10 Good Conference Room Technologies
Conferencing is a necessary part of many businesses and is central to communicating important business updates and hosting presentations. However, not having the correct conference room technologies can significantly impact things like productivity and engagement.
Using quality conferencing technologies can help take your conference to the next level and allow you to stage a high-production value event. To help you do this, we’ve compiled this complete guide to conferencing technology so you know where to start.
In this article, DEXON discusses the importance of conferencing technology and explains the drawbacks of not utilizing this technology. We’ll also take you through ten must-have conferencing technologies so you can begin optimizing your conferences today!
Why does using quality conference room technologies matter a lot?
Before we discuss conferencing technology, it's important to first define the importance of having high-quality conferencing technology in your business.
The primary reason why it’s important to use high-quality conferencing technology lies in the audience experience. When you use conferencing technology that is designed to boost engagement, distribute high-volumes of information and immerse your audience in an A/V experience, you yield much more reward from your conference.
High engagement, audience participation and getting your attendees excited about your conference content is only possible by optimizing your conferencing delivery, so to reap the most reward, you need to have the correct equipment.
Secondly, using quality conference room technologies is important because conferencing is such a central component in any successful business. As you’re likely to conference on a regular basis, you should ensure that you have the correct equipment that can facilitate high-levels of productivity at all times. This optimizes your conferencing strategy and means that those weekly company conferences appear a lot less daunting!
Whether you use conferencing for simple catch-ups or host extensive conferences for an audience in the hundreds’, having the correct conferencing technology means that you can portray your business and profession.
Business profile is critical to progression, as you’ll need to ensure potential investors and business partners view your company as innovative and forward-thinking-one that takes technology and communication seriously!
What are the drawbacks of outdated conference room technology?
Now, let’s talk about the potential drawbacks of not using the correct conferencing technology. Here’s a quick guide to the three main set-backs:
1. Less productivity
Not using the correct conferencing technology can wreak havoc on your productivity due to a lack of engagement. Boredom is a significant contributor to poor engagement, so when your conference is lacking in excitement or sufficient communication, your attendees tend to tune out and stare at the wall.
This is particularly damaging for companies that use conferences as a way to communicate the importance of tasks or delegate responsibilities. This poor engagement level feeds directly into poor productivity, as attendees leave conferences unclear on their expectations and disconnected from the company’s objectives.
2. Unhappy clients
Conferencing is a central element of presenting ideas or results to your clients. One of the key objectives when conferencing with clients is to present yourself and your company as a full-service professional establishment.
When you produce a poor conference due to a lack of important technology, you leave your clients with a poor impression of your business. This is damaging especially if you’re only in the beginning stages of engaging with a client.
3. Incompatibility with new technology
New technology is sprouting out of nowhere and it's the business' responsibility to keep up with emerging trends to stay abreast of industry developments and keep their technology working at an optimum level.
When you use out of date technology, you’ll typically find that you have connectivity issues, as older technology tends to be incompatible with newer models of laptops or certain A/V equipment. This leads to stalled projects and poor production quality conferences that reflect badly on your company.
What conference room technologies your company needs?
Now that you know the importance of adopting conferencing technologies, and what happens if you don’t, you’re now ready to know which technologies you should prioritize in a conference room. Here’s 10 technologies you should use for your conferencing now!
1. Digital whiteboards
Digital whiteboards are the modern take on the classic white or chalkboard that you see in classrooms across the globe. Speaking of classrooms, digital whiteboards have been instrumental in heightened productivity in classrooms, hence the explosion in the number of schools adopting this technology for teaching purposes.
Digital whiteboards allow users to benefit from the note-taking-nature of a classic whiteboard while being able to navigate applications, stream web-based content and conduct presentations from a single board.
Digital whiteboards are a beacon of productivity and allow business professionals like you to combine multiple functions like note taking, brainstorming, streaming and presenting on a single device. This is a must for conferencing as it combines many functions into one, allowing you to streamline your conferencing approach and optimize how you engage with your audience.
2. Good Wifi connection
A must especially for virtual conferencing, good Wifi connection is central to a successful conferencing project. As you’re likely to incorporate digital elements into your conference such as streaming web-based content or interacting with virtual attendees via conferencing technology, you’ll need a solid internet connection that reduces buffering periods and means that everyone, no matter their location, can interact with the conference.
Wifi connection is also important for your attendees’ comfort, as they may wish to use their mobile phones during conferencing breaks or use their devices such as laptops and tablets to take notes on the conference or research key elements of your presentation.
There’s nothing more annoying than an endless loading stream or frozen web-cam footage, so make sure your conference venue has fast Wifi for all your needs!
3. A good project management platform
If you have a jam-packed conference, you’ll need a good project management platform to manage your schedule, key materials, objectives and tasks. Project management platforms allow you to keep track of all the necessary conferencing materials you have, all of your main goals such as improving company engagement or delivering a training module and manage your itinerary to ensure you communicate all the necessary information to your attendees. This enables you to provide a more structured and less-confusing conference, portraying you as a conferencing expert and impressing your attendees!
