Puzzle Vol. 7: Technology

VOL. 7

PUZZLE

TECHNOLOGY

B Y TA N G R A M I N T E R I O R S

PUZZLE T ECH NOLOGY

OUR LOCATIONS

ABOUT TANGRAM Tangram is an innovator in the design and execution of highly creative interior

SANTA FE SPRINGS 9200 Sorensen Avenue

environments and workspaces. The firm collaborates with clients as a creative partner to create and manage environments that enhance the client’s brand and culture through the expert integration of technology, furniture, floor coverings and service solutions. It creates extraordinary value by providing a remarkable

NEWPORT BEACH

experience throughout each customer’s life cycle of needs. A flagship dealer for

1375 Dove Street, Suite 300

Steelcase, Tangram also represents hundreds of other well-known leading brands.

CONTACT US DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 527 West 7th Street, Suite 1204

Headquarters: 9200 Sorensen Avenue Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

BAKERSFIELD 7415 Meany Avenue

FOLLOW US FRESNO 677 West Palmdon Drive, Suite 101

instagram.com/TangramInteriors facebook.com/YourOfficeInspired

RIVERSIDE 1650 Spruce Street, Suite 302

TA NGR A M

I NT E R I OR S

© Puzzle Vol. 7 - Technology

562.365.5000 tangraminteriors.com

A LETTER FROM MARKETING Work looks different today. In a direct response to the pandemic, companies shifted into survival mode, incorporating immediate measures to make work possible. Videoconferencing became a newfound necessity with Zoom reporting in June that their revenue had skyrocketed 169% from the prior year.

That being said, the course of action we initially put into place was never meant to be sustainable. We used temporary measures because we believed this to be a temporary situation. However, while some companies have returned to the office and others have settled into working from home, we can’t deny that the level we require and the way we interact with technology has dramatically changed.

We now exist in a mixed-presence environment, some employees in the office while others work from home; and some students returning to the classroom while others continue their education virtually. Therefore, the expectation for how we approach collaboration has to drastically change. Luckily, there is technology that has long existed and been proven as effective to not only allow for collaboration, but also cultivate it in new and exciting ways.

As we collectively plan for how each of our organizations can flourish amidst unprecedented times, we want to share a selection of technology that we believe to be vital in maintaining and encouraging collaboration, innovation and connection in (and out of) the workplace and classroom. We hope this collection inspires you.

Wishing your health and wellbeing,

Paul Smith, Chief Marketing Officer

Returning to the Office THE MODERN LAW FIRM

In the Time of COVID-19 Originally Published on Steelcase.com

4

RETURNING TO THE OFFICE

The data says we won’t be at home forever. Explore the research about how workplaces and home offices will need to adapt in the future.

Workers desire and leaders expect to return to the office.

Executives expect to bring people back to the office in waves over time.

Qualitative research about returning to the office fell into three main groupings.

65% of employees back on-site by end of June 80% of employees back on-site by end of September 88% of employees back on-site by end of December

Most people want to return to the office when it is less risky.

McKinsey & Company: How US Companies Are Planning for a Safe Return to the Workplace, June 2020

Some people want to return as soon as it’s ready.

A few people want to continue working from home long term.

Steelcase COVID-19 Study, U.S., June 2020

RETURNING TO THE OFFICE

Increase in remote work and office work.

Leaders expect people will still want to come into the office, but also will be more likely to take advantage of existing work-from-home policies.

70﹪ expect increase in remote work 47﹪ expect an increase in office work An ecosystem of places can provide people with more choices for where they work. Organizations are starting to consider adding alternative or satellite locations to offer more options.

Steelcase COVID-19 Global Study, April 2020

Leaders know they’ll need to make changes to the office.

Types of changes leaders have made, or plan to make in the physical workplace

84%

physical separation of workstations

69%

install physical barriers between workstations

43%

replace handles and touch points with hands-free devices

41%

change surface materials to antiviral

McKinsey & Company: How US Companies Are Planning for a Safe Return to the Workplace, June 2020 (Percentage of respondents)

RETURNING TO THE OFFICE

Decision makers expect major shifts to happen post pandemic.

