Remote & flexible working is booming in popularity; workplaces must flex & support the future of work. One way of doing this is with a hybrid meeting room: a space that uses technology to create a productive meeting environment.
Let’s increase the efficiency of meetings with smart meeting rooms! We can create well-designed, productive meeting spaces that enhance the meeting experience & increase productivity.
Install microphones to ensure that everyone around the meeting table can be heard on remote calls. Shouting at a laptop was so 2021. For larger meeting spaces, consider installing several microphones.
HD, wide-angle cameras should be mounted in smaller meeting rooms; a 360˚ camera may be the best option for larger meeting spaces. In-person participants will no longer have to huddle together to be seen by people attending the meeting remotely.
When presenting at a meeting to a mix of in-person & remote participants – it can be hard to keep track of who can see what. For some hosts, the effective presentation of their content comes paired with anxiety. A TV makes sharing your presentation easier since you don’t have to keep flashing your laptop screen at people sitting around the table. Make sure that remote viewers can see the same content as in-person attendees by screen sharing the second display (the TV) with them. Mounting TVs in meeting rooms has been popular in offices for years. Smaller meeting spaces, like booths, often come with a TV to host remote meetings. For areas without a TV, agile battery-powered TV units would be ideal.
Wirelessly mirror your laptop display to the TV with a wireless HDMI dongle. Screen mirroring is convenient to set up and creates a clutter-free meeting space. After you have installed the dongle, send out an ad-hoc email to your team with a step-by-step guide on how to use it.
Keep your meetings powered with easily accessible sockets & convenient high-power USB charging. Most new laptops will charge via USB-C; this saves people from carrying a bulky power adapter to every meeting. Fast, convenient High Power USB charging will keep your meetings powered. You can even provide USB-C to USB-C charging cables that are well cable-managed for the ultimate convenience.
Throughout 2020 use of Microsoft Teams, Slack and Zoom skyrocketed as workers found new and effective ways to work remotely. As remote & hybrid working has become a more accepted way of life, many workplaces are still using these tools. Many apps help teams collaborate in real time; using technology to do so may be more productive than traditional meeting methods. For example, Miro can facilitate a whiteboarding session for dozens of people at once. Softweare used in smart meeting rooms can enhance the meeting experience for participants: in-person & remote.
One member of the OE team made an embarrassing confession about hybrid meetings during a lunch break. After that – we did some brainstorming & some research to see how we could improve.
Oh… We also asked if anyone else had any meeting-related stories to tell. You can find our favourites below.
“I joined a (Microsoft) Teams meeting; people asked where I was. It took me a moment to realise that I had somehow connected to the wrong webcam! Everyone on Teams could see an empty office wall at work when I was working from home. Now, whenever I use Remote Desktop, I check the webcam settings before a meeting.”
-Tim
“Within days of starting at OE, I called the entire company… Without realising. In my defence, it was my first time using WebEx!”
– Claire
“Some customers activate their ‘underwater Darlek voice’ in meetings. Do they have a terrible microphone setup, or are they sitting with a teeny-tiny voice changer?”
-Pip
During the excitement of the 2020 Euros, I tried (and failed) to get my team to sing to the Three Lions with me. It may have helped if they could hear the song – like I thought they could!
-Wendy
Are you looking to create a new hybrid meeting room? Click the button below to download this content in a PDF format.
Curious as to how ANIMATE can unlock your space? Our new ANIMATE brochure demonstrates how simple it is to incorporate battery power into your project – CLICK HERE to read. Or browse OE’s meeting room power solutions by CLICKING HERE.
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