Systems Contractor News - The Integration Guide to Conferencing and Collaboration

A SUPPLEMENT TO

MAGAZINE

THE INTEGRATION GUIDE TO

CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION Hybrid AV Systems Support Employee Training and Corporate Classrooms

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1 BEYOND • ATLONA • AUDIO-TECHNICA • AURORA • EPOS HALL TECHNOLOGIES • SONY • YAMAHA

CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE

CONTENT

VP/Content Creation Anthony Savona Content Director Mark J. Pescatore, Ph.D. mark.pescatore@futurenet.com Contributor Carolyn Heinze Group Art Director Nicole Cobban Art Editor Rob Crossland Production Managers Nicole Schilling, Heather Tatrow A DV E R T I S I N G S A L E S

Vice President, AV/Consumer Electronics & Pro Audio Adam Goldstein, adam.goldstein@futurenet.com SALES

John Casey, john.casey@futurenet.com Janis Crowley, janis.crowley@futurenet.com Zahra Majma, zahra.majma@futurenet.com Debbie Rosenthal, debbie.rosenthal@futurenet.com Andi Tureson andi.tureson@futurenet.com

Welcome to Today’s Corporate Classroom Companies Need to Balance Needs of Remote, In-Person Employees in the Hybrid Environment

Senior Vice President, B2B Rick Stamberger VP, Sales & Publishing, B2B Aaron Kern VP, B2B Tech Group Carmel King VP, Sales, B2B Tech Group Adam Goldstein Head of Production US & UK Mark Constance Head of Design Rodney Dive FUTURE US, INC.

By Carolyn Heinze

T

he hybrid workplace is here to stay—at least for the forseeable future. At the height of the pandemic, organizations focused on how to bring employee training to a fully remote workforce; now, they face the challenge of providing adequate instruction to team members that may be in the office or working from home. The task of deploying the technology to support hybrid employee training falls to AV designers and integrators, as they work with their clients to re-envision what today’s corporate classroom should look like.

The good news is this exercise isn’t entirely new. Since March 2020, higher education institutions have been forced into the hybrid learning model and are, therefore, a good source for guidance on how to deploy these spaces in the corporate environment. “The enterprise world should borrow lessons learned from the educational space for sure,” said Christopher Jaynes, founder and CTO at Mersive Technologies Inc., a collaboration and presentation software developer headquartered in Denver, CO. “There’s a rich community of users, there’s a rich community of people that are in IT and technology that are thinking very specifically about how students learn.”

One issue organization across the globe are grappling with is how to maintain equity in hybrid meetings. This same concern applies to the corporate classroom. This is concerning to Jaynes because “equity” often means a compromised in-person experience or a sub-par remote experience (or both).

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CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE He cited examples of on-site employees attending hybrid Video in a hybrid corporate classroom must also be meetings in the corporate conference room, only to be instructed expanded to include everyone in the room, not just the trainer. to participate via their laptops—while sitting next to each The larger the space, the more cameras will be required. It is other—so their remote colleagues have equal footing. He argued also necessary to determine whether the cameras will be that this is not the way to provide the best operated manually or if they need to feature experience possible to either group. automated tracking functionality. Again, the This isn’t to say that remote participants size of the space and the sophistication of the should be ignored, Jaynes said. They need to be training session will determine this. Some able to hear what’s going on in the classroom, and sessions may warrant dedicated camera multi-camera systems should afford them a clear operators, whereas others may not merit this view of the room and its occupants. It should also investment. Regardless, remote participants be possible to get everyone’s attention when they should have a clear view of everyone, including have a question. facial expressions.

At the same time, the physical learning space Stoltze also pointed out the need for should allow for an engaging in-person session. additional video displays in the corporate “People went there because they didn’t want the classroom. On-site participants should be able remote experience, they wanted an in-person to see their remote counterparts, which experience,” Jaynes added. “You’ve got to design Christopher Jaynes mandates one or more displays within their line for that.” of sight. Plus, the trainer needs to see the

Expanded Audio and Video Needs Like Jaynes, Holger Stoltze, director of product management at Yamaha Unified Communications in Sudbury, MA, encourages AV designers and integrators working on corporate classrooms to look to higher education for inspiration. Specifically, he points to how universities have configured their audio systems to accommodate hybrid learning.

