Video conferencing equipment benefits

Over the past decade businesses’ have slowly been adopting video conferencing as an answer to multi-location meetings. The drastic rise in video conferencing in the past 12 months is expected to continue, even after the coronavirus pandemic is over and workforces return to working in the office. During the pandemic, companies have witnessed the benefits of video conferencing first-hand, they have enabled mobile workforces and maintained communications from a distance.

Since video conferencing has been whole-heartedly adopted, companies and employees continue to adopt better video conferencing equipment and facilities. Among these upgrades, employees are likely to demand more sophisticated video, audio, and visual quality.

AI in video conferencing

Another technology that will go hand-in-hand with video conferencing technology is artificial intelligence (AI). This technology will work with video and audio technology; AI in cameras will count how many people are in the room and track them, while audio technology AI will manage and engineer the audio of the speakers ensuring background noise such as office chatter or home noise like washing machines are minimised.

Poor sound quality can be a major pain point in many meetings, it is important that any steps to minimise background sounds are taken. Many businesses are installing video conferencing booths into the office which are upholstered with acoustically retardant fabrics. These fabrics prevent sound from outside the booth, such as office buzz, phones ringing and printers, disturbing the important conversations being had.

How meetings have changed

Even before the pandemic, the way that employees were meeting and collaborating at work was already beginning to change. There was a shift in long tedious meetings being replaced with smaller, more focused groups for shorter periods of times. These ‘new’ meetings meant that there was less demand for large meeting rooms and meeting spaces evolved into huddle rooms and informal collaborative spaces.

Communication is going to change when businesses return to their offices, there will be a hybrid workforce with people working from where they want to work rather than where their employer wants them to work. This shift in workforces will lead to more audio and video calls from all employees. Even conversations that were traditionally had on phone calls have slowly moved over to Zoom or Microsoft Teams since the pandemic started. These calls are not going to regress back to the phone, but rather, they will remain as video calls.

It won’t just be video booths and home working that will see video conferencing remain in the workplace post-pandemic. Hybrid working will lead to hybrid meetings with a mixture of in-person and virtual attendees.

Video conferencing is more engaging.

When there is no video in a meeting, participants feel disconnected from other members and are more likely to zone out and multitask. When cameras are turned on, however, the pressure to maintain eye contact increases meeting engagement.

You’ve probably experienced it yourself, when each conference member is visible, communication is heightened. Whereas when people are hidden behind their profile picture, they are less inclined to partake in conversation.

Reduce your costs!

Be more efficient by eliminating your explicit and implicit costs by meeting your employees, co-workers and clients easily in one place at your convenience.

It is not just that travel is time-consuming, but it is also expensive. Whether people are travelling for training, conferences, or business meetings, often in-person communications can be accomplished by video conferencing.

Improve Your collaboration

Verbal communication is important, but it is not the only way that people communicate. In fact, 93% of all communication is nonverbal. Audio meetings can neglect integral parts of the conversation which are achieved with face-to-face chats, without these factors’ communication isn’t always effective and it can lead to more confusion.

Enjoy a greener experience

A simple change can make a big difference. Cut down on your travel time and have the knowledge that you are making a difference Let’s work together and reduce our carbon footprint to make our world a greener place.

Access your human resources

Video conferencing allows multi-point meetings across the world giving you an inexpensive, easy and convenient way to gather all your indispensable employees at the same time.

Connect far apart teams

Increasingly companies are taking advantage of remote working and employing talent that is right for the job rather than being constrained to people that live locally. This means that teams are becoming increasingly separated. It is not just the employees that are far which is causing distance between teams, even teams that are normally in the office may be embracing the hybrid working and working from home models. Vast distances aren’t an issue with the right technology, teams can be bought together with video conferencing, whether it is for a more formal meeting, a collaborative session or just a spur-of-the-moment catch-up.

Increase attendance

Coordinating busy schedules can be a challenge, however, video conferencing allows people to attend without the hassle of commuting to the office or even moving from their desk. It also allows attendees to stay connected to their emails and teams chat, introducing a more tentative attendee that can be present and called on if needed but sits on mute and complete other work if the meeting doesn’t call for them.

Video Conferencing also allows attendees to retrospectively join a meeting. With recording capabilities, even when meeting attendees can’t make the meeting time or date, they don’t miss out on the information discussed at the meeting.

Video Conferencing Equipment in Education

It is not just corporate offices that benefit from video conferencing equipment. Education can also benefit from video conferencing equipment.

Video conferencing equipment in education offers schools the flexibility to create and customise teaching and learning solutions that not only facilitate blended learning but also enhance the teaching experience.

PTZ cameras in the classroom

Pan-tilt-zoom cameras are easy to use and enable blended and hybrid learning. When technology is being mass deployed it is an undeniably exciting experience but if it is not handled properly and the technology is not easy to use then it can quickly become a nightmare for pupils, teachers, and IT staff.

PTZ cameras with AI built in use facial recognition and image analysis to automatically track teachers as they walk around the room. This means that teachers can teach as they would with a classroom filled with students, they are not constrained to their desk. This feature also means that when teachers move around the classroom, students don’t miss out on teaching. This functionality conveniently eliminates the need for lecturers to wear extra devices and allows them to teach more naturally and fluidly.

Charge and store trolleys in the classroom

Charge and store trolleys help overcome future challenges schools may face with BYOD in the classroom. Lower-school teachers and pupils may not mind going back to pencils and paper; however, higher and further education have seen the benefits of working on a laptop whilst learning from home and are likely to want to regress.

If schools are now asking students to bring their own devices into the classroom, they need to be secure and there needs to be places for these devices to charge. Classrooms aren’t built to enable 30 students all charging their devices from the mains at the same time, there aren’t enough plugs or enough power. Charge and store trolleys allow students to lock away their devices when they aren’t using them, the trollies also charge the devices whilst they are being stored. Students can simply pick up their fully charged device from the trolley at the start of the lesson. 

Even for primary school years, there are “child-safe” charge and store trolleys with heightened safety measures. These primary school alternatives give both parents and teachers peace of mind knowing that it is not just the technology that is safe, but the pupils too.

Pro AV and Video Conferencing

People may think of professional video cameras when they think of broadcasting, streaming, and recording. However, the ease of use in PTZ cameras enables anyone to perfectly capture stunning content. Auto-tracking will follow a subject, without the need of a cameraman or the need to hire a professional AV technician.

Innovations in video conferencing equipment have proven they are the ideal solution for video capturing, with market-standard pinpoint accuracy and advanced targeting technology to accompany full HD resolution.

Here at the On Tour Events, we are constantly looking for ways to increase audience engagement, social media reach, and ultimately real business outcomes, We are more than just an audio visual hire company we offer solutions to branding your event & helping it grow. But how much should live streaming an event really cost if you don't have any equipment or expertise? Lucky we do offer a whole range of live streaming services from small to larger events while also offering 4G/5G bonded internet for those locations with poor internet.

So if you require sound equipment for your live stream, staging or a complete set design, or LED screens to form part of hybrid live streaming studio then your be pleased to know On Tour Events is a professional live streaming company based in the heart of London & the choice for many... but for now we will cover some other options for small events & tighter budgets.

So.... this is NOT an option for a professional event but....Luckily, you can always whip out your iphone, which is hopefully connected to a reliable Wi-Fi network, and start an off the cuff live stream, but for many events with more important goals this is fine for a birthday party & a great way to save money but, your business needs to think bigger in order to reap the benefits.