How Training Room Technology Makes A Difference For Businesses

Training room technology is upending the way companies are delivering important concepts to their professionals. It’s now clear that people need more than just a lecture if they are to commit anything to memory. And it’s now clear that if trainers are going to get the most out of their students, they better come armed with an engaging presentation. A/V solutions are designed to make this easier for trainers, giving them the audio and visual tools needed to make an impact. And with an experienced A/V integrator helping out, companies can optimize equipment selection and placement.

What training room technology should be considered essential?

There are plenty of options for mixing and matching training room technology, and much will depend on the space and what exactly a client plans on doing with it. There are some basic, foundational pieces of equipment, though, that are part of most A/V solutions. Things like interactive whiteboards, audio and video conferencing equipment, digital displays, zoned microphones and speakers, and various control hardware and interfaces to get the most out of the equipment. Training room technology and what it does is easy enough to understand, but why should companies commit effort and money into adopting A/V technology for their training spaces?

1. People learn when they have strong audio and visual cues – Look, people aren’t generally very good at listening. If all they have to go on is a lecture, it’s a guarantee that a lot of what is being said is not going to be retained. This is a fact of being human, so companies should plan for it.

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution to this. About 65 percent of the population is made up of visual learners. That means 2/3 of the population need an engaging visual aid to go with their training content. And the most engaging visual aid possible is a digital display that can deliver vivid, media-rich content. A combination of audio and visual ensures that people stay focused on the lesson and commit more to memory. If for no other reason, this alone should have businesses considering A/V solutions.

2. Presenters perform better when they have technology behind them – There’s a strong level of confidence that comes with having compelling images, media and audio backing a presentation. It’s tough delivering boring content because everyone knows it’s boring. No one likes to be thought of as boring, so give the trainer something they can work with.

Also, nothing throws a presenter off like someone yelling at them to speak up, or fiddling with an uncooperative PC. Although natural speakers can shrug off such disruptions, most people are not natural speakers. With reliable training room technology that works with the training room to produce the best possible experience, trainers can walk in knowing that what they say will be heard clearly, and the media they share will be delivered without fail.

3. Sometimes, collaboration is necessary – Not all training sessions are unilateral. Sometimes, everyone in the room has to be brought into the conversation. Sometimes, trainers prefer to brainstorm as a way to keep people in the moment. Collaboration has been a focus of A/V equipment developers for years, and they have the best solutions to offer to clients that prioritize group training exercises.

This normally comes in the form of interactive whiteboards, like the Google Jamboard. An interactive whiteboard can be connected to devices in the room, allowing many people to add ideas or media and annotate over existing presentation materials efficiently. The dry erase board is dead. Long live the interactive whiteboard.

And don’t overlook audio when prioritizing collaboration. It’s not easy to collaborate when people can’t hear each other. A/V integrators solve this problem by furnishing microphones for every participant, usually fixed directly to the table. The goal is to keep the ideas flowing, and A/V collaboration solutions keep the tap going.

4. Training can be scaled up with A/V solutions – Large corporations or government institutions may need to train hundreds of people at once, using the same materials. That’s a lot of training, but time may not permit stringing out so many sessions. This is yet another problem that is ameliorated with the presence of A/V technology.

Audio and video conferencing equipment, or video streaming equipment, can be utilized to deliver training content to many teams at once. With conferencing solutions, everyone is also part of the meeting, no matter how many people are involved. This means that questions can be asked and comments can be made, even if a trainer is handling a building full of people at once.

5. A/V solutions are long-term solutions – Reputable A/V integrators back their solutions up with long-term technical support, responding remotely or in person whenever a hiccup arises. This is just the endpoint in the client-integrator relationship, as integrators will assess a client’s needs, select the appropriate technology, diagram the system before installation and ensure everything is working once it is placed.

That kind of support prolongs the life of the system, but the equipment itself is built for many years of reliable use. Modern LED displays, for example, last much longer than older technologies, providing years of continuous use before there is any deterioration in display quality. By then, the display will have paid for itself many times over.

Finally, A/V integrators that maintain a long-term relationship with their clients can offer advice and assistance when product updates or new products are available. In this way, a company is always running the most cost effective training technology out there.

6. A/V technology is just plain fun – Training isn’t most peoples’ idea of fun, let’s be honest. But A/V solutions give presenters so many extra tools that they can stretch their creativity in creating innovative lesson ideas. Part of engaging trainees is giving them something they haven’t seen before. A/V solutions are ideal for just that, opening up the enormous world of online media to put together something memorable.

Put simply, modern training room technology is about enhancing the communication between trainer and trainee – providing a new way of delivering information that might be uninspiring if handled conventionally. A/V solutions have incredible potential in producing the kind of training environment that trainers love, and that professionals thrive in.