How AV Keeps Meetings on Track

We've all been in at least one poorly run meeting. In fact, some of us are in them regularly and businesses waste a lot of money on them. It's a noted problem for many organizations, from SMBs to Fortune 500 enterprises, but pinpointing the problem (or problems) can be a challenge. Meetings can be plagued with distractions and undermined by poor planning, but whatever the cause, inefficient meetings cost organizations time and money.AV solutions can help with that. Modern AV systems are designed to remove inefficiencies from meeting workflow, speeding up the process, and making meetings more engaging for all participants.

Inefficient Meetings Damage a Company's Bottom Line

Some meetings aren't run well enough to be worth the time. It's also true that some managers tend to include people who don't need to be in the meeting. Both are a drag on company productivity and resources.Plenty of research has been poured into the impacts of time-wasting meetings, and the bottom-line impact is massive. According to a study organized by Steven G. Rogelberg, a UNC professor specialized in meeting strategy, companies with at least 5,000 employees waste about $100 million a year on inefficient meetings, on average. The problem is felt among smaller organizations, too, as the typical SMB with 100 employees wastes more than $2 million every year on unproductive and inefficient meetings.Again, AV can help. Here are five ways AV technology can help improve your organization's meetings:

Video Conferencing: Noise Blocking and Automatic Framing Features

Top video conferencing solutions come with a variety of meeting-enhancing features, including features that can minimize distractions and improve the conferencing experience.For example, Poly's video conferencing systems come with Noiseblock AI and Acoustic Fence. Both detect and suppress ambient noises inside and outside the conference room. They work instantly and automatically by identifying non-human sounds through the room's microphones and muting them before they are outputted. Features like these are valuable for maintaining an ideal meeting environment.Camera framing can also be a distraction during conferencing, but professional-level cameras are designed with AI-assisted framing features that keep the speaker in frame and centered. No need to waste time positioning with such a camera.

AV Control Systems: Simple Touch Controls Speed Up Meeting Management

Technology should never get in the way of a productive meeting, but this can happen in rooms with insufficient AV controls in place. Room control solutions, like those offered by Crestron and Extron, are designed to centralize solution handling from a single control interface.Extron's TouchLink control panels, for example, provide a crisp visual interface that users can intuit right away. And as intuitive as they are, AV touch controls can be customized to an impressive degree. With a couple of taps, the meeting's presenter can set the room's lighting, audio, shades, and thermostat for the perfect collaboration environment. And when that's set, the presenter can launch a conference call with another tap. During the meeting, the same control panel can be used to mute participants, share content, share another screen, launch an application, or anything else AV-related with a tap or two.This is just one example, but the point is AV controls can eliminate the time-wasting technology fumbling that outdated conference rooms sometimes present.

Room Scheduling Software: Set the Agenda and Get Off to a Quick Start

Sometimes, meeting inefficiencies are baked right into the planning phase. If important team members aren't notified of the conference, if too many people are invited, if the location and time settings aren't clear, if the agenda isn't clear - you get the idea. Part of running an effective meeting is ensuring everyone arrives on time, in the right place, and is ready to go.Room scheduling solutions can help with all three. There are numerous scheduling solutions on the market, but they offer similar features. Specifically, room scheduling software can be used to schedule a new meeting (using calendar integration to find the perfect time), set the place and time, list everyone who will be involved, set the agenda, and provide any meeting-related content that can be used to brief participants before the meeting starts.Planned meetings are efficient meetings. Room scheduling software makes planning simple and effective.

Remote System Management: Ensure Each Room's Technology is Ready for Meetings

Almost all remote AV technology can be remotely managed, including room conferencing technologies. Remote management is a powerful way to consolidate AV oversight and allows your IT crew to handle hundreds of conference room systems wherever they are.Every AV manufacturer has their own approach to remote management, but standard features include remote updating, performance monitoring, network status monitoring, troubleshooting, and some remote controls, like powering on/off, restarting, or locking the system for security purposes.With remote management in place, it will be easier for IT to maintain conference room assets and quickly respond to any technical issues. This adds up to more reliable, and therefore more efficient meeting spaces.

Interactive Displays: Keep the Whole Team Engaged in More Effective Collaboration

Interactive displays like the Clevertouch may seem like a conference room luxury, but they can dramatically boost meeting engagement - and engaged teams are more effective collaborators.The Clevertouch, and other interactive flat panels, allow for multimodal presentations. Sound, vision, and tactile senses are all engaged while using the display, whether it's being used to drive a traditional presentation or used for small group collaboration at the screen. And with endless whiteboarding space, a built-in browser for bringing in content, and simple wireless connectivity for content sharing, the Clevertouch facilitates more interesting, more impactful meetings.

More Efficient and Effective Meetings Are Possible Through AV Solutions

Every organization could benefit from better meetings. And while many organization's meetings aren't as productive or expedient as they could be, there is a solution. Actually, there are many solutions available. AV solutions are designed to improve the meeting experience in many ways, including speeding them up and enhancing communication during them. In short, there's an AV tool for every meeting-related obstacle.