At large gatherings, the arrangement of the tables and chairs can significantly impact the flow of the event and the guests’ comfort. There are many styles of event setup, including banquet style seating. It is important to choose a layout that will work best for each unique event.
As you work with clients to determine how to best accommodate their event requests, you may wonder, what is banquet style seating? With this seating arrangement, guests are seated at round tables of 8-10 per table. Tables are comfortably spread out so that it’s easy to move around the room.
We’ll walk you through which events would benefit most from this seating arrangement and point out other styles you can try should your clients’ needs change.
What Does a Banquet Style Seating Plan Look Like?
Banquet-style seating usually involves round tables with banquet chairs positioned around the table pointing inward. Each table can generally fit between six and ten people comfortably, depending on table size.
Banquet seating is popular for formal, casual, business, or family events because the seating arrangement gives everyone in a group equal opportunity to talk to each other. It’s more egalitarian than family style seating, which features a long table where guests may be seated too far from each other to talk; family style seating often has a head person at the top of the table who traditionally directs conversation and people seated at opposite ends of the table often can’t converse comfortably. With banquet seating styles, everyone at a table can converse freely.
Banquet-style seating is beneficial at various kinds of events, including the following:
- Holiday parties
- Charity events
- Gala dinners
- Business conferences
- Weddings
- Baby showers
- Anniversary celebrations
- Award shows
5 Benefits of Banquet Style Seating
When a client is organizing an event at your venue and plans to use chairs with tables, they may consider a banquet style seating plan. There are many benefits to this form of seating.
1. Perfect for dining
Whether the event includes a full meal or just appetizers or desserts, banquet seating is ideal for all types of events that include serving food or drinks. Guests can eat comfortably at the table with plenty of room for plates, glasses, utensils, and shared condiments and centerpieces in the center.
2. Ideal for conversation
With banquet seating, everyone seated at a table can easily see one another and talk. Guests can converse comfortably without having to lean around other seats or talk over people to make eye contact.
3. Easy to move around
With round tables, it’s easy for people to move around the tables should they want to socialize or walk to the front of the event space to give a presentation or speech. This also makes it easy for event staff to serve and clear dishes.
4. Easy to decorate
Using round tables minimizes the number of centerpieces needed, making it more cost effective to add decorations. One centerpiece is perfect for a table of up to 10 guests, whereas other banquet seating styles require more centerpieces and decorations per person. For instance, a long table set up in Family Style Dining often requires one centerpiece for every four guests.
5. Perfect for sharing information and resources
At a round table, people can easily share paperwork, writing tools, or other items amongst themselves, making it easy to collaborate during business meetings or conferences.
How to Create a Banquet Style Seating Plan
Creating a banquet style plan starts with understanding your venue’s layout and your specific event goals. When determining the banquet seating layout, don’t forget that incorporating pathways is as vital to guest comfort and enjoyment as where you put the tables and chairs.
1. Determine your guest count.
Consider how many people you need to seat to help determine the number of tables that are needed, assuming 8-10 guests per table.
2. Choose table sizes.
Banquet style seating traditionally uses round tables in uniform sizes throughout a room. The most common sizes are 60” and 72” round tables. Depending on the width and style of chair (including whether it has armrests), you can seat 6-8 guests at a 60” table and 8-10 guests at a 72” round table.
3. Allow room for people to move.
Maintain space between tables so guests and servers can move freely, helping to ensure a smooth traffic flow during the event. At each table, aim for enough elbow room and leg space so that guests can sit down, dine, and socialize comfortably. There should be at least 5’ (60”) of space between tables. After chairs are added into the arrangement, this will leave approximately 26” of open space between tables for guests to move around and for banquet staff to serve food and drinks.
4. Consider necessary access points.
If your event includes a speaker or stage, position tables in a way that allows guests to see and avoids crowding near entryways. In addition, reserve accessible paths and spaces for guests using wheelchairs or other mobility aids to ensure inclusivity and compliance with safety standards.
5. Coordinate with catering and decor teams.
Work with your catering and design teams to approve your final layout. Ask them if there’s enough space for serving stations and decor.
Different Banquet Seating Styles
While traditional banquet style seating uses round tables, other banquet seating layouts may be more appropriate for events that include presentations, emphasize social interaction, or aim to create a unique guest experience. Below you can discover the benefits of popular banquet seating styles that include theater, cabaret, cocktail, herringbone, horseshoe, classroom, hollow square, family style, and banquet style seating arrangements.
1. Theater seating
With theater seating, the people in the room sit in rows facing forward, just like they would in a movie theater. This arrangement is a good option for presentations or performances, although it’s not ideal when serving food or drinks, as guests don’t have tables.
2. Cabaret seating
Cabaret-style seating is characterized by round tables with chairs arranged around 2/3 of the table, leaving an open end. This setup focuses guests’ attention on a stage or focal point, making it ideal for events with performances or presentations.
3. Cocktail arrangement
At a cocktail-arranged event, guests can mingle and stand at small, tall tables (called highboys) for easy conversation. This arrangement is ideal when you want people to socialize and meet the other guests at the event.
4. Herringbone seating
Herringbone seating allows people to sit at long, rectangular tables, tilted slightly to face the center of a stage or performance area.
5. Horseshoe seating
In a horseshoe setup, tables and chairs are set up in a large U shape facing the center of the room, where a presenter might speak.
6. Classroom seating
A classroom arrangement resembles theater seating, with all guests sitting in rows that face forward. The main difference is that classroom seating includes tables.
7. Hollow square seating
In a hollow square, tables are in a large square or rectangular shape, with chairs around the outside edge, facing inward. This is an excellent arrangement for business meetings where people must collaborate and use tools.
8. Family-style seating
Characterized by long rows of rectangular tables, this event dining setup is almost as popular as banquet style seating. Sometimes it’s combined with other types of seating arrangements. For example, family-style tables are often set up for the head table, with the rest of the guests being seated at round tables.
9. Banquet-style seating with round tables
Banquet-style seating, ideal for most events, generally features round tables that seat up to 10 guests per table (depending on table size and the style of chair). Banquet-style seating is extremely popular because it encourages socializing among guests at a table. It enhances interaction, allows easy room navigation, and simplifies decoration. Perfect for holiday parties, weddings, business meetings, and more, banquet-style seating helps create a welcoming environment and an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of buffet tables, dance floors, bars, and other event accommodations.
To Host the Best Events, Choose the Best Furniture Available
Whether your clients prefer banquet seating or wish to try one of the other seating arrangements outlined, the quality of the furniture makes a difference in the overall comfort of those in attendance. MityLite has the best options available, with a range of tables and chairs designed for events of all types.
When you are looking for tables, chairs, and other event products to enhance your event space’s versatility and overall appeal, contact MityLite to learn more about what’s available and how we can help.
Products Featured in This Article
Classic Banquet Chair
6 Chair Back Styles, 3 Seat Styles
ABS Round Folding Table
5 Table Sizes, 2 Table Heights
Reveal Linenless Fixed Width Folding Table
9 Table Sizes, 2 Table Leg Styles
Royale Banquet Chair
1 Chair Back Style, 2 Seat Height
Encore Banquet Chair
2 Chair Back Styles
Madera Pro Round Table
3 Table Sizes