79%

63%

70%

58%

— infection control will become a top priority for furniture selection

— need for collaboration rooms that support distributed workers will increase

— employees will social distance upon returning to the office

— need for modular, flexible furniture will increase

The Need For Change: Retrofit and Reconfigure Despite more people working from home, leaders expect their real estate footprint to increase or stay the same.

Office Square Footage Increase

48%

Stay the Same 48% Decrease

4%

Workstation Square Footage Today, 98﹪ of workstations and meeting rooms need to change to support distancing requirements or provide a space divider that is at least 54 inches high.

Steelcase review of global customer data

Increase

41%

Stay the Same 47% Decrease

12%

Steelcase COVID-19 Global Study, April 2020

Room Reservation + Analytics

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Steelcase RoomWizard

Steelcase Workplace Advisor This long-term sensing analyzes how, when and why people use space providing results that allow you to create the best workplace to support people and work.

Steelcase continually enhances Workplace Advisor Subscription with new features, currently including Floorplan Occupancy, Steelcase Find, Efficiency, Auto Book and Auto Release, Workplace Advisor Technical Resources.

Steelcase Workplace Advisor

Steelcase Workplace Advisor

Steelcase RoomWizard RoomWizard is a web-based room scheduling system which offers a touch screen display providing real-time meeting information, right outside the room.

1

Steelcase Find App + Live Map

Steelcase Find App Together with Workplace Advisor Subscription and Microsoft Office 365, the Find app makes finding and reserving the best workspaces quick and simple. Whether you’re looking for a place to get focused on your own or collaborate with a group, Find quickly shows you what’s available and which amenities are present— from natural light to technology to whiteboards and more— minimizing the need to search for a space and saving you valuable time and energy.

Steelcase Find App

Steelcase Live Map

Steelcase Live Map Live Map’s user-friendly display pulls scheduling data from Microsoft Office 365 and occupancy data from Steelcase Workplace Advisor sensors to reveal the real-time availability of rooms, desks and workspaces.

Flexible Power

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Steelcase Flex Mobile Power

Steelcase Flex Mobile Power Steelcase Flex Mobile Power brings true mobility to the workplace.

Inspired by ceramic tableware, the sleek and smart mobile power solution gives teams and individuals the freedom to work anywhere they want.

Each mobile power unit is under three pounds and is equipped with three USB-C and one USB-A charging ports.

Steelcase Thread Thread is a freestanding power outlet that offers a workplace solution unlike any other. Its ultra-thin design lays nicely underneath the carpet. At a height of just 3/16 inches, Thread’s power track seamlessly integrates into a space, providing power to furniture and users, without impacting foot traffic.

Flexible Collaboration

Steelcase Virtual PUCK

Steelcase Virtual PUCK Virtual PUCK is a digital collaborative tool that allows meeting participants to share content wirelessly from a laptop from anywhere in the room.

Steelcase Virtual PUCK

Steelcase media:scape media:scape integrates technology and furniture to bring people, space and information together for a collaborative work environment and more productivity than ever before.

Steelcase media:scape

Crestron Flex R-Series Cart

Crestron Flex Zoom Room

Crestron Flex Series Crestron Flex gives you the flexibility to create a room system, add a device or turn any space into a dynamic collaboration place. Designed to work with what you have, you can connect any laptop via a USB to run any of the most popular platforms, including Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype and more.

Crestron Flex R-Series Cart A first-of-its-kind, rapid deployment solution, Crestron Flex R-Series is a mobile UC system that brings collaboration where it’s needed most, closing the distance between remote teams wherever they may be.

Crestron Flex UC-C160-T

Crestron Flex UC-C160-T The Crestron Flex UC-C160-T system provides a customizable video conference room solution for use with the Microsoft Teams intelligent communications platform. It supports single or dual video displays, and features the UC Engine Assembly with UC ENGINE and 10.1 in. touch screen.

