Meeting Equity: It’s About More Than Technology

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There has been a steady climb in virtual meetings ever since 2020, and 38% of those are hybrid sessions that connect remote attendees with people in the room. For those larger gatherings, where it’s easy to get lost in the crowd, meeting equity should be top of mind when designing conference and collaboration spaces. 

Despite the prevalence of video meetings in our daily calendar, remote participants still feel left out. And worse, even in-room participants sometimes can’t get camera or microphone time because of where they’re sitting. This leaves everyone straining to see and hear what’s going on.

How can we use AV technology to better represent everyone in a meeting, regardless of where they are physically located?

Plenty of technology solutions promise to fix the audiovisual awkwardness between in-room participants and those on the far end of a call. But there’s more to the equation than just cameras and microphones. 

We need to consider how the entire room design contributes to meeting equity. Furniture layouts, room shape and size, wall coverings, windows, glass walls and other background materials affect not only the visual elements of a meeting, but also the acoustics and overall comfort and accessibility of a meeting space. 

To address the whole room and the whole meeting experience, PPI works closely with architects, interior designers and other trades to provide the best setup for connection and collaboration. Then, on top of these physical and architectural considerations, we add a layer of technology that further improves the hybrid meeting experience. 

We’re using a growing range of AI-driven hardware and software combinations that act as an automated production assistant for meetings. Tools such as Zoom’s Intelligent Director, Cisco’s Camera Intelligence, Poly Studio, Huddly Director, Q-Sys Intelligent Audio and Logitech’s Hybrid Meeting Equity Solutions can detect who is speaking and track the movement of participants, so no moment is lost. The software then crops and zooms in real-time to maintain the momentum of a conversation. 

New options are constantly evolving to provide a more comfortable hybrid meeting experience. PPI can help you look at the whole picture and envision a way to enhance physical spaces with smarter ways to virtually connect.