Pre-COVID, the design goal behind most corporate classrooms was to deliver a one-to-many experience. The trainer was miked and recorded, and the audience was not. In a hybrid scenario, this is no longer adequate. Remote participants must not only be able to hear the trainer; during more interactive sessions, they must hear their colleagues as well.

This need for interactivity means miking the entire room with ceiling microphones and/or tabletop mics (depending on the size of the venue). It also requires some form of audio switching or DSP programming that will prioritize the microphones according to who is speaking at any given time, with the highest priority reserved for the trainer. “You need to be able to capture everything that’s being said by anybody in the room,” Stoltze explained.

remote participants in order to address them or answer questions when they raise their hand or signal, via the conferencing platform, that they’d like to speak. Often, this requires at least a second display or more, depending on how many people are attending virtually.

“You actually need a second set of displays at the far end so the trainer can see the people who are in the room as well as the people who are remote,” Stoltze said. “It’s actually an easy solution, or a comparatively easy solution, but it costs money and doubles some of the investment.” However, he added, to succeed at hybrid learning, the additional investment is necessary for both instructors and participants to be able to enjoy as natural a training session as possible.

Training for Training At AVI-SPL, a digital enablement solutions provider headquartered in Tampa, FL, Sean Edwards thinks a lot about corporate training. As manager of global training and adoption services at the firm, he works with clients to teach them how to use the technology that they will apply to their own collaboration and training sessions.

With organizations in various stages of return-to-work—

“It’s great to be proactive and set some remote or virtual session, so users can familiarize themselves with the technology before they even come back to the office.”

Sean Edwards, AVI-SPL 4

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INTEGRATION GUIDE CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION and, of course, with many adopting a hybrid work strategy—he said much of the training the firm is offering is in virtual format.

Through 30 to 60-minute training sessions, Edwards and his team offer refresher classes and new training so that users are more comfortable with the tech once they’re on site.

“It’s great to be proactive and set some remote or virtual sessions, so users can familiarize themselves with the technology before they even come back to the office,” Edwards explained. “In a lot of cases, it’s been 18 months since folks have been in the office. Not only have they gotten away from the technology that may have been there, but in many cases the technology has actually changed.”

AVI-SPL also offers in-person training, and supplements what’s covered in class with flipbooks, quick-start guides, and on-demand Sean Edwards videos, so users have something to refer to as they use the technology. The same material is also accessible via QR code for those who don’t wish to touch a “communal” flipbook. (The firm has been providing resources via QR code for a

number of years, but the pandemic has rendered the solution more popular.) Edwards encourages clients to distribute these digital resources on their organizations’ intranet so employees can access them at their own convenience.

While higher education offers insight into how to best approach hybrid corporate learning environments, it remains a work in progress for both. “There’s not going to be a moment in time where we [can say] ‘it’s done, we’ve achieved some new model,’” Jaynes said. “That’s never been the case anyway, to be honest, because everything is always evolving.”

What has changed is that the trends that existed prior to COVID-19 have been pushed to the forefront. “It really has been this accelerated process,” he added. “I was hearing things like, ‘I don’t want a control panel on my table anymore’ from customers, and before the pandemic it had nothing to do with, ‘I don’t want people touching things.’ People just wanted to use their own devices. Those trends have just accelerated.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor.

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At Issue When it comes to conferencing and collaboration, why is it important for companies to invest in tools beyond a laptop’s built-in camera, microphone, and speakers?

Gary Boxx Director of Marketing, Audio-Technica US While the built-in items on your laptop may be acceptable for impromptu casual communications, the ultimate goal is to recreate an in-person meeting as closely as possible, and that often involves external tools. In the business world, achieving a high-fidelity conferencing experience is an absolute must.

It can be argued that clear audio is the most important aspect. A conference without video is inconvenient, but without audio it is over. With regard to a one-to-one conference, a simple headset can go a long way in recreating the articulation and intimacy of your voice while blocking out distractions; however, larger-scale meetings will require a bit more planning based on the type of room and number of participants. Luckily, we have experienced major advancements in transducer design to address the audio conferencing needs of companies large and small.

