Welcome Back! This is part three of our series on How to Set Up a Video Conference Room Without Getting Fired.
The goal of this article is to help you build your video conferencing room without going overboard. Each room is different and most of us want to build the perfect video conference room. Regardless, if you want an extravagant looking room or if you are on a tight budget, the factors are the same. These factors include lighting conditions, room decor, and external factors like air vents and wall material. This is just the starting point, so let's begin.
- Color Palette, Furnishes, Wall Finishes, Lighting and the Room itself matters.
In selecting the color palette for your video conferencing room, neutral shades such as beige, tan, pale gray or a pale slate blue work best. You should avoid stark whites and the darker palettes which do not provide optimum background for viewing. Flat colors reflect less light and provide less glare. Wall art with glass coverings can add to echo in rooms that already have too many hard surfaces, so consider your room design carefully.
- Painted, papered or fabric walls can be acceptable wall finishes for your video conferencing room. They offer a calm atmosphere for all the participants.
- Furniture and decorating accessories should be kept to a minimum. Bear in mind wall hangings within range of the camera should not have reflective surfaces.
- Sunlight can disrupt the camera's ability to capture a good image, and it can make viewing a conference difficult as glare may overcome the brightness on many display screens and monitors
- Camera placement and the expectations of the on-screen behavior.
When placing your camera, consider the most common use of the room when in a video call and how the typical far-end users have their rooms set up. If yours is a small room and you place the camera above the TV, you'll have the users looking down towards the room, rather than the straight on, "face to face" experience most users enjoy. Similar issues happen when you place a camera between two TVs or to the right or left of the camera. The best experience has the camera placed and centered below the TV and the TV centered on a height that provides great viewing for all.
- Content Sharing – when not in a video call, this is a projector!
You are spending a lot of money on these rooms, let's make sure you get a lot of uses out of the room. Have you discussed content sharing needs with your user community and will the room behave as desired? The more simple the room and the easier it is to connect and share, the happier your end users will be. If dongles tend to go missing, consider a wireless content sharing. Finally, remember not all laptops or content is created equally, so choose a solution that helps with sound, resolution and scale.
- Scheduling and Integration.
If your users start using these rooms, soon you will have a need to make sure scheduling is accurate and users get access. Many of our customers integrate whatever video conference bridge they are using directly into the calendar tool they use to reserve a room, thereby providing users with meeting IDs, dial-in codes and guest invite information. The more you can integrate access to the room with use options within the room, the better. Beyond that we help our customers integrate visual indications of room reservations with on-screen instructions on how to access help-desk services.
- Every Room is special, not just one room. Consider video in all huddle rooms, small rooms, large rooms, and training facilities. Not just the executive board rooms can be elegant in design and easy to use.
A video conferencing strategy should account for scale and use in any conference room with a budget that shifts accordingly. When you work through the use cases, environmental factors and desired outcomes with a broad picture in mind (rather than just a few special conference rooms) your approach will steer you toward solutions that are more flexible and that can grow with you. Even if your project is limited in scope today, be sure to set your sights on an approach that expects unified video and voice communications, content sharing and collaboration.
Tune in to part four of this blog series and learn a bit about the camera options and why choosing a good camera can make a big difference.
Let Perfect Video Conferencing tie it all together for you. Sign up for a Free Demo today.
About Perfect Video Conferencing:
Founded in 2009 by Randy N. Marcotte and John Killcommons, Perfect Video Conferencing was born of a commitment to integrity and partnership and the desire to create a boutique brand based on white-glove service to its customers.
What started as a simple conversation about shared values evolved into Perfect Video Conferencing. Those seeds of dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction has moved PVC from a shining star in a clouded sky of VARs to our own constellation of VAP – Value-Added Partner.
As our industry evolves, we continue to innovate and forge relationships in order to provide our customers with the most up-to-date unified communications solutions backed by the most customer-focused support, remaining true to those inspirations that are at our foundation.