Essential conferencing equipment for your smart meeting room
For successful meetings, you should provide a well-prepared work environment. The conference room is an integral part of this environment. It should be properly equipped so you can run your meetings smoothly.
Today you can choose among many conference room equipment solutions. From intelligent AV control systems to audio and video conferencing tools integrated into your business phone systems to feature-rich conferencing phones that take your meeting to the next level.
Any of these products can help you improve your productivity during the meeting. Does your company have both in-office and remote employees? Do you work with business contractors worldwide? If the answer is yes, then it is essential to have reliable and secure meeting room equipment. As long as you create a meeting space with the right communication and collaboration tools, the participants will feel engaged and focused.
Read on to learn the top must-have tech products for your smart conference room. They will help you organize and run successful meetings hassle-free.
Conference room must-have tech products
Functioning AV Control System
An AV control system is a must for any conference room. It allows you to manage audio and video equipment from one central location. With an AV control system, you can easily switch between different input sources, adjust the volume, and change the settings of your audio and video equipment.
The AV control system is the device that connects and controls all the equipment in your meeting room. It coordinates the hardware and software during the meeting so the participants can work more effectively. The right AV control system integrated into your conference room is important for maintaining a healthy and productive workplace.
Analyze your business needs and equipment setup to determine the most suitable AV control system for your company. There are a lot of possibilities in the market for professional AV control systems. Their main features include:
• managing TV screens and audio systems
• switching on and off the lights
• turning the webcam and speakers on and off
• rolling and turning a projector on and off
• connecting external devices to the conferencing hardware
One of the key benefits of the modern AV management system is its compatibility with various devices. Your team may use different tools to connect from multiple locations – laptops, tablets, or smartphones during a meeting. They also can use diverse teamwork solutions – audio conferencing, video calls, and instant messages. So to run a successful meeting, your audiovisual system should have a simple interface from where you can manage all the equipment and connect people who join remotely.
Interactive whiteboard
The whiteboard is a great way to start your meeting on the right foot. It helps create a more engaging and productive environment by allowing everyone to participate. An interactive whiteboard is a must for any conference room. With an interactive whiteboard, you can easily share ideas and collaborate with your team during the meeting. The whiteboard with a pen is one of the (most recognized) symbols of the corporate meeting room.
It is a must-have product that helps the presenters explain a topic in more detail – with notes or visuals.
Thanks to the enhanced technologies, you may choose an interactive whiteboard for your meeting room. It is very useful if you plan to conduct both offline and online meetings with remote co-workers or global customers. This smart gadget usually encompasses an all-in-one board, a projection screen, and a computer.
During the meeting, you can invite collaborators from anywhere to your board. This allows them to participate in real-time discussions in the conference room actively. They can:
• take notes
• track projects
• brainstorm
• integrate it with third-party applications to streamline teamwork
• share documents
The attendees can streamline their teamwork by using different modes of such high-tech equipment:
• presentation
• video conferencing
• screen sharing
The smart whiteboard in the conference room helps you have more engaging and efficient meetings.
Speakers, microphones, and conferencing phones
Audio quality in your conference room is essential to hosting a productive meeting. The right speakers and microphones can make all the difference. Especially if users from different places try to work together there.
Poor sound quality causes frustration, people start losing focus and cannot follow the discussion.
As a result, your meeting turns into a disaster and a waste of time and money for your company. So, you should equip your conference room with the right mix of speakers and microphones. The one that provides crystal clear sound.
To choose the most suitable audio set, consider the design of your conference room, its size, and the format of your meetings. If some participants connect remotely, your audio equipment should reduce the echo, background noises, and other surrounding sounds. Find the best place for speakers and microphones in your room – this can be:
• in-ceiling
• on the conference table
• in the soundbox under the display
If you host rather large virtual meetings, you should pay special attention to the sound quality. There are various types of conference phones and microphones available on the market, that can meet your conferencing needs.
The best way to achieve great sound in your conference room is to use a combination of speakers and microphones. This will allow everyone in the room to hear and participate in the meeting. You may also want to consider using a high-quality conferencing phone for your conference room. A conferencing phone provides a great way to connect with remote participants during your meeting. Sometimes remote colleagues or prospects cannot or don’t want to join via a video conference. Then an audio call is the ultimate solution.
