Meeting Room 1″, “Meeting Room 2“, and so forth?

Whatever naming (or numbering) convention you use, there will probably be some sensible logic behind it.

Our MIDAS booking software is used by organizations around the globe to manage countless meeting and conference rooms. It’s really easy within the software to change the names of your bookable rooms at any time.

So if you’re getting a little bored with mundane names for your rooms – if “Conference Room A” just isn’t cutting it any more, maybe it’s time for a refresh? …perhaps with a fun or humorous new name which will make users smile?

To give you some ideas, here are some funny, humorous, real examples that organizations have used to name their meeting rooms:

Google

Google is known for its quirky workplace culture, and they have various offices worldwide with creative meeting room names. For example, at Google’s Mountain View headquarters, you might find meeting rooms named after different desserts like “Cupcake“, “Donut“, and “Eclair“, as a nod to their Android operating system releases.

Facebook

Similar to Google, Facebook is also famous for its playful office environment. At Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, you’ll find meeting rooms named after popular board games like “Monopoly“, “Scrabble“, and “Risk“.

X / Twitter

Before Twitter became “X”, their headquarters in San Francisco has meeting rooms with names related to birds, reflecting the company’s then logo and theme. Examples include “Ostrich” “Hummingbird” and “Penguin“.

Airbnb

The vacation rental company Airbnb is known for its themed meeting rooms at its San Francisco headquarters. They have rooms named after different travel destinations, such as “Tokyo“, “Paris“, and “Rio“, adding to the company’s travel-inspired culture.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed, a digital media company, has meeting rooms with amusing names related to internet culture and memes. Examples include “Fail Whale“, “Cat Video“, and “Viral“.

Slack

Slack, the popular workplace communication platform, has fun and quirky meeting room names at its offices. Examples include “Llama Drama“, “Nerd Cave“, and “Corgi Corner“.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, also has creatively named meeting rooms at its offices. Examples include “Career Catapult“, “Networking Nook“, and “Connection Corner“.

Groupon

The online deals company, Groupon, gets creative with names like “The Fountain from Friends” (referencing the show’s iconic hangout spot), “Disappointment Beach” (perhaps for giving feedback sessions a lighter touch), and “Tiny House for Big Ideas“.

Etsy

The Etsy online marketplace for crafts and handmade goods uses playful food-music combos for their meeting rooms, like “Fleetwood Mac ‘n Cheese” and “Wu Tang Clams


These are just a few examples of organizations that have embraced humor and creativity in naming their meeting rooms, adding a touch of personality to their workplace environments.

If you’re feeling inspired to now do the same with your meeting rooms, it’s easy to change your room names in MIDAS.

Simply login (as an administrator) and go to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage Venues. On the Manage Venues screen, select the room you wish to rename, enter a new name for it and click “Save Changes”. Voila! Now your bookable space has an exciting and fun new name.

Now all there is to do is to get new name plates and signs made up for the actual doors themselves!

…or you could also consider our “Digital Signage” addon. This addon allows you to display upcoming bookings on display devices outside each of your rooms. If you update the name of a room within MIDAS, it will automatically be reflected on your digital signage screens!


Are Fax numbers still relevant in 2024?

In a previous article, we talked about the various default input fields included in MIDAS as standard. One of the standard client input fields is for their “Facsimile” number (more commonly know as their Fax number).

We’ve included Fax as a “standard” client field since we first started MIDAS over 17 years ago. But our previous article got us thinking…. are fax machines still a thing in 2024?

We’ll admit, here at MIDAS HQ, we can’t remember the last time we received a fax. In fact, we can’t recall ever having sent one either!

What is a Fax Machine?

Now, it occurs to us that some reading this article may never have come across a fax machine! (Yes, we’re showing our age!)

So, if you’re not familiar, a fax machine – short for “facsimile machine” – is a technology used for transmitting documents over a traditional telecommunication (phone) network. It allows the near-instantaneous reproduction of text and images (all be it at low resolution) at a distant location.

A Fax Machine
A Fax Machine

The History Of The Fax Machine

Early Conceptualization (19th Century):
The concept of transmitting images over long distances actually dates back to the 19th century. In 1843, Scottish inventor Alexander Bain received a patent for his idea of a “Copying Telegraph” that could transmit images using a series of synchronized pendulums.

Pantelegraph (1865):
In 1865, Italian inventor Giovanni Caselli developed the “Pantelegraph,” which was the first practical fax machine. It used a rotating stylus to scan and transmit handwritten messages and images over telegraph lines.

Facsimile Transmission (1920s):
During the 1920s, advancements in radio technology led to the development of early versions of fax machines that utilized radio waves for transmission. These machines were primarily used for newspaper photo transmission.

Telephotography (1930s):
In the 1930s, “telephotography” systems emerged, allowing photographs to be sent over telephone networks. However, these systems were expensive and not widely adopted.

Xerox LDX (1964):
The first commercialized fax machine was the Xerox LDX (Long Distance Xerography), introduced in 1964. It used the then-common electrostatic printing technology to transmit documents over long distances.

ITU Standardization (1980s):
In the 1980s, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) developed standardized protocols for fax transmission, which facilitated interoperability between different fax machines and networks.

Thermal Transfer Fax Machines (1980s-1990s):
In the 1980s and 1990s, thermal transfer fax machines gained popularity due to their lower cost and improved printing quality.

Internet Faxing (1990s):
With the rise of the internet, fax technology evolved to include internet faxing or “fax over IP,” which enabled faxes to be sent and received through email and online fax services.

