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What Type of Meetings would you Prefer when you Return to Work?

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The pandemic has certainly changed the face of the business landscape. There was a point where nearly all businesses that did not require the physical exchange of goods migrated to a digital format, at least temporarily in some capacity. There were entire teams, departments, and even organizations that were suddenly thrust into a digital meeting space that seemed so limiting at first.

But like anything else, we adapted, business at large adapted, and the virtual meetings became routine and unexceptional. Many people realized, however, that in-person meetings were not as necessary as we always thought, and while they do offer the ability to read body language easier, remote meetings have become preferred in nearly all situations. Let’s examine several reasons why.

Comfort

This is a big upside. More people find remote meetings to be more comfortable, not just because they don’t have to wear pants, either. There is a great deal of anxiety and even apprehension that can occur with even the most boring, pre-scheduled meetings. Holding remote meetings can help reduce these feelings of anxiety and result in a more comfortable workforce.

Flexibility

The ability to hold meetings and communicate in a group environment is vital to a healthy team. The flexibility of being able to hold a meeting without worrying about someone’s ability to physically attend the meeting can be a game-changer. Meetings can span zip codes, time zones, and continents without a hiccup. Remote meetings can also eliminate the problems of working around child care, transportation issues, or extended illness.

Scalability

One of the many benefits that meeting room software can offer in conjunction with remote meetings is the ability to seamlessly expand a meeting from 4 people to 400. The scalability of remote meetings means you don’t have to think about physical infrastructure to hold large meetings or discussions. You don’t need to think about how many seats are there or making sure everyone shows up, the software mitigates all of those issues.

Reduced Expense

There is a real-world, bottom-line cost to holding meetings in person. This doesn’t end at the payroll for the duration of the meeting and loss of productivity, either. This can be a big factor in meetings that often have hospitality, such as coffee, soda, snacks, and even lunch or dinner depending on the situation. Remote meetings cut that all out. Since people are in their own environment, they are not reliant or expectant of your hospitality.

More Focused

If you have never been a part of a remote meeting, and you have the opportunity to do so, you may never want to show up in another conference room full of off-topic chatter again. The amount of time that is saved and the enhanced focus and productivity of the meetings is really something to behold. Not only is there less crosstalk and interruption, but the integration of visual aids can help to illustrate conversational points much more effectively.

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Has IT operation in your Organization Changed Since the Pandemic?

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The Covid 19 pandemic has forced a lot of changes in organizations in almost every industry.

Granted, many organizations have well-structured systems to help them keep afloat after events like power outages, natural disasters, and even cyber-attacks. These systems, regardless of how elaborate they are, weren’t able to fully address unknown variables like the outbreak of the Novel coronal Virus.

Even now that many people have been vaccinated and businesses have started to open up, many business sectors are still undergoing changes.

In this article, we will be looking at how IT operations in many organizations have changed after Covid. Before we dive right into that, we will first look at the importance of IT (information technology) in the business space.

The role of Information technology in business  

IT has helped a lot of start-ups and large corporations achieve their goals and soar to new heights. It has armed businesses with the tools they need to solve complex problems through the use of smart applications and collaborative software and tools that makes it easier to analyze data and do research.

Making a good business decision has never been this easy. Without help, it is easy to overlook important factors, make laughable mistakes, and arrive at mistaken conclusions. Information Technology can help turn things around and help businesses make better decisions.

As you likely know, a good business decision is based on accurate market research. With Information Technology, teams can carry out surveys to learn about the needs of their customers. With this information, they will easily make intelligent decisions that will help them thrive without having long meetings at conference rooms and using AV management tools.

A close look at how IT in organizations has changed Post Covid

Increased reliance on IT

Since Covid, many businesses and organizations have become highly reliant on IT to ensure the smooth running of their core operations.

Presently, the key sectors of many businesses (supply chain and human resources) aren’t working at 100% even after the pandemic. To overcome this, organizations need solid intelligence to create an alternative route to achieve their goals. With information technology, businesses will be able to glean all the information they need to make strategic decisions and elaborate plans that will help them thrive in the post-Covid era.

Embracing IT to increase flexibility

A lot of businesses with rigid structures embraced flexibility during the Covid 19 pandemic. During the lockdown, they started to see the beauty in flexible working schedules. Even after Covid, businesses are still going to opt for IT solutions and flexible technology initiatives.

Increase in IT budget

IT has always been an integral sector in many organizations, even before Covid. To cope with the changes that occurred in the businesses space because of the pandemic, more attention was given to information technology.

Even after the lockdown, businesses will still spend a huge sum of money on IT operation and solutions to strengthen their infrastructure and automate their key operations.

Final note

The future of Information technology is indeed bright. Even when things return to normal, many organizations are going to need IT solutions to get an edge over their competitors and glean valuable information that will help them address the need of their customers better.

