How to match the right video equipment to every room
There are many factors that combine together to create the perfect video meeting experience. Choosing the right equipment is crucial and it needs to match individual room dynamics. One size definitely doesn’t fit all.
With the Hybrid Workplace as the new norm, video meetings have become the central resource for collaboration and efficient decision making. This means every meeting space, whether at home or in the corporate office, needs to be equipped for instant, easy-to use and high quality video conferencing. It includes the full range of different room types, from personal workspaces via focus, huddle, small, medium and large, to the very large multipurpose rooms.
Identifying the requirements for each environment and use case is the key to finding the right solution and set-up. The end-goal – video enabled meetings, always and everywhere. Our room type interactive guide is a simple way to navigate the work environment and find the optimal video solutions.
Quality Counts
Meeting environments are now hugely varied and continue to diversify in today’s evolving world of hybrid working, spanning both homes and offices. Many companies recognize the need to maintain a workforce that may be much more remote in the future, where conferencing is the new norm. This means they will need to either redesign or re-equip office locations. Large conference rooms with vast glass tables, for example, make for really poor acoustics. Social distancing will need to be assessed too.
To achieve this, the type of video conferencing equipment needs to match each individual room. The type of connectivity, lighting, field of view, audio distance and overall room design and size need to be considered. Ease of use, reliability and flexibility all have to combine together.
And quality really matters. Audio clarity, picture sharpness and reduction of background noise – these are all factors which greatly influence the overall impact of any meeting.
Examples of room types
1. Personal Offices and WFH
Personal work spaces need to function on a similar level as formal meeting rooms since longer and more important video meetings are taking place across many diverse locations. They need to be sustainable with ergonomics, lighting and audio key considerations.
Ideal Solution: The Konftel Personal Video Kit is portable, lightweight, mobile and combines quick set-up with high performance, featuring the Konftel Cam10 camera and Ego speakerphone.
2. Huddle Rooms
Huddle rooms represent the ideal setting for small groups to congregate, collaborate and make key decisions. They often cater for up to a handful of people. Every office might have a lot of these smaller spaces so solutions need to be affordable for large scale deployment.
Ideal Solution: The Konftel C20Ego. Brilliant sound and 4K picture quality forms part of a convenient and cost-effective video package with simple One Cable Connection to a computer.
3. Medium Meeting Rooms
Medium rooms require a level of flexibility. Typically they can have up to 10 – 12 chairs but overall users might be less at times. Strong camera performance is vital to capture all participants, near and far, combined with exceptional audio dialogue.
Ideal Solution: The Konftel C20800 Hybrid. Beamforming audio and a wide angle 4K camera ensures the perfect medium room package.
4. Large Meeting Rooms
A large conference room need to be accommodated for sometimes up to 20 chairs, although less people may use them to create more ‘social space’ and areas to work on. They often feature long and narrow conference tables, where people sit far away from the screen. So a camera with pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) capabilities combined with expandable audio devices for precision pick-up are crucial
Ideal Solution: The Konftel C50800 Hybrid provides outstanding image and audio quality with scalable daisy-chain audio and multi connectivity, as part of a premium video collaboration package.
Easy installation and expansion
As well as a wide range of connectivity options, it’s important to consider cable management. An unplugged cable will destroy a call whilst lots of cables will look unsightly, unprofessional and become a trip hazard. Do you require a cable to be hidden behind a monitor or run under a table?
In our room type interactive guide every room is presented with an option to view the installation and set-up layer. It shows the placement of products and one of the alternatives for routing the cables.
Another important consideration is audio expansion, to fit different room sizes and acoustic conditions. Konftel Smart Microphones and our daisy-chain capabilities are powerful, flexible and easy to set up.
What factors create the perfect video meeting?
• How many people will be in the meeting room and what audio pick-up range is required?
• Do you need to use daisy-chain audio devices or expansion microphones for more flexibility or social distancing?
• Would you benefit from beamforming audio technology for high sound quality?
• Would you benefit from plug and play set up with one cable connection?
• Does the ability to ‘Bring Your Own Meeting’ and set up a call via a laptop appeal?
• Do you need extension cables for bigger rooms?
• Don’t neglect cable management – an unplugged cable will prevent a meeting whilst lots of cables everywhere will look unsightly and unprofessional.
• How will you connect calls – would you benefit from multiple options?
• What about zero touch audio conferencing via an app?
• Use carpets rather than hard flooring to optimize sound performance
• Don’t set up a camera directly facing a bright window. Try to keep lighting consistent, natural and neutral.
• Always check your background surroundings!
