Conference Room Technology
Technology Improves Communication and Fosters Collaboration
Conference room technology is an integral component of today’s business landscape. No matter what size the business (sole proprietorship to multinational conglomerate)—or what industry (financial services to manufacturing to retail to you-name-it)—communications technologies are crucial to company success. Conference room technology, in all its forms, connects people and teams together, provides a collaborative environment, and nurtures creative discourse.
Highly collaborative teams are successful teams, and successful teams lead to better business outcomes. Strong collaboration also improves employee morale by connecting in-office and remote employees—and by offering all an opportunity to participate equally. And the right technology investments can reduce overall operating costs, eliminating unneeded overhead and/or unnecessary travel expenses to bring everyone together physically.
These technologies offer a number of benefits, but there are a lot of options to choose from. The environment and type of meeting are important factors to consider. From ad hoc meeting spots and small huddle spaces to mid- / large-sized conference rooms and executive boardrooms, technology needs can vary greatly. Do you need stationary or portable technologies? What is the maximum / minimum number of participants? We can help find the right conference room technology to fit your needs.
Highly collaborative teams are successful teams, and successful teams lead to better business outcomes. Strong collaboration also improves employee morale by connecting in-office and remote employees—and by offering all an opportunity to participate equally. And the right technology investments can reduce overall operating costs, eliminating unneeded overhead and/or unnecessary travel expenses to bring everyone together physically.
These technologies offer a number of benefits, but there are a lot of options to choose from. The environment and type of meeting are important factors to consider. From ad hoc meeting spots and small huddle spaces to mid- / large-sized conference rooms and executive boardrooms, technology needs can vary greatly. Do you need stationary or portable technologies? What is the maximum / minimum number of participants? We can help find the right conference room technology to fit your needs.
Collaboration and Conference Room Audio Video Solutions
Collaboration room kits have everything you need to create a collaborative meeting room experience, and they’re simple and convenient to set up. For over a decade, Connection has provided best-in-class digital signage expertise from design to deployment for all industries, and customers of all types and sizes.
Featured Conference Room Technology Products
The 6 Top Trends in Conference Room Technology
Conference room technology is transforming the way we meet and collaborate in the workplace. Today’s hybrid workforce, the rapid growth of millennial and Gen Z talent in the office, and the need to support collaboration technologies are all factors encouraging companies to change how they approach and design meeting spaces. Here’s a closer look at where conference room technology is headed and the trends that are taking shape.
A Hybrid Workforce
The traditional design of conference rooms was created for an in-office staff that mostly meets in person. However, in the wake of the rapid shift to remote work during the pandemic—and subsequent at least partial return of workers to the office—many companies are settling into a trend of having long-term hybrid employees and contractors.According to McKinsey, around 41% of workers are in the office full-time today. In a survey cited by Forbes, 25% of workers said they were fully remote, while 58% identified themselves as hybrid employees who could work from home at least one day per week. With workers located in different places—or even time zones and parts of the world—hybrid and virtual meetings have become a cornerstone of collaboration.
Younger Workers Demand Collaboration
In addition to the move to hybrid work, changing office demographics have also led to shifts in conference room technology. Gen Z and other younger workers want fluid and effective collaboration. A study by Pew found that individuals born after 1996 want instantaneous collaboration and communication with colleagues. Forbes also notes that Gen Z wants greater collaboration in the workplace—and finding ways to foster that can be key to attracting and retaining this talent pool.Video, audio, and other conference room technology that eliminate barriers to collaboration play an important role in keeping your teams engaged and working together. Recognizing this need now and laying the foundation for the future will help you establish a competitive employer brand that resonates with top talent in the months and years ahead.
Fostering Spontaneous Collaboration
One of the downsides of working remotely is losing the ability to quickly walk across the aisle to another cubicle to get the answer to a question or to explain a more complex or contentious situation in person. Teams, as well as individuals, also suffer from a lack of spontaneous collaboration; when everyone is in the same office, it’s easier to grab your team to brainstorm or quickly coordinate a crisis response to an issue that arises.Huddle spaces and breakout rooms offer a midpoint between individual spaces and rigid conference rooms that need to be reserved. Finding ways to encourage spontaneous collaboration when your teams are in the office—or replicate that ease when they’re remote—is critical to keeping ideas and solutions flowing.
