Board Room Meetings in the age of Travel Restrictions

The ferocity of the second wave made it clear that a full return to work is far from imminent. In fact, a recent Gartner report revealed that 74% of CFOs want to move employees operating remotely to permanent remote working. High-profile companies have announced remote working as the new norm and many are looking at establishing hybrid work environments to remain organizationally agile and resilient.

As a response to this pandemic-infused dive into the workplace of the future, most organizations are gearing up to develop their tools and technology ecosystem to enable collaboration, innovation, and productivity in a hybrid workplace.

With businesses operating in a hybrid model and travel still restricted, it is clear that we are still a considerable time away from how we conducted business and operated in the past. While organizations are looking at establishing clear communication guidelines to keep the organization connected, they need tech support to act as an enabler.

Now, back in the good old days, conducting board and shareholder meetings or other such corporate events people would fly in and make sure that these events see full participation. Adding the element of grandeur and making it a standout event was simpler.

The complexities of the new world of work

The new normal has changed the way we meet ensuring that now we shall have both in-person and remote participants in almost all our important corporate events. There is also no going back to the days of the ‘squawk boxes’ on conference tables with people straining to hear or being talked over. There is no place for PowerPoint presentations that only the people physically present and in the room can see.

Ensuring the ‘first class’ status

What organizations need is the capacity to make all their participants, both remote and in-person, ‘first-class participants’. However, we cannot ignore the fact that in such hybrid events and board meetings, the remote participants are only a fuzzy picture or broken voice away from losing this enviable first-class status.

Investing in top-quality AV solutions to power up the enterprise and drive elevated virtual experiences and keep the audience engaged now becomes imperative. This is especially true while planning board meetings as the pandemic-induced travel constraints continue.

Uncompromising quality to maximize interactions

Top-quality AV solutions can help organizations transition and adapt to this new normal while making sure that the quality of interactions remains uncompromised. AV solutions that employ the right technology and hardware support can turn meeting and conference rooms into hubs that maximize personal interaction. The quality of communication must match the elevated communication expectations of today.

AV solutions thus have to account for the growing communication footprint of the enterprise. Almost a year of participating in video conferencing calls, for example, has made us aware of the importance of audio fidelity. Research shows that people are frustrated, irritated, and annoyed by bad audio, and 19% experience elevated stress levels because of poor sound quality. Another research from the University of California goes on to suggest that the quality of audio influences whether someone believes what they hear.  

High-end audio and conferencing equipment is an enterprise necessity now. Enterprises now need sophisticated audio-visual technology that can seamlessly integrate into the organizational landscape and ensure that no information slips through the cracks and doesn’t lead to exhaustion and fatigue. There’s no need to specifically make the point that in the case of ultra-important corporate communications (like those that occur during board meetings), these factors apply even more.

Technology that drives meetings

Organizations hosting board meetings virtually have to also ensure that the technology can support the demands of the meeting. Board meetings, for example, need the regular vote. These results are of interest to all in attendance. As such, organizations must establish mechanisms that make voting simple, transparent, and fast, for all. The results of the vote also need to be displayed to all present. Enterprises can now navigate these challenges using advanced control panels that facilitate voting and use digital displays to display vote results.

These high-end control panels can make board meetings more effective as they can be used to switch audio feeds on and off, send messages and navigate through these messages easily. In fact, these control panels help board members control how they would like to participate in these meetings.

Ease of use and robust support are AV essentials

Along with robust audio-video equipment, enterprises also need to make sure they have a solution that is easy to use and allows users to present content wirelessly employing intelligent one-click sharing in a device-agnostic manner. Using the right AV hardware and ensuring the best-in-class technology integrations become salient points of consideration especially to ensure future readiness of the solution.

Along with all this, organizations have to ensure that their AV solution designers also account for support requirements. There’s nothing funny about a board meeting with the top officials of the company, external directors, and other dignitaries, asking each other “Can you hear me?” Enabling self-service and providing easy access to support become critical to ensure that minor hiccups do not balloon into compromised and frustrating board meetings.

The impact of using high-end, next-gen AV solutions

The right AV technology solution can supercharge board meetings and ensure that the participants remain engaged. Allowing the remote members to easily see shared presentations, the faces of everyone attending, and the kind of content created during meetings on whiteboards, etc. is essential. As is, providing them instant, lag-free access to sounds and other auditory cues (like alarms and notifications).

Optimized AV solutions warrant that everyone present in the meeting feels like they are together in a location and feel like they are an integral part of the meeting and the decisions taken therein. Employing the right tools, technologies, techniques, and integrations, organizations can maximize the interactions of all those attending.

With the work environment promising to remain in its hybrid avatar for the immediate future, organizations need to discover ways to present themselves better to build their brand value. Next-gen, cutting-edge technology solutions can help organizations deliver immersive experiences and deliver reliably, and thereby enhance the meeting experience.

In Conclusion

The post-COVID workplace will be quite different from the offices we had left behind in 2020 when the pandemic began. While it is born out of necessity, the concept of the hybrid workplace is giving us an avenue to reimagine the office space for comfort, innovation, collaboration, and driving seamlessly engaging experiences. However, for this, choosing the right AV integration partners is a must as this ensures the right combination of technologies, hardware, and software and the best support that makes communication seamless, effective, and impactful in powering your AV design.

