AVT Question: Please share insight and best practices for ensuring meeting equity for all employees and how to deliver the best collaboration experience regardless of location.
Thought Leader: Wendy Cox, Director of Product Management at Da-Lite
With virtually every meeting now requiring a video conference component, we have to look at how we adapt conference spaces and technologies to enhance the experience for both in-room and remote participants. Companies struggling to overcome reluctance about returning to the office might want to look at what 21:9 displays and projection screens bring to the video conferencing space. It could potentially serve as a new reason to be at the office in person.
It’s essential to re-orient people in the room around a camera and projection screen, with enhanced room speakers and microphones." —Wendy Cox, Director of Product Management at Da-Lite
A lot of this shift is being driven by conferencing software companies like Microsoft and their Teams Room Front Row layout. They are zeroing in on the wider format that provides space for a row of participants across the bottom, a center space for the presentation or common workspace, and two side areas for chat, ancillary data, or anything else that might enhance the meeting experience. For it to work well, a wider-format projection screen or display keeps the center space from being split down the middle with a bezel.
In terms of optimizing the space, it’s essential to re-orient people in the room around a camera and projection screen, with enhanced room speakers and microphones. Lighting and acoustics need to be considered at a much more granular level than before in order to ensure everyone can be seen and heard in this new environment.
It’s still early days for this format and the potential impact on conferencing. We might see adoption in home theaters or command and control centers. It’s worth keeping an eye on developments and how they can help enhance end-user experiences.