A New Approach to Office Real Estate
With the shift toward hybrid work, companies and facilities managers are evaluating how they use their office space. Some are downsizing or eliminating their real estate altogether. But more frequently, says HBR, companies are taking a different approach to how they use the space they have. One area that’s under close scrutiny is shared spaces, such as conference rooms and other areas used for meetings.Dedicating less space to individual-assigned offices and cubicles, more space is going toward hoteling that workers can schedule to use on the days they’re in the office. However, the lack of permanent and private space can make it challenging to hold confidential meetings or create space where everyone feels comfortable opening up. As a result, meeting spaces have also taken on a critical role, from fostering collaboration to offering the technologies that bring in-office and remote workers together for virtual sessions.
Reimagined Conference Rooms
The Wall Street Journal reports that 73% of meetings involve only two to four people, yet 53% of conference rooms are built for meetings of seven or more. Against a shifting context for how meeting spaces are used, companies are renewing their efforts to redesign conference rooms in a way that makes sense for today’s work models. One of those efforts is introducing a greater number of meeting spaces that cater to smaller groups, designing with an efficient spatial footprint in mind.Companies are rapidly embracing smaller conference rooms outfitted with technology that enables them to host smaller meetings or link a couple of people in the office to larger pools of virtual colleagues. In 2021, there were 32 million huddle spaces (i.e., breakout rooms) globally, with more expected to be launched in 2023 and beyond.
Investing for Worker Focus
The days of conference rooms having just a table and chairs have passed. Today, the top reasons workers cite for coming back into the office are for focusing on their work and collaborating effectively, notes Forbes. As a result, companies are shifting the way they invest in designing their office space. An important piece of this is using furniture and general room designs that increase productivity, while having the flexibility to accommodate a range of meetings.TechTarget reports that 75% of companies believe videoconferencing is as important as audio conferencing for meetings, and the same percentage of companies are seeking meeting room solutions that support different collaboration platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
Three Types of Meeting Rooms
As the conceptualization of meeting rooms evolves, three types of meeting spaces are emerging.Many companies are retaining and installing technology to support board rooms. These rooms are designed to provide an upscale, dedicated space for C-suite and other executives to hold confidential meetings, meet with investors and advisors, and host meetings with clients.
More traditional conference rooms are also being retained by some organizations, providing meeting spaces for larger in-person groups. Many companies are retrofitting rooms that have minimal technology to better support in-person, virtual, and hybrid meetings.
Perhaps the largest trend in reimagining meeting rooms is the rise of huddle spaces or breakout rooms—technologically-enabled spaces that offer small groups an informal space to meet, collaborate, and brainstorm. One factor that sets these apart is the critical importance of spaces that are coming to be known as smart rooms.
Outfitting the Smart Room
A smart meeting room incorporates hardware and software to support efficient collaboration, video and sound, and presentations with ease. Smart rooms foster high-quality meetings for those attending in-person or on the go.In order to give teams what they need to make the most of smart rooms, there are several categories of technology that are being added to all types of meeting rooms:
- Large-format Touchscreen Monitors: In-person meeting attendees can clearly see remote participants and brainstorm in real-time with large-format screens that promote deeper engagement. The touchscreen element makes it easy to interact with documents, modify presentations, or brainstorm in real-time for greater efficiency and collaboration.
- Cameras: High-definition cameras let meeting participants see each other wherever they’re located, removing boundaries to effective communication. This shift has made cameras in meeting rooms just as important as those being used by remote workers.
- Projectors: Projecting documents onto the big screen drives greater focus, allowing for more flawless meetings. It also puts the spotlight sharply on a meeting’s content.
- Communications Platforms: Meeting room technology that integrates with cloud technologies like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet flexibly adapts to today’s ever-changing collaborative platform needs.
- Microphones and Speakerphones: Clear sound quality gives everyone at the meeting a voice, no matter where they’re located.