Steelcase Microsoft Surface Hub 2S Enable teamwork anywhere with Surface Hub 2S, an all-in-one digital whiteboard, meetings platform, and collaborative computing device that brings the power of Windows 10 to teamwork.

Steelcase Roam Steelcase Roam is a system of mobile stands and easy-to install wall mounts co-developed with Microsoft for the new Surface Hub 2S, giving teams the freedom to collaborate anywhere.

DTEN D7

DTEN D7

DTEN D7 DTEN D7 is an all-in-one video collaboration solution for Zoom. An award-winning, all-in-one, plug and play video conferencing solution for unparalleled collaborations, DTEN D7 is a single device for video conferencing, whiteboarding and sharing documents.

DTEN ME

DTEN ME

DTEN ME DTEN ME is an all-in-one personal collaboration device for your home office. Ultra-thin, ultra-light, ultraresponsive, crystal clear audio and equipped with a smart camera.

Do you miss your markerboard?

THE MODERN LAW FIRM

Embracing the Future of Collaborative Technology From Tangram's Second Safest Webinar Series

30

DO YOU MISS YOUR MARKERBOARD?

After gaining a diverse set of valuable insight from several roundtable discussions with industry giants and innovative clients, we launched the Second Safest Workplace webinar series beginning in June.

We continued the series with Do You Miss Your Markerboard? as Mark Coxon, Tangram Sales Director of Technology, and Joe Way, USC Director of Learning Environments, put their heads together and discussed best practices and recommended tools for integrating collaboration within teams working from home, office and classroom.

“If you work for a business with a ‘work is done here’ culture, then you’re likely experiencing a bit of culture shock.”

— Mark Coxon, Tangram Tech Sales Director

When organizations made a quick shift to 100% remote work back in March, the transition to digital collaboration began.

Most picked up tools in the immediate scramble, ie Zoom.

But Zoom is a tool not a strategy, says Coxon. So now we find ourselves in an audit phase to evaluate the way we’ve been working and we’re asking ourselves, ‘What’s missing?

Where is the gap?’

How do we establish an equal space for everyone in a collaborative setting, both those physically and digitally present? The problem we’re facing is that innovation tends to happen when people are in the same room, bouncing off of one another like atoms, says Coxon. A physical workspace allows for stacking tools so that multiple flows and tasks can coexist and continue on past the meeting itself. However, the online collaborative tools we’re currently working with are too linear and the process takes too long. Therefore, innovative companies are understanding that Zoom isn’t enough— there’s a big piece missing.

"We need to go from survive to thrive.”

— Mark Coxon, Tangram Tech Sales Director

The Digital Classroom Joe Way was in the process of transitioning USC to greater remote and hybrid learning before everything hit in March.

What schools are working with now is a short-term solution to a long-term problem, says Way. And because some students and faculty won’t be comfortable returning to the physical classroom, universities need to transition from survival mode to a sustainable solution if they want to facilitate fruitful learning environments.

“The reason to be together is to mind map, to take ideas and turn them into something tangible. That is extremely difficult to do on a Zoom call because everyone won’t be engaged.”

— Joe Way, USC Director of Learning Environments

Can you teach and lecture on Zoom? Absolutely. But the issue lies in the inability to gauge how much of it is actually absorbed because the reality is, people are getting better at multitasking while on Zoom calls, says Way.

DO YOU MISS YOUR MARKERBOARD?

“The questions faculty are asking are changing, and that says a lot to me.

It tells me they’re adapting. It also tells me that Zoom is not sufficient.

You have to do more to create an engaging and effective teaching space.”

— Joe Way, USC Director of Learning Environments Solutions How can workers, students and faculty alike experience enhanced learning and collaboration while in separate spaces?