So choose a phone which allows the voice to be clearly heard by everyone who joins the meeting from your conference room or another workplace.
Modern conference phones are designed to deliver excellent voice quality from their built-in 360 microphones. That way, you feel as if the remote speaker is actually in the conference room. It is common for organizations to have both audio and video conferencing systems in their conference room. It is a necessary solution today as more employees and partners join from a distance.
Find useful tips on how to conduct effective online meetings in our article How to conduct effective online meetings?
Video conferencing equipment
Video conferencing equipment is one of the most important pieces of technology for any conference room. With video conferencing, you can have face-to-face meetings with colleagues and clients from around the globe. That can help to improve communication and collaboration among team members.
The best way to get the most out of video conferencing is to equip your conference room with state-of-art technology. That ensures that you have a smooth and successful meeting. A high-quality display or projection screen enables you to see participants from other locations clearly – as if you are sitting next to each other. You can choose between a single or dual display depending on the specific needs of your company, as well as the size and design of the conferencing room. Other features to look for include:
• sharing video and audio
• connecting to the internet/Internet access
• sharing screen, documents, presentations
• Integrating with third-party video conferencing platforms
Choosing an advanced project screen eases communication and provides a more interactive meeting experience. An essential asset for every conference room that is set up for video calls is the camera.
The product range varies from small and simple cameras to much more sophisticated devices with functionality and capabilities. If your company is staged to daily meetings with allocated employees and customers better not to compromise on the quality of the camera. Pay attention to:
Recording quality
Microphone quality
Field of view
Zoom quality
Recording vs. Live streaming
Some of the latest video conferencing equipment includes:
• 4K monitors – 4K monitors are becoming more and more common in conference rooms. With a 4K monitor, you can display four times the amount of detail as a standard HD monitor. That will make your meeting visuals clear and crisp.
• Ultra HD codecs – Ultra HD codecs are also becoming increasingly popular. These codecs allow for higher resolution video quality. With an Ultra HD codec, you can have lifelike video quality that is realistic and sharp.
• 360-degree cameras – With a 360-degree camera, you can capture everything happening in the room. It can be helpful if you need to review the meeting later or if you want to share it with others.
With these tools, you can create an immersive experience for your meeting participants. They will feel as if they are right in the room with you.
Discover our video conferencing solution with the most advanced camera features for your productive meetings.
Cable management box
A cable management system wrapped in a box gives a professional image to any conference room. Without a dedicated conference table connectivity box, your meetings can be chaotic. You will be looking for cables and cords of different devices constantly. With its help, your working space looks organized and tidy, supporting effective teamwork there.
Different solutions help you bring order in wires and cables in the meeting room. Some of your existing equipment like TVs, displays, or speakers may interconnect with streaming wireless devices, apps, or Bluetooth. So you minimize the use of cables. Yet, if you traditionally use cables to connect devices, you can hide them in specially-designed wall plates.
As their name suggests, you can install these on the wall, close to where the host sits, so he/she can easily link his laptop to the audiovisual system in the room. That is a smart way to avoid hanging cables and cords from everywhere. You may choose between different ports for your input panels, depending on your equipment needs:
• USB, HDMI, VGA, AUX
Another solution is to use a meeting room table with pre-installed outlets or connectivity boxes. Thus the participants have easy access to all power cables and other important connections directly at the table. You can avoid any stringing cables across the table or on the floor. You decide where to place your wire management boxes – under the table, or alongside the table leg.
Some state-of-art cable management sets integrate all-in-one-place an AC power connector with a standard cable connected and AV control panel. So everything is managed directly from the conference table of your smart meeting room.
As technology advances, so does the conference room. More and more businesses are turning to smart meeting rooms to enhance their productivity and efficiency. By investing in essential conferencing equipment, businesses can create a place that is conducive to fruitful collaboration.
Today, the conference room is a working space where people from many locations meet, communicate, and collaborate in real time. That’s why reliable and secure equipment is essential for the success of these meetings. Choosing the right set of tech products transforms the meeting experience of the attendees. It allows you to run smooth meetings with confident, focused, and productive teams.
Conference rooms of the future will likely be even more high-tech, with even more advanced conferencing equipment available to users. As businesses strive to stay ahead of the curve, the conference room will continue to evolve along with them.
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