The ferocity of the second wave made it clear that a full return to work is far from imminent. In fact, a recent Gartner report revealed that 74% of CFOs want to move employees operating remotely to permanent remote working. High-profile companies have announced remote working as the new norm and many are looking at establishing hybrid work environments to remain organizationally agile and resilient.

As a response to this pandemic-infused dive into the workplace of the future, most organizations are gearing up to develop their tools and technology ecosystem to enable collaboration, innovation, and productivity in a hybrid workplace.

With businesses operating in a hybrid model and travel still restricted, it is clear that we are still a considerable time away from how we conducted business and operated in the past. While organizations are looking at establishing clear communication guidelines to keep the organization connected, they need tech support to act as an enabler.

Now, back in the good old days, conducting board and shareholder meetings or other such corporate events people would fly in and make sure that these events see full participation. Adding the element of grandeur and making it a standout event was simpler.

The complexities of the new world of work

The new normal has changed the way we meet ensuring that now we shall have both in-person and remote participants in almost all our important corporate events. There is also no going back to the days of the ‘squawk boxes’ on conference tables with people straining to hear or being talked over. There is no place for PowerPoint presentations that only the people physically present and in the room can see.

Ensuring the ‘first class’ status

What organizations need is the capacity to make all their participants, both remote and in-person, ‘first-class participants’. However, we cannot ignore the fact that in such hybrid events and board meetings, the remote participants are only a fuzzy picture or broken voice away from losing this enviable first-class status.

Investing in top-quality AV solutions to power up the enterprise and drive elevated virtual experiences and keep the audience engaged now becomes imperative. This is especially true while planning board meetings as the pandemic-induced travel constraints continue.

Uncompromising quality to maximize interactions

Top-quality AV solutions can help organizations transition and adapt to this new normal while making sure that the quality of interactions remains uncompromised. AV solutions that employ the right technology and hardware support can turn meeting and conference rooms into hubs that maximize personal interaction. The quality of communication must match the elevated communication expectations of today.

AV solutions thus have to account for the growing communication footprint of the enterprise. Almost a year of participating in video conferencing calls, for example, has made us aware of the importance of audio fidelity. Research shows that people are frustrated, irritated, and annoyed by bad audio, and 19% experience elevated stress levels because of poor sound quality. Another research from the University of California goes on to suggest that the quality of audio influences whether someone believes what they hear.  

High-end audio and conferencing equipment is an enterprise necessity now. Enterprises now need sophisticated audio-visual technology that can seamlessly integrate into the organizational landscape and ensure that no information slips through the cracks and doesn’t lead to exhaustion and fatigue. There’s no need to specifically make the point that in the case of ultra-important corporate communications (like those that occur during board meetings), these factors apply even more.

Technology that drives meetings

Organizations hosting board meetings virtually have to also ensure that the technology can support the demands of the meeting. Board meetings, for example, need the regular vote. These results are of interest to all in attendance. As such, organizations must establish mechanisms that make voting simple, transparent, and fast, for all. The results of the vote also need to be displayed to all present. Enterprises can now navigate these challenges using advanced control panels that facilitate voting and use digital displays to display vote results.

These high-end control panels can make board meetings more effective as they can be used to switch audio feeds on and off, send messages and navigate through these messages easily. In fact, these control panels help board members control how they would like to participate in these meetings.

Ease of use and robust support are AV essentials

Along with robust audio-video equipment, enterprises also need to make sure they have a solution that is easy to use and allows users to present content wirelessly employing intelligent one-click sharing in a device-agnostic manner. Using the right AV hardware and ensuring the best-in-class technology integrations become salient points of consideration especially to ensure future readiness of the solution.

Along with all this, organizations have to ensure that their AV solution designers also account for support requirements. There’s nothing funny about a board meeting with the top officials of the company, external directors, and other dignitaries, asking each other “Can you hear me?” Enabling self-service and providing easy access to support become critical to ensure that minor hiccups do not balloon into compromised and frustrating board meetings.

The impact of using high-end, next-gen AV solutions

The right AV technology solution can supercharge board meetings and ensure that the participants remain engaged. Allowing the remote members to easily see shared presentations, the faces of everyone attending, and the kind of content created during meetings on whiteboards, etc. is essential. As is, providing them instant, lag-free access to sounds and other auditory cues (like alarms and notifications).

Optimized AV solutions warrant that everyone present in the meeting feels like they are together in a location and feel like they are an integral part of the meeting and the decisions taken therein. Employing the right tools, technologies, techniques, and integrations, organizations can maximize the interactions of all those attending.

With the work environment promising to remain in its hybrid avatar for the immediate future, organizations need to discover ways to present themselves better to build their brand value. Next-gen, cutting-edge technology solutions can help organizations deliver immersive experiences and deliver reliably, and thereby enhance the meeting experience.

In Conclusion

The post-COVID workplace will be quite different from the offices we had left behind in 2020 when the pandemic began. While it is born out of necessity, the concept of the hybrid workplace is giving us an avenue to reimagine the office space for comfort, innovation, collaboration, and driving seamlessly engaging experiences. However, for this, choosing the right AV integration partners is a must as this ensures the right combination of technologies, hardware, and software and the best support that makes communication seamless, effective, and impactful in powering your AV design.