Breakout Groups For both office and classroom, the ability to engage in breakout groups on most collaborative platforms is often overlooked. For example, on Zoom, the presenter can assign participants into breakout “rooms” for a certain amount of time. Methods like this increase engagement and participation, and often eliminate the need for follow-up calls.

Secondary Camera Most spaces aren’t set up for presentation/presenter mode.

Taking as small of a step as having a secondary camera (360-degree camera or a presenter-tracking camera) that better emulates an audience view makes it easier for the viewers to process what is being shared because it feels more familiar to in-person meetings or lectures.

RoboTRAK is an IR lanyard-based camera tracking system. It provides a smooth, accurate panning and tilting motion that follows the instructor as they walk around the presentation area of a classroom, eliminating the need for a camera operator.

Meeting Owl Pro is the top 1080p resolution 360° smart video conferencing camera. It automatically highlights and shifts focus to different people in the room when they speak so you know what's happening as if you're there.

Dynamic Presentations Tools like Prezi allow for dynamic presentations where you can incorporate your content as a part of your video background. This may not seem revolutionary, but the reality is, the brain can’t simultaneously read and listen—those 5 seconds that your content is up is 5 seconds where your voice is tuned out. So concurrent words and vocals can make all the difference.

DO YOU MISS YOUR MARKERBOARD?

Video Wall + Zoom Office Hours Having a video wall in the classroom that displays a faculty member’s virtual students allows for them to feel more connected and engaged to audience response and participation. And to further bridge the faculty-student disconnect, establishing Zoom office hours where students can jump in at any time allows for a more relaxed conversation outside of the formal virtual lectures that typically take place on the platform. We need to learn how to engage everyone, not just the people in the room, says Way.

Digital Whiteboards It’s safe to say, we’re all missing the high-energy whiteboard collaborative sessions with our coworkers. Here are some product and software suggestions to help bring the whiteboard online and enhance digital brainstorm sessions: Oblong Mezzanine: Meeting participants can share multiple streams of content, from multiple locations, all at the same time. Innovative and more effective ways of working become possible, because when teams can see more and share more, they can do more.

Nureva Span Workspace: Pave the way for better distributed teamwork. Choose visual collaboration tools that make it easy for people to map workflows and stay aligned – even when they’re working from home. Teams go farther, faster, with Span Workspace.

DTEN ME: An all-in-one personal collaboration device for your home office. Ultra-thin, ultra-light, ultra-responsive,crystal clear audio and equipped with a smart camera.

Rethinking the Purpose of Meetings Brilliant ideas are most often born out of organic, serendipitous interaction and the best conversations happen free of agenda. On the other end of the spectrum, Zoom calls always have topics and tasks, and relationship-building is ultimately left out of the equation.

A recent study of meetings rendered the outcome that of an hour-long meeting, only 17 minutes are actually task-focused and the other 43 minutes are spent on miscellaneous topics.

These issues we’re facing now aren’t new—they existed in the office too. They’re just more obvious digitally where we can’t overlook or make up for shortcomings. In order to make our digital meetings more meaningful, we have to rethink the purpose of a meeting itself.

A solution may be to lay out roles for participants ahead of time, giving purpose to everyone’s presence rather than allowing for passive existence. Roles create accountability and engagement, but most importantly, keep the collaborative momentum moving forward, even when the innovators are miles apart.

Reception Spaces

NoviSign Novitizer Hand-Sanitizing Digital Signage Kiosk From killing bacteria to being able to reach your audience with targeted messages better, the digital hand sanitizer kiosk offers organizations an all-in-one solution for getting their messages seen.

Aurora Temperature-Check Tablet This infrared temperature sensor/ detector offers 1 second no-contact temperature scan from 3ft with +/0.5°F accuracy.

Aurora Temperature-Check Tablet

WiCanvas Digital Signage

WiCanvas Digital Signage Powered by Wistron’s display technology, Industrial PC capability and solution resources, WiCanvas is a digital signage total solution, including professional displays, media player, and Cloud-based software applications.