4. Good acoustics
Without delving too much into the physics of sound, acoustics essentially refers to the features of a room that determine how well sound carries. Ensuring your conferencing room has good acoustics is important, especially if you have a large venue with many attendees.
A room with poor acoustics means that sound won’t travel very far and attendees in the far back of the room will struggle to hear. Conversely, a room with poor acoustics can have too much reverberation, meaning sound takes too long to dissipate, leading to confusing levels of sound and annoying echoes.
When listening out for good acoustics, you’ll need to find a room that provides even levels of sound distribution, minimal background noise levels and next to no echoes. Consider using sound proofing and avoiding venues with more hard surfaces than soft surfaces and furnishings as this will lead to poor acoustics.
5. Good quality microphones
To provide a uniform level of sound, consider using good quality microphones. Microphones are hugely important, especially to large conferences, as this ensures that everyone, no matter their seating arrangement, can listen to your important information.
Conferencing hosts can typically choose from wired microphones that offer more reliability but limit movement. On the other hand, hosts can choose from wireless options that offer presenters more flexibility and crowd interaction, but pose more of an interruption risk due to cut-outs or interference from other technology.
6. Good quality video walls
If you’re looking for technology that engages, communicates important information, impresses and allows conferencing hosts to flex between different screens, then look no further than a video wall.
Video walls provide conferencing hosts with another level of interactivity and allow the efficient distribution of a high-volume of information. If you’re finding that one screen just isn’t enough to communicate the information necessary, then a video wall is what you need.
These are multi-screen displays that allow users to display a single or multiple images from a single wall. This provides a high-degree of flexibility and allows hosts to flip between different sources in a single presentation.
Of course, none of this would be possible without video wall technology like video wall controllers, processors and matrix switchers. Keep reading to find out more about this important technology…
7. A laptop or PC
Having a laptop or PC to guide your presentation, connect to digital displays like video walls and interactive whiteboards and other technology is a must for a high-functioning conference. A laptop or PC will allow you to stream web-based content and incorporate your virtual audience.
You should view a laptop or PC as your conference’s mothership; allowing you to control all elements from a single screen. Having a laptop or PC is also important as you might need to recall your presentation layout, operate important conferencing software or save your conferencing materials for future use.
8. Cables and adapters
If you’re presenting in an unfamiliar location and you’re not sure if they’ll have the correct cables or adaptors for your conferencing equipment, then you should always bring your own supply of cables. There’s nothing more irritating than finding that your venue’s conferencing technology is incompatible with cables like HDMI or USB outlets, so bringing your own ensures that your conference and all its accompanying technology can still go ahead without a hitch! Consider always carrying the following cables with you to all conferences:
- HDMI cables
- VGA cables
- DisplayPort
- USB-C and accompanying adaptors
9. Speakers
Speakers are some of the most important things to consider, especially if you’re planning to use microphones as part of your conference. Speakers are central to supplying a uniform level of sound in your venue, ensuring that all attendees can listen to your important conference content and remain engaged.
When setting up your conference, consider discussing the type of equipment they may have readily available for you to use. This can save you time and money, and ensure you don’t have to transport heavy sound equipment between locations.
10. Video wall equipment
Video wall controllers, matrix switchers and processors are the final important conferencing technology you’ll need to include in your next conference. This technology allows users to manage their video wall, display high-quality images and footage, decide image placement and mitigate the effects of harsh borders or frame-rate delays.
Here’s a quick guide to the video wall technology you’ll need for a conference:
- Video wall controller: A video wall controller is a computer chassis with an operating system that processes input and output signals. These allow users to manage their video wall layout, control their wall from remote sources with DXWallControl and graphics windows.
- Video wall processor: Video wall processors are the brains behind complex video wall conferencing displays as they transform input signals into viewable content. This technology receives signals via media players, HDMI sources and satellite receivers and are displayed into any size or position that the user wants, regardless of the boundaries between monitors.
- Video wall matrix switcher: Matrix switchers provide users with an all-in-one control system, allowing users to switch between input signals, scale signals, convert frames, cross-fade and so much more. This is a must-have for all conferencing projects, no matter the size!
Utilizing video wall technology can enhance your video wall performance and ensure that your attendees stay engaged throughout the duration of your conference. Investing in this complex technology also presents your business as forward thinking and innovative when it comes to technology, which are hugely attractive qualities to potential investors and business partners.
Ensuring you have the right conferencing technology can significantly benefit your business and greatly increase your engagement and interaction rates, positively influencing your productivity and business operations. To find out more about how you can use video wall technology to improve your conferencing and presentation strategies, check out the rest of DEXON’s blog or browse through our product family to start benefiting today!
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