Kelly Gragg Marketing Manager, 1 Beyond In today’s hybrid meetings and classes, we have a combination of in-room and remote participants.

There is a growing desire to have equitable participation between both. The days of static wide shot cameras in conference rooms are quickly fading away. Remote participants are wanting to see 6

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close-up camera shots of the in-room participants.

This is where a sophisticated, voice-activated camera switching solution is becoming the new normal. With features like broadcast-style camera cuts, side-by-side conversation mode and variable layouts for content and video, in-room and remote participants can now be seen as equals in meetings and in the classroom.

Holger Stoltze Director of Product Management, Yamaha Unified Communications The audio and video quality of laptops vary significantly. That’s because even the best laptops are built with audio and video components meant for only a single user who must sit directly in front of the screen for optimal quality.

If more than one person is participating in a meeting using a laptop, it can result in a bad experience on the far end.

To ensure all employees have the same high-quality experience, external components should be standardized. For example, purpose-built USB conferencing devices deliver clear audio through intelligent audio processing, which currently isn’t available in laptop microphones and speakers.

“A conference without video is inconvenient, but without audio it is over.”

Gary Boxx, Audio-Technica US

CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE Mark Bonifacio Director, B2B Business Management, Sony Electronics Laptop and mobile devices’ built-in cameras and speakers often aren’t high-quality solutions optimized for conferencing and collaboration. Being able to clearly see and hear a speaker is paramount to fostering engagement and maximizing retention, which is why superior production tools are often used in place of more standard cost-effective solutions.

Long-term memories are created using our senses, so messages delivered with top-notch audio and video tend to be more professional and memorable. It’s challenging to present content, maintain focus, and recall information delivered

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alongside choppy audio or video. When a project begins, time and money are spent planning and implementing technology to enhance collaboration, which should start with pristine audio and video.

Ken Eagle Vice President of Technology, Hall Technologies A laptop with built-in camera and speakers is great when you are the only person who needs to join the videoconference.

But what happens when more than one person is in the meeting room and you all need to participate? For example, if a second person in the meeting wants to speak or be on

CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE camera, should they stand behind you so that your laptop’s camera can see them? Of course not.

For this reason, conference rooms and meeting spaces are equipped with conference cameras that can view everyone in the room, one or more microphones that can pick up multiple speakers, and audio speakers that can output sound that everyone in the room can hear. Hall Technologies offers engineering conference and collaboration solutions designed to interact with all of the peripheral devices that may be in a meeting space, while also allowing you to use the familiar soft codec conference solution on your laptop.

Paul Harris CEO/CTO, Aurora Multimedia A user’s laptop and speaker are not enough in a huddle or conference room, as they only address the individual and not the group. True unified communication creates an environment where the local and remote people collaborate effortlessly. It is even more important for the remote user—they will be at a disadvantage, as the content will not be the same clarity, and they may not be able to see expressions and body language of people or interact with content that is not electronic. Investing in tools that solve these issues will be important for the future workforce collaboration.

“True unified communication creates an environment where the local and remote people collaborate effortlessly.”

Paul Harris, Aurora Multimedia 10

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Joe Debold Vice President of Sales, Enterprise, EPOS At the beginning of the pandemic, audio glitches in meetings were common—and most people were forgiving. But as the world transitions into a “new normal,” expectations have changed.

People don’t have as much patience for suboptimal virtual meetings anymore, and equipping employees with high quality audio and video technology is essential to a smooth-running business.

Anyone can yell at their laptops on their desks. At EPOS, we apply world-leading research, through our collaboration with our parent company Demant and Oticon, on how the brain perceives sound. Based on this insight, we design our audio processing with the specif ic aim to reduce the cognitive load in the brain to help increase workplace productivity.

Garth Lobban Director of Marketing, Atlona Businesses require solid tools within their collaboration rooms today.

Hybrid working environments continue, and a lack of clear communications adds fatigue. Productivity rises when we make it easier for people to communicate.

That means providing high-quality microphones with DSP technology to enhance voice capture and reduce echo, and investing in cameras that broaden the field of view.

Built-in laptop tools will simply not reproduce audio or visualize the collaborative spirit needed for clear communication and business productivity. We succeed when audio technology contributes to voice intelligibility and noise cancellation, and we integrate video tools that clearly capture everybody in the room.

CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION INTEGRATION GUIDE

Audio-Technica ES954 The ES954 Hanging Microphone Array is an ideal, cost-effective solution for huddle rooms, conference rooms, and other meeting spaces. Intended primarily for videoconferencing applications, the ES954 may be used singly or in multiples to capture every person speaking in a room, with the total number of channels restricted only by the capacity of the mixer or DSP device controlling the system. The ES954 comes with a plenum-rated AT8554 Ceiling Mount with RJ45 connectors and push-type wire terminals.

Yamaha YVC-200 The Yamaha YVC-200 Portable USB + Bluetooth Speakerphone supports superior audio quality for remote meetings conducted whenever, wherever.

The speakerphone leverages Yamaha’s leading audio processing technologies, including acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and human voice activity detection, which focuses on speech rather than background noise. The intelligent microphone delivers full-duplex conversation without sound dropouts, while the powerful speaker produces audio that feels as if every participant on the call is in the room.

Atlona AT-HDVS-CAM The Atlona AT-HDVS-CAM series delivers professional-grade video superior in image quality to conventional webcams. Atlona recently expanded the series with two purpose-built for HDBaseT and HDMI interfacing. The AT-HDVS-CAM-HDMI and AT-HDVS-CAM-HDBT join the original AT-HDVS-CAM (with USB 2.0 interface only) to provide integrators with flexible options for videoconferencing, lecture capture, distance learning, and other applications. Features include professional-quality imaging for video resolutions up to 1080p@60 Hz, fast and accurate auto-focusing, and a quick pan-and-tilt mechanism with minimal noise.

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INTEGRATION GUIDE CONFERENCING & COLLABORATION Aurora Multimedia IPX-UC1 The IPX-UC1 ULTRA unified communications processor is capable of simultaneous 4K encode and decode over a single cable with zero compression or lossless compression with zero frame latency. What really separates the IPX-UC1 is the ability to stream 10G, 1G, and 10/100 at the same time in both directions. Intel processor with 1TB SSD running Windows, H.264, H.265, NDI, scaling, windowing, and more are all part of the highly integrated platform.

1 Beyond Automate VX Paired with beamforming array microphones from Shure, Sennheiser, Yamaha, and Biamp, Automate VX is the great equalizer in today’s hybrid meeting rooms and classrooms.

Featuring close-up camera shots of the in-room participants, broadcast-style cuts, side-by-side conversation mode, and variable layouts, Automate VX follows the conversation and switches automatically based on who is speaking in the room.

Remote and in-room participants alike have an equal look and feel, which creates better collaboration during meetings and classes.

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EPOS EXPAND Vision 3T The EPOS EXPAND Vision 3T is an all-in-one video collaboration solution for today’s smart office. Join meetings with just one touch and perform like you’re there in person. Enhance collaboration with full HD video and exceptional voice pickup and noise cancellation—powered

by EPOS AI. Simple to set up, simple to install.

Comes Microsoft Teams certified or optimized for leading SIP-based UC solutions. Enjoy a natural meeting experience, and benefit from facial expressions, body language, and voices with exceptional clarity that boost productivity.

Hall Technologies EMCEE200 The EMCEE200 is a multiview presentation switcher scaler with Picture-in-Picture (PIP) and Picture-Over-Picture (POP) capabilities. It can process up to four 4K@60 video sources with zero latency and gives “confidence” and “present” HDMI outputs in different window layouts. With a built-in dual mic mixer and a wide range of audio embedding and de-embedding options, EMCEE is a perfect companion for any type of presentation. EMCEE can not only record the presentation to an external storage device, but also provides USB 3.0 4K capture to stream live with no additional hardware.

Sony BRAVIA Make meetings more productive and add impact to videoconferences and collaborative projects with the superb 4K image quality of BRAVIA Professional Displays.

Work smarter with business-focused features, flexible integration, and efficient operation.

Wirelessly share screenshots, pointer movements, and handdrawn annotations between a display and your own device. Add in Sony remote cameras and beamforming ceiling microphone for detailed video and crisp sound in meeting rooms and huddle spaces.

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