HyFlex Classroom

Barco weConnect Virtual Classroom weConnect Virtual Classroom guarantees a virtual learning experience that focuses on realtime engagement as professors can integrate quizzes, polls and silent questions on the spot.

Barco weConnect

Vaddio RoboTRAK RoboTRAK is an IR lanyardbased camera tracking system.

It provides a smooth, accurate panning and tilting motion that follows the instructor as they walk around the presentation area of a classroom, eliminating the need for a camera operator.

Vaddio RoboTRAK

HyFlex Classrooms THE MODERN LAW FIRM

Everything You Need to Know Originally Published on StemAudio.com

42

HYFLEX CLASSROOMS

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools were left closed for the spring semester and had to quickly move courses online for the remainder of the school year. With the fall semester here, schools are looking at a variety of options to accommodate students and teachers with a range of learning experiences. Some of the most popular course models that schools are offering for Fall 2020 include continued distance learning or fully online classes, as well as a new “HyFlex” format.

What is HyFlex Teaching?

The “HyFlex” or hybrid flexible course model combines elements of a hybrid learning course with a more flexible structure. This new instructional format gives students the option to attend class meetings in person, online, or a combination of both.

What Are the Benefits of HyFlex Teaching?

Having a HyFlex-enabled classroom offers a variety of benefits for students, staff, and schools. One benefit of this teaching model is that it allows for students to adhere to social distancing guidelines. With students having the option to choose their instruction model, there will be overall lower in-person attendance rates (with the exception of an initial period of students being allowed back in class after months without in-person instruction) and schools can still maintain similar class sizes. Students who want to participate in class in-person will also see an improvement in their mental health since they have gone so long without face-to-face interaction with their classmates.

Another benefit of the HyFlex format is that it increases student engagement. When courses are fully online with no set meeting dates, students are minimally engaged in the coursework. By adding HyFlex courses, students and instructors will be more engaged and interactive since there will be more human connection beyond simply watching a recorded lecture. With fewer students attending in-person courses, instructors have the potential to give more support to the students who need additional help.

“HyFlex really opens up options for greater opportunity for learning and connection. We all know everyone learns differently; some need more personal attention, some like to work independently. By giving the option of being with the teacher, at home, or even having a teacher be able to be remote gives all of those opportunities.”

— Joe Way, USC Director of Learning Environments

HyFlex instruction gives students more control of their learning experience by giving them the freedom to select their instructional method so they can have more of a choice in how they are learning. It also expands opportunities to experience guest lecturers and speakers through the use of video conferencing. “With the pandemic, we know safety has to be the first priority. HyFlex allows students and faculty to return to normalcy at their own pace, and as they feel comfortable. At USC we’re also seeing creative ways of using hybrid teaching, for example by allowing guest lecturers to join the conversation, which before wouldn’t be as possible due to travel costs,” says Way.

HYFLEX CLASSROOMS

Who's Doing It? With things changing on a day to day basis, it’s difficult for anyone to predict what the plan will be a week or even a month from now as the curve continues to fluctuate. Way explains, “We were lucky to already know what we were going to do; others had to scramble. Higher ed traditionally moves slow, while stock was drying up, and installation labor was tough to get on short notice. The technology is actually the easy part. Having to take a year’s worth of design, procurement, installation, and user training & socialization work and compress it into a few months, at scale, is the tough part. Overall higher ed has done a great job of it; however, we are overwhelmingly ready to support the students and faculty for whatever the fall semester looks like.”

Many other higher education institutions are also finding themselves needing to prepare their classrooms on campus to be outfitted for HyFlex courses for the upcoming semester including the University of San Diego, Texas A&M, Chapman University, Louisiana State University, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. To help with a smooth transition, the schools' IT departments could consider making a guide on what’s in the classroom and how to use it.

"HyFlex spaces are the future of work and education and will extend well beyond our current situation. The

benefits for remote participants in other offices or locations, for distance learning, and for recording meetings and discussions are far reaching and will provide value well beyond current restrictions on occupancy and gatherings."

