HOW COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION ARE CHANGING IN THE HYBRID WORKPLACE

by Monica Sun, Director of the Presentation Group, ViewSonic

Meeting the Challenges of Hybrid Work Head On

The nature of work has fundamentally changed, and it’s going hybrid: in fact, Gartner predicts that 40% of organizations will soon offer a blend of virtual and physical work experiences. The hybrid workplace has been a leading discussion across organizations after workplaces went back to in-person work, as many workers now expect a hybrid working environment. To meet the demand of this trend, many meeting spaces have recently had greater audio, video, and presentation sharing capabilities integrated so that employees could have similar experiences as remote work when they are in an office meeting room.

When it comes to hybrid meeting rooms, it’s not just the audiovisual devices themselves that make or break the room. Aspects such as flexibility, productivity, communication, and collaboration are crucial when setting up the meeting room. Wireless presentation solutions, for example, help teams develop, interact, and connect wirelessly.

Defining Spaces for Optimized Integration

The ideal setup for hybrid meetings depends on the number of participants and the meeting room’s purpose. This means that as early as the planning stage, organizations need to know exactly the purpose, expected scenarios, and budget of the room. ViewSonic provides a range of interactive displays to facilitate collaboration in both small and big meeting rooms.

For smaller meeting spaces that accommodate fewer than six people, one display would be sufficient for both presentation and collaboration, for example. For presentation-focused meetings, a non-touch presentation display would be suitable, whereas a touch-enabled ViewBoard would be suggested for collaboration meetings.

In medium-sized meeting spaces for six to twelve people, two displays would be suggested for both presentation-focused and collaborative meetings. A ViewBoard interactive display can foster production collaboration, and a presentation display works for presentations and communication.

For larger meeting rooms accommodating more than twelve people, to ensure the best visibility, one or two displays would be suggested. For content presentation purposes, a presentation display or Direct View LED Display would be the most effective, along with a digital podium equipped with a Pen Display for touch-enhanced presentation possibilities.

Taking Videoconferencing to the Next Level

The ViewBoard 62 Series is the overall ideal solution for hybrid meeting rooms as it provides both corporate and higher education organizations with a suite of advanced technologies for improved productivity and communications when conducting video meetings. Tradi tionally, video conferencing setups in meeting rooms have relied on cameras that capture the whole room. However, the ViewBoard 62 Series incorporates auto-framing and voice tracking in the All-in-one conference camera to ensure that whoever is speaking can be seen. With this functionality in place, attendees no longer need to raise their hands or stand to get everyone’s attention.

Using myViewBoard Display, without prior installation of any software, participants can share their desktop to their wirelessly displayed presentations by accessing a browser and syncing to the display’s ID and one-time password. In this way, sharing is simple and that leads to new opportunities in productivity.

Why Audio Matters in Meeting Collaboration

ViewSonic’s solutions are more than just visual as well — we’re also committed to offering groundbreaking audio quality that enhances meeting and collaboration experiences. The ViewBoard 52 Series was created as our latest collaboration with Harman Kardon, for example.

When holding meetings in a larger

Conference Speakerphone has a 360-degree sound coverage of up to six meters to facilitate communication, meaning remote conversations can take place as if they were in-person ones.

Consistent Upkeep, Training Pays Off

After setting up a hybrid meeting space, it’s important to consistently maintain the space. This means updates to the devices and frequent maintenance are needed to ensure the smooth operation of the hybrid equipment. In the meantime, to foster a productive collaborative environment, employee training is essential. They should be trained on updated meeting room technology so that they can fully take advantage of this technology.

Flexibility and Communication Play A Key Role Moving Forward

With the right communication and collaboration solutions in place, organizations and employees can optimize their in-person workplaces to meet the challenges of hybrid work. Whether working in-person in small-to-large-sized meeting spaces, or collaborating remotely, ViewSonic offers organizations and employees a diverse range of solutions for meeting spaces with the flexibility and enabling of productivity they need to help them join the future of work and a better normal.