Decline and Legacy (2000s-2010s):
As digital technologies like email and document scanning became more prevalent, the use of traditional fax machines declined. However, fax technology continues to be used in some industries, especially in areas where secure document transmission is essential.

Modern Fax Services (Present Day):
Today, faxing has largely transitioned to digital platforms and online fax services. These services use internet protocols to send and receive faxes electronically, eliminating the need for physical fax machines and allowing for more efficient and secure document transmission.

Though the traditional standalone fax machine’s popularity has waned, the concept of faxing lives on in digital form, offering a reliable means of transmitting documents in various professional settings.

Do people still use fax machines?

The number of people using fax machines has declined due to the increasing adoption of digital communication methods like email, cloud-based document sharing, and secure messaging platforms. As a result, faxing has become less common in many regions, especially in developed countries.

While some specific industries and regions might still rely on fax machines for certain purposes, it’s safe to say that the number of people using traditional fax machines globally has significantly decreased. Online fax services and digital communication in general provides a more efficient and convenient way to send and receive documents these days. The traditional fax machine has become far less relevant.

You Got A Fax

Getting The Facts on Fax!

As MIDAS includes a field to enter a Fax number for each client record, we were keen to understand how – and indeed if – our customers use this field.

In August 2023, we took an anonymized random sample of 190 of our cloud hosted customer’s MIDAS systems. Between them, this sample of MIDAS systems contained a total of 213,887 individual client records. Here’s what we discovered…

90% of MIDAS systems have the “Fax” field enabled

We were quite surprised that this was figure so high! However, it should be noted that the Fax field is actually enabled by default in all fresh installations of MIDAS. Therefore, only 10% of customers have taken action and disabled this field.

Of the 90% of MIDAS systems where the “Fax” field is enabled, not a single system has been configured to mark this as a “Required” field.

Only 0.44% of clients have a fax number

We found that only 0.44% of client records within our anonymized sample of cloud-hosted MIDAS systems we host, contained an entry in the “fax” field. It’s also possible that some customers actually use the “Fax” field to record other client data – like an additional cell/mobile number. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that less than 0.44% of clients have an actual fax number.

Facing The Facts on Fax!

So what are our key takeaways from these facts? How can we use this information moving forward?

Despite 90% of MIDAS systems having the Fax field enabled, this field is utilized by less than half a percent of clients.

It’s fair to say that the “Fax” client field isn’t really used! For all intents and purposes, it’s obsolete.

Our first takeaway from this is that the “Fax” field probably shouldn’t be enabled by default. By initially “hiding” this field, it will simplify the editing of client records.

We’re taken this one step further for MIDAS v4.35. In this software update, we’ve actually removed “Fax” as a standard MIDAS client field all together. Instead, if customers do wish to capture client fax numbers, they could easily create a custom client field for this purpose instead.

Existing customers still using the previous standard “Fax” client field need not worry! We’ve ensured that the software update process to v4.35 automatically migrates your client fax data over to a custom client field with the same name.


No, we’re not based in American Samoa!

Occasionally, folks reach out to us and ask us if we’re based in American Samoa, as our domain name ends in “.as”.

“.as” is the domain extension for the country American Samoa – knows as a Country Code Top-Level domain (or ccTLD). Every country in the world has been assigned a ccTLD. For example, “.fr” is the ccTLD belonging to France, “.au” is the ccTLD assigned to Australia, and so forth.

Typically, ccTLDs are used for individuals, organizations, and businesses based in that country. For instance, a UK-based business may choose to have a “.uk” domain name.

If MIDAS isn’t based in American Samoa, why use an “.as” domain?

This is what’s known as a “domain hack“. A “domain hack” is a domain name that suggests a word, phrase or brand by combining two or more adjacent parts of the domain, which usually ends by incorporating the letters from a ccTLD to complete the word.

Here’s some common Domain Hack examples:

  • goo.gl (using the .gl ccTLD of Greenland)
  • instagr.am (using the .am ccTLD of Armenia)
  • youtu.be (using the .be ccTLD of Belgium)

Because our room booking software is called “MIDAS”, we chose the domain name “MID.AS”.

So where is MIDAS based?

We’re actually based here in the UK

So whenever you see a domain name ending with a ccTLD, don’t assume that the website or business is specific to the country indicated by the ccTLD. It may well be that the business is global or located elsewhere in the world and is just using a ccTLD as a “domain hack” to form part of a word.


Often viewed as the envy of the rest of the world, the UK’s National Health Service celebrates its 70th birthday today!

The NHS (National Health Service) is the publicly funded healthcare system in the United Kingdom.

It was founded in 1948 and provides a wide range of medical services, including general practitioner (GP) services, hospital care, dental care, mental health services, and more.

The NHS is funded through general taxation and provides free healthcare at the point of use to all UK residents, regardless of their ability to pay.

The system is based on the principle of comprehensive, universal coverage, and is widely regarded as a model for publicly funded healthcare systems around the world.

To celebrate this 70 year milestone, throughout July we’re offering NHS staff £70 OFF our MIDAS Room Booking & Resource Scheduling Software!

..and best of all, this discount can be used to purchase MIDAS on behalf of ANY business or community organization!

NHS staff can claim this special discount right now at [THIS DISCOUNT HAS NOW ENDED]

So if you know someone who works within the NHS, please feel free share this very special limited time offer with them.

But what if you don’t work (or know anyone who works) for the NHS?

Well, make sure you follow us on Social Media as we run special offers and discounts through our social media channels from time to time (in fact, we ran an offer just last month!)

NHS Discount