Employing the Newest Technology for your Conference Room
January 22nd, 2008How many meetings have you attended where there was a scrabbling for the lights at the beginning and end of a PowerPoint presentation? One new addition to the meeting room technology industry is interactive room-control systems. A room control system will permit you to control most of the Video Conferencing in the boardroom from a single centralized area.
A room control system ends all that rushing to switch on the lights, complaints that the thermostat should be turned down, and questions about who is nearest the projector (and who knows where the button is to turn it on).
Another more fundamental addition to Video Conferencingtechnology in meeting rooms is a dedicated computer. This is especially convenient for those that tend to spend a lot of time presiding over meetings. Instead of having to unplug and haul a computer into the conference room (or, worse, calling the tech department to set one up in there for you), all you have to do is bring a CD of your presentation, or find the presentation via the web. This makes setting up for meetings fast and unproblematic, and also helps with Video Conferencing, as everything is already in its place.
With the bills of travel ever-increasing, video conferencing is becoming more and more important, especially in larger companies with nationwide (or world-wide) branches. While the conventional teleconference still has its place in a meeting, and probably always will, being able to see and speak easily to your coworkers or clients can be very important.
Another standard in Video Conferencing for boardrooms is a digital projector. For those that frequently use PowerPoint presentations as a meeting tool, a projector is a total necessity. A digital projector will show any computer application on a white board or screen (or even a light-colored wall), helping you to impart information, presentations, even digital films or satellite tv. While digital projectors used to be prohibitively expensive, especially for smaller businesses, their price of Video Conferencing is falling as technology develops, making them an easily obtainable addition to the meeting audio visual system of any company.
A new variation on the electronic white board is the PDP, or Plasma Display Panel. A plasma display panel is fundamentally a huge, but much slimmer, flat-screen television or computer monitor. PDPs are usually 42″ to 50″, and have a very clear, intense screen, making them great for video conferencing. As PDPs are a comparatively new addition to the Video Conferencing market, they’re also very costly, ranging from about $8,000 to $20,000. For around $4,000 more, companies can invest in an interactive overlay for the PDP. This is a somewhat small investment when compared to the price of the PDP and when bearing in mind the many practical uses of a PDP with an interactive overlay. An interactive overlay will add touch sensibility and annotation abilities, letting you to use your PDP just like an interactive whiteboard.