- Network Connectivity: Stable, fast bandwidth keeps the full range of conference room technologies operating smoothly.
- Flexible Furniture: Flexible furniture helps maximize limited space and allows one area to host a wide range of events.
Get Started with Conference Room Technology
The right conference room technology can transform how you collaborate, both in the office and around the globe. Contact Connection today to speak with a conference room technology expert and discuss the right technology for your needs.Collaboration Technology
Barco ClickShare
Make hybrid collaboration flow. With only one click.
ClickShare, the agnostic wireless room system, lets you run better hybrid meetings from your laptop.Walk into the room, ClickShare Conference automatically connects your laptop to room devices and display. Get started within seconds. No cables, no mess.
With just one click in the ClickShare Button or App, you can easily share your screen or start a video meeting. Everyone is seen and heard, no matter where they are.
Logitech Meeting Room Solutions
An Interactive Guide
Logitech supports video collaboration solutions that create equitable meeting experiences for everyone. Their devices help teams collaborate better—from anywhere—without compromising on quality, productivity, or creativity.Performance: Different types of work require different tools that are designed with the end user in mind.
Collaboration: Enable authentic connection and co-creation, fueling healthy hybrid cultures.
Compatibility: Pre-configured solutions are certified for the most popular meeting platforms.
Security: Ecosystems designed with security and manageability in mind keep the power in IT’s hands.
Logitech Rally Bar
All-in-One Video Bar for Midsize Conference Rooms
Rally Bar creates a natural, frictionless meeting experience via motorized pan and tilt camera with high image quality—up to 5X optical zoom and digitally enhanced to 15X total zoom. AI Viewfinder uses scene awareness to ensure all meeting participants are captured and framed to perfection.Simple, versatile, and meticulously designed for scale, Rally Bar offers clutter-free cable management and multiple mounting options. Plug and play Rally Bar with virtually any PC or Mac—or run supported videoconferencing applications on the device without a computer.
Logitech Conference Room Technology
Logitech Tap
Deliver one-touch join, calendar integration, instant content sharing, and a consistent experience across meeting rooms. With a sleek design, silent operation, and motion sensor for always-on readiness, Tap brings ease and convenience to video collaboration.
Logitech Rally
High-quality video and audio that makes it feel like your whole team is in the room, even when half of them work from home. Video collaboration solutions are compatible with popular platforms like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.
Logitech Scribe
With built-in AI and a custom lens, Scribe broadcasts whiteboard content into video meetings with outstanding clarity. Scribe works with any dry erase marker and all whiteboard surfaces, capturing an area up to 6' x 4'.
Logitech Swytch
Swytch links a Windows laptop, MacBook, or Chromebook to the conference camera and display with a single USB connection. In rooms with or without a dedicated computer, Swytch adds support for meetings on any service.
Bring Teams Together
Samsung and Logitech: Interactive Touch for Microsoft Teams Rooms
Solutions for Every Space
From personal offices to boardrooms, Samsung, Logitech, and Microsoft help teams work wherever and however they want by delivering a better hybrid meeting experience.- Huddle on the Go
- Huddle Room
- Small/Medium/Large Conference Room
- Hot Desk
- Work from Home
Simple and Easy Connecting
LG One:Quick for Wireless Screen Sharing
LG One:Quick Works
55" All-in-one touch display for stress-free videoconferencing.- 10-point touchscreen
- Smart autofocus
- Videoconferencing application
- Easy-to-use conference app store
- Optimized user experience
- Next-level multitasking with split-view screen mode
- Voice recording
- 2-way installation
LG One:Quick Flex
43" HD touch display is large enough for premium collaboration yet small enough to move and use in virtually any space.- Integrated conferencing system for enhanced collaboration
- Intuitive user-interface and excellent expandability
- Convenient voice commands
- Advanced mounting and ergonomic options
LG One:Quick Share
The wireless screen sharing solution for LG’s webOS Signage.- Automatic pairing and embedded Wi-Fi
- Plug-and-play connectivity
- Remote-free setting control
- Screen manager
Business Projector Buyer’s Guide
A Three-step Process to Find the Right Projector to Fit Your Business Needs
From small offices to enterprise applications, business projectors are an excellent collaboration tool. Follow these steps to find the right projector to meet your requirements:Step 1: Consider your conference room size and projection brightness.
