Long table problem

I've been attending more than a couple of the company lunch gathering. In most of those gathering, we usually go to restaurant, pick a long table, and people just fill up the chairs along the table.

The problem is that, because the table is so long, that usually only those who are sitting close with each other can hear and thus conduct conversation among themselves.

Things that even more awkward when the gathering is some sort of birthday celebration. So now we have those who sit close the birthday boy/girl chat among themselves, while the others are like "tell me why we are here again".

I appreciate the motive behind the idea. But the result does not seem to accomplish the objective.