Conference Room Technology Trends to Watch in 2022

Conference room design continues to evolve as new technology comes out every year. The key to staying on top of new trends is to future-proof your board rooms, meeting rooms, and corporate conference rooms with the upgradable infrastructure you can still use 10 and 20 years from now.

Discover some conference room technology trends we’re seeing in 2022.

Flexible Room Designs

Conference rooms are great for prospect meetings and client meetings, both in-person and remote.

However, they can be unwieldy when it comes to smaller team meetings or small group meetings with remote workers.

You can still have a gigantic video wall on one end of the room for when you need that functionality. Consider flexible seating arrangements and smaller tables that fit together rather than one huge table. A U-shaped or classroom-style configuration works well for this. Just make sure all of your attendees are comfortable and can easily discuss things with everyone involved in the meeting.

LED Video Walls

Once considered too expensive for conference rooms, LED video walls have come down in price since this technology is mainstream. 

LEDs show vibrant colors with sharp images at any angle in the room, and their image quality doesn’t degrade over time. They are also energy-efficient and low-maintenance thanks to a control hub and dedicated processor that your tech team can access.

Think about an LED video wall for your next sales presentation, especially if you create a video that wows a high-profile prospect or if you’re upselling to a current client.

Remember, first impressions mean a lot. And you can make a great first impression with an impressive LED video wall with a crisp picture.

Interactive White Boards

Much like classroom technology, interactive whiteboards are mainstream in offices and conference rooms. 

Interactive whiteboards allow a presenter to change what’s on the board by touching it, giving the presenter complete control while maintaining the attention of everyone in the room and remotely. You might be able to use the same hardware for LED video walls as you would for interactive whiteboards to save on costs.

For example, your presenter starts with a slide presentation before shifting to a video and then adding notes as the presenter continues. The presenter can then share the presentation and email it to the meeting attendees afterward. 

Customized Conference Rooms

You have plenty of video conferencing tools at your disposal, from Slack and Zoom to Google Meets and Microsoft Teams. Optimize your video wall technology for these tools to enable screen sharing, chats, audio, and video. Have the right video equipment in place, whether you want a camera mounted over the video wall or a camera placed in the middle of the room that can change its focus to whoever is speaking.

Eschew white walls and add splashes of color, such as your company logo, tasteful artwork, and wall hangings. Gone are the days of sterile white walls that make things look harsh.

Improved Acoustics

You’d be surprised how sensitive digital microphones are. They can pick up sounds from the next room or a hallway if your conference room isn’t designed with acoustics in mind.

There are acoustic panels that will deaden the sound to prevent echoes in the room but also keep outside noises from intruding. In the past, those acoustic additions consisted of black or gray foam. Now, you can find decorative acoustic art panels that look like classic paintings, tableaus, or still life canvases. On the back side, the acoustic panels are made of some kind of sound-absorbing material. The frames can also be made of fiberglass that absorbs sound more readily.

Not interested in classic art? You can customize panels to have your company logo, photos of your staff, or whatever images you want on them.

Natural Elements

Being in nature lowers blood pressure and boosts creativity. Consider adding natural elements to a conference room, like stylish wood panels, a stone sculpture, or a live plant or two. A tasteful water element, like a bubbling fountain, can be a great addition to a conference room.

Lighting Control

When you’re showing a 15-minute video presentation on a video wall, you want everyone to focus on the beautiful images on the screen. Think about having some lighting control, where you can dim the lights like a movie theater to give off just enough ambient light for people to see without taking their focus away from the screen.

Ready to elevate your conference room technology?

American Sound & Electronics, with offices in Cincinnati and Louisville, can take care of installing world-class conference room technology at your facility, corporate headquarters, or office spaces. 

Call us at (859) 261-9024 for more information on what our professional team can do for you.

Conference Room Technology Design Trends to Watch

With many companies fully embracing remote work opportunities, conference room technology design trends are quickly changing. To stay competitive, look at some of the top trends to watch for in 2021 from American Sound & Electronics.

Related Post: 4 Huge Reasons Why You Need Video in Your Conference Rooms

1. LED Video Walls

LED video walls are more common now, and thus, they’re also more affordable. They offer better quality visuals than projectors or monitors do, with bright and vivid colors and high-quality, clear and sharp images. LED video walls can also save you money down the line because they are extremely energy-efficient. (For reference, they use about half as much energy as projectors.) They also boast lower operational and maintenance costs when compared to monitors and projectors.

2. Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards give you the ability to create more dynamic presentations and keep people engaged. This conference room technology makes meetings run more smoothly by enhancing video conferencing with premium features that allow you to do several things.

Interactive whiteboards can:

  • Record video conferences.
  • Spotlight a particular area on the whiteboard (drive attention there instead of elsewhere).
  • Zoom in and magnify images.
  • Screen shade (hide particular information and reveal it when needed).
  • Take screenshots (to use later as handouts).
  • Run files, programs, and apps that are designed for computers.
  • Surf the internet.
  • Play videos.

3. Custom-Branded Conference Rooms

With video conferencing becoming the new norm for many businesses, more organizations are jazzing up their conference rooms to spark creativity and inspire employees. Adding custom-branded signage, painting an accent wall with branded images and design, is a great way to transform a boring conference room, enhance a team’s company culture, and make online conferences more interesting and engaging. However, you’ll want to be careful that you don’t go overboard. Too much signage or paint might also be distracting, so balance is key.

4. Full Automation

When your conference room technology fails you and refuses to work well together, company leaders and employees get equally frustrated and annoyed. Not to mention how it hampers your productivity. Instead, many organizations are beginning to install an intuitive automation system in their conference room. This type of automated system ensures that lighting and audio/visual gear all work efficiently and cohesively.

Need Conference Room Technology Installation From the Pros?

If you want to take your conference room technology to the next level, contact American Sound & Electronics for installation. We can help you transform your conference room into a more useful and effective space.