Step 2: Appraise your installation requirements.
Step 3: Choose a projector to meet your business requirements.
Read the guide and learn about the projector specifications you need to know for your use case.
Conference Room Infrastructure
Heckler AV Credenzas and Wall
Create the Perfect Hybrid Meeting Space
Heckler AV Credenzas
Heckler AV Credenza is created from the ground up to impress stakeholders and ease implementation. The result is an attractive platform for years of easy technology upgrades and painless office moves.AV Credenza Mini Overview
AV Credenza 4U Overview
Heckler AV Wall
Heckler AV Wall Structure is engineered to transfer the weight of your equipment to the floor, not the wall. This eliminates the need to reinforce walls in preparation of video meeting system deployments.AV Wall Structure Overview
Samsung Wall All-in-One
IAB Series Displays
Inspire awe in any corporate environment. The Wall All-in-One delivers the ultimate viewing experience out of the box, so you can enjoy unrivaled picture quality and effortless operation.- Simplify complicated procurement processes with your choice of three compact options.
- Get up and running quickly and easily with everything you need in one box.
- Gain peace of mind with turnkey service and support, including optional installation teams and readily available AV integrations.
- Create more hands-on, immersive meetings by connecting and mirroring up to four devices (iOS/PC/Android/Chromebook) at once with SmartView+.
- Enjoy no-fuss team meetings with integrated videoconferencing solutions from Cisco Webex, Logitech, and Crestron.
Creating an Adaptable, Smart Huddle Space
The Ultimate Guide to Fueling Collaboration
Huddle spaces are informal collaborative rooms that are equipped with the latest office technology and furnished with the flexibility to accommodate any type of meeting. They can transform your commercial real estate footprint and make it easier for your employees to effectively communicate. Read this guide for a closer look at huddle spaces and specific steps you can take to leverage this emerging collaborative trend—and the technologies that power these spaces—for your unique business needs and employee success.
Quick Reference Infrastructure Guides
Peerless-AV Wall Mounting Solutions
SMARTMOUNT Universal Flat Wall Mount
SF650P
- For 39"–75" displays
- 175lb (79kg) max. load
Buy Now
SF680P
- For 60"-98" displays
- 350lb (158kg) max. load
Buy Now
SMARTMOUNT Universal Tilt Wall Mount
ST650P
- For 39"–75" displays
- 175lb (79kg) max. load
Buy Now
ST680P
- For 60"-98" displays
- 350lb (158kg) max. load
Buy Now
PARAMOUNT Articulating Wall Mount
Miscellaneous Conferencing Resources
People First
The Strategy for Business Success with a Distributed Team
Organizations have moved at speed to adopt blended working. However, there is still much to do to ensure that businesses and their people continue to thrive. Learn how the new way of working impacts people’s well-being, productivity, and motivation going forward.Here are a few meeting tips to improve overall well-being. Check out the full guide to find more ways to put your employees first.
- Adopt a 50-minute hour to add time between meetings
- Block time out in your calendar
- Deploy the right conferencing technology
Related Technology Resources
Monitor Buying Guide
Finding the right collaboration display for your conference room isn’t as simple as it seems. The size of the display is not the only (or most important) factor to consider. Check out our buying guide to help find the right fit for your needs.
Office Technology
The right technology investments can power productivity, by enabling communication and collaboration, improving employee morale, promoting innovation, and more. Find out how we can help improve your office efficiency.
Small Business Technology
Your business is unique. So are its technology needs. We’re committed to helping you get the most out of your technology investment with quality products at great prices, resources for informed decision making, and specialized IT services and support.
Hybrid Meeting Technology
As hybrid conferencing becomes the new norm, it is essential to learn how hybrid meeting technology seamlessly integrates communication and keeps participants connected from anywhere.
Conference Room Technology Products
10