— Mark Coxon, Tangram Technology Sales Director

What Do You Need to Get Your Classroom HyFlex Ready?

An Intuitive Video Conferencing Platform Of course, to conduct a HyFlex course, you need reliable video conferencing software. Your hardware products should all be able to connect and perform flawlessly with these programs. It’s also important to look at a conferencing platform that has some integrations with your learning management software. When comparing platforms, you should look for a platform that will allow instructors to screen share, annotate, record, and whatever else an instructor may need to do during a HyFlex course so that those who are participating online can be engaged or watch the lecture back at a later time. Our recommendations for conferencing platforms are Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.

HYFLEX CLASSROOMS

A Scalable Audio Solution It’s crucial to have a solution that will be easy for instructors to learn and use that won’t disrupt the flow of the class.

You not only need audio that’s reliable but scalable to fit in rooms of all shapes and sizes. Our recommendation for a complete audio solution: Stem Audio

The use of video conferencing has opened up a lot of doors in education and all around the world as we have gotten used to the idea of virtual participation. It’s become clear that alternative educational experiences are here to stay and schools will need to prepare their classrooms with flexible solutions that will help provide a smooth transition for these alternative teaching methods to be effective.

A Reliable Conferencing Camera

Example HyFlex Classroom Configurations:

When choosing a camera for a HyFlex classroom it’s important to identify the requirements it needs to meet.

For example, if you need to capture a certain field of view, you’ll need pre-sets or zoom capabilities. Some higher education institutions use dual cameras with a larger field of view and zoom to capture the classroom from the back to show the front of the class and another to show the view of the students. We recommend: AVer CAM 520 PRO or PTZ Optics 30X CAM.

Added Extra Interaction Another (optional) element to add to the classroom is an interactive board. Interactive boards are useful for increasing engagement for those who are in class and online students.

Students who are participating online can see how the instructor or how other students break down problems or discuss material on the boards, and the instructor can easily save the notes and share them with the class. Our recommendation for interactive boards: SMART Board, NEC Display Infinity Board, and Google Jam Board.

Virtual Tech Support

Barco Overture Overture is an effective campus-wide and enterprise A/V monitoring and control software solution.

It monitors, controls, and manages all A/V and other networked devices in multiple locations, and delivers a friendly, highly interactive user interface.

Barco Overture

Teleportivity Virtual Customer Experience Teleportivity lets you scale, push and pull your very best staff where they’re required; control high traffic locations; and provide a constant, seamless customer experience, perfectly complementing the mobile platform to create a holistic, unparalleled customer experience.

Videoconferencing Enhancement

Meeting Owl Pro

HuddleCamHD Pro With an ultra-crisp 4K sensor, this webcam will take your video conferencing and live streaming projects to the next level. Capture beautiful video in 4k and zoom in just like a broadcast PTZ camera with loss-less digital zoom. Zoom in to and create digital ePTZ presets that you can recall with the click of a button, using the included IR remote. Also included in its sleek design is an array microphone, enabling a complete solution.

Owl Labs Meeting Owl Pro Meeting Owl Pro is the top 1080p resolution 360° smart video conferencing camera. It automatically highlights and shifts focus to different people in the room when they speak so you know what's happening as if you're there.

HuddleCamHD Pro

Vaddio EasyIP 10 Camera

Vaddio EasyIP 10 Camera The EasyIP 10 Camera is an integral part of the EasyIP Ecosystem, an AV-over-IP solution for videoconferencing in small, medium and large conference rooms. It sends 1080p/60 resolution feeds to the EasyIP Ecosystem for delivery to UC soft clients and connects to a 1 GB PoE+ switch – eliminating the need for costly USB extensions.

Tangram was founded in 1963. Today, we are the leading interiors solutions provider in Southern California with offices in Downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Santa Fe Springs, Fresno, Bakersfield and Riverside.

TECHNOLOGY TA N G R A M L O O K B O O K