Imagine travelling long distances to just give a one-hour presentation to the management and then going back to another location to work. Sounds frustrating, right? Luckily, those days are over, and we must thank modern meeting solutions like Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) for that. Employees no longer have to spend time and money to travel for meetings.

As more companies follow the hybrid work model, meetings have also become hybrid. Hybrid meetings bridge the gap between in-office and remote workers, increase collaboration despite the distance, and improve employee productivity. They have saved the time and cost of attending meetings physically. 

Today, employees from offices and remote locations can share their screens or exchange files with each other in an instant. They can use automated note-taking tools to make notes or use whiteboards to explain ideas to the participants. Employees can also create breakout rooms to make smaller groups and collaborate more efficiently, just like it used to happen with in-person meetings. 

Meeting solutions like Microsoft Teams Rooms have made meetings more engaging, productive, and cost-efficient. Let’s learn more about this tool and how companies can use it to make meetings futuristic and efficient. 

About Microsoft Teams Rooms

Although many people use the terms Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Teams Rooms interchangeably, there’s a difference between them. Microsoft Teams is compatible with desktop and mobile devices and can be accessed through the web or a standalone application. 

Microsoft Teams Rooms are certified conference room hardware packages that deliver high-quality video, audio, and content sharing for meetings of varying sizes — from small huddle rooms to large meeting rooms. Microsoft Teams Rooms has helped companies in:

• Successfully transitioning meetings from being exclusively on-site to being hybrid
• Making hybrid meetings more inclusive through various unique features and setting a roadmap to make them more futuristic
• Boosting productivity and making both real-time and asynchronous meetings a reality

With Microsoft Teams adding more than 280 million monthly active users in FY23 Q2, the popularity of Microsoft Teams Rooms is also set to soar in the future. 

How Can Companies Conduct Futuristic Meetings with Microsoft Teams Rooms

Microsoft Teams Rooms offers an array of features that can help companies conduct futuristic meetings. Here are a few of the latest features companies can adopt to make meetings more inclusive and productive.

1. Real-Time and Asynchronous Collaboration

Microsoft Teams Rooms allows employees to share files and notes with each other either in real-time or asynchronously. In fact, companies can integrate it with different collaboration platforms to make communication seamless and flexible and promote new ways to interact with peers. 

2. New Camera and Live Caption Capabilities

Here are a few updates Microsoft has made to the camera capabilities in Teams Rooms to make hybrid meetings more inclusive, immersive, and productive. These features are particularly useful in creating an engaging meeting environment for remote employees.

• Cloud IntelliFrame transforms single video feeds into composite views with focused video tiles to improve the visibility of in-room employees for remote participants.
• Multiple video stream capability for intelligent cameras captures multiple video streams from the room, which remote employees can view in different layouts. This makes it easier for remote employees to see various aspects of the meeting, such as the whiteboard or the presenter.
• Content cameras pick up on physical whiteboards and share a zoomed-in view of the whiteboard as an independent video feed. This makes it easier for remote employees to see what’s written on the whiteboard.
• AI-powered active speaker tracking tracks the person speaking in the room and automatically zooms in on their video feed. This makes it easier for remote employees to see who is talking and follow the conversation.

There are also live captions available in real-time now to help employees follow what is being said and stay engaged in the meeting.

3. Intelligent Recap to Save Time and Organise Information

Microsoft Teams Rooms has introduced a new AI-powered feature, Intelligent Recap, that helps employees save time and organise discussions after online meetings. It can automatically generate meeting notes, recommend tasks, and provide personalised highlights to help employees quickly find the most relevant information. 

Intelligent Recap can also create personalised timeline markers that are visible to individual employees. It indicates when a crucial event involving the employee occurred in the meeting.

4. AI Capabilities in Front Row Layout and Spatial Audio

Microsoft Teams Rooms had a unique feature called Front Row layout that allowed in-room and remote employees to see and hear each other regardless of the location. Recently, Microsoft Teams Rooms has added AI capabilities to the Meeting Rooms to make it easier for in-room employees to see and hear remote participants and make the meeting experience more inclusive. 

Also, it includes a new feature called Spatial Audio that uses AI to create audio cues that help in-room employees track who is speaking in the video gallery. For example, if someone on the left side of the video gallery speaks, their voice will come from the left side, just as it would if they were physically present in the room. This feature will also be available for online meetings, making the meeting experience more authentic and inclusive for everyone.

5. Improved Collaboration Between In-Room and Remote Employees

Microsoft has made Teams Rooms available on Windows to ensure that in-room employees don’t feel left out during the breakout room sessions. This enables in-room employees to join a breakout session and improves collaboration and inclusiveness between them. 

Additionally, Microsoft has also included a Together Mode feature to allow employees to see each other as if they were in the same location. Employees can choose the Together Mode from their PC screen.

All these latest features, if set up correctly, can help companies conduct an immersive and futuristic meeting for all their employees regardless of the location.

How To Build a Great Microsoft Teams Rooms Solution 

It’s now possible to convert a meeting room into an immersive and inclusive space where hundreds of employees can join simultaneously from anywhere. However, companies need to invest in the right hardware, like AV solutions and cameras, and design their Microsoft Teams Rooms based on the number of participants to elevate the meeting experience. 

For example, a huddle room would be perfect for a meeting with six employees present in person, while an all-hands meeting would require a large meeting room with all the necessary integration tools to ensure a smooth experience across all locations.

At Resurgent, we have partnered with Microsoft to help businesses bridge the gap between on-site and remote workers. Our solutions allow for seamless teamwork and collaboration between team members. We offer certified Microsoft Teams Rooms hardware and facilitate integration with various software solutions to transform meeting spaces and create a rich collaborative meeting experience. Our solutions are secure, easy to set up and make managing hybrid meetings a breeze.

Book a free consultation with us to turn your futuristic meeting vision into a reality using Microsoft Teams Rooms. We will be happy to help you.