 

 

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5 New Ways Business Meetings have Changed since COVID

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A lot has changed in the business scene since the outbreak of Covid 19. To keep afloat, businesses had to revamp how they operate and employ new strategies to achieve their goals. Meetings, which are an integral part of the workday, are now done differently. Before the Pandemic, business meetings were mostly done face-to-face, but they are now being done virtually.

There is a possibility that the way meetings and other key activities are carried out will not go back to normal even after the pandemic. Read on to learn how business meetings have changed since Covid.

It is easier to see who is contributing

Many businesses have a dedicated space or meeting rooms where ideas are brainstormed and key issues are discussed. During these meetings, some participants are vocal and like to air their opinions, at the same time; others hide in plain sight and offer little or no contribution.

In a virtual meeting room, it is a lot easier to see who is contributing and who is not. With no corners and blind spots to hide, it will be easier to tell if everyone is contributing. What’s more, it will be harder for some participants to dominate the conversation.

Not all meetings are necessary

Since the pandemic, many business leaders have wised up. They now understand that herding everyone to the conference room for a meeting isn’t always the best decision. Of course, meetings are important, but they may hurt the productivity and output of a business when they don’t add any value or are too frequent.

With everyone working from home these days, things that were accomplished via meetings can now be done through wireless presentation, conference calls, or email.

Businesses and organizations that have eliminated unnecessary business meetings can achieve their goals quicker because their teams now have more time to focus on important tasks.

Flexibility in meeting timing

Before Covid, businesses and organizations don’t usually schedule meetings first thing in the morning. They seem to have a specific time of the day they schedule important appointments and meetings.

Since Covid, people have become more flexible. They are now willing to schedule meetings early in the morning or late in the evening.

This has helped a lot of organizations strategize better and adapt to the needs of their teams.

No more marathon work session

Not long ago, it was a norm for teams to have multiple days of planning sessions to brainstorm ways to address their current challenges. These gatherings are a mix of business, pleasure, discussions, team-building exercises, and many more.

Since Covid, most people no longer travel for business. Because of this, many organizations have scraped out long planning sessions and focused on solutions that will help their company reach new heights.

Move value on time

The value for time has never been this high. Businesses and organizations now understand that working from home doesn’t equate always working. To ensure that their employees get as much work done during their working hours, teams now brainstorm, exchange recommendation, and offer feedback during cable-free meetings, which usually lasts for a few hours.

Final note

It is hard to say if things will return to normal or if meetings and other key business activities will be carried out the way they used to. In the meantime, businesses should embrace change and adopt strategies that will guide them into the “new normal”.

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8 Ways to Use Technology to Improve Employee Experience (Post-COVID)

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COVID-19 and the rise of working from home have forever changed the workplace environment. But even though many of us are heading back to the office, we don’t have to abandon some of the technological tools we adopted to make up for being unable to collaborate in person.

Today, let’s take a look at eight ways you can use technology to improve your employees’ experience at work post-COVID-19.

Use HR/Recruitment Tools

For starters, leverage HR and recruitment tools to streamline the onboarding and employee recruitment processes. A good onboarding experience can make or break the first impression your company has on an employee. If you use good HR or recruitment tools, you can provide a smooth learning experience during the first few days at your company for all new hires. In this way, the best talent will be more likely to stick with your company over the long term.

Use Tech to Boost Employee Engagement

Of course, tech can also be used to improve employee engagement across the board. Digital platforms that support personal engagement, like digital surveys, reporting platforms, and polls can do a lot to help your employees feel like they are heard and that you take your concerns seriously.

Provide Tools to Improve Productivity

Naturally, tech can also boost productivity in the workplace. Day-to-day work tools like virtual phone services, calendar programs, and even collaboration tools like Slack can help your employees schedule their time more wisely, track progress, and assign jobs to one another quickly and efficiently. Or you can try Ubiq: a one-of-a-kind conference tool that lets your employees wirelessly share information in just seconds, all without having to deal with cable clutter.

Provide Communication Tools

Slack, Skype, and other communication tools many of us used over the course of the pandemic can also be used in the post-COVID workplace. These communication tools allow employees to collaborate and send messages without getting up from their desks, as well as let employees still working remotely contribute to office chit-chat and workplace meetings.

Optimize Your Self-Services Tools

Self-services tools, like online portals for clocking in or for writing reports, can do a lot to improve employee productivity and let your employees feel like they’re responsible for their workdays.

Leverage Self-Learning Tools

Similarly, self-learning tools, especially those that you provide to new hires, are great for ensuring everyone is up to speed with new workplace practices or procedures without having to waste a lot of time with big seminars or conferences. These tools can be doubly effective because many people learn at different paces from one another.

Always Keep Your Tool Portfolio Minimal

We’ve gone over a lot of possible tools you can implement in your workplace. But it’s vital that you keep your tool portfolio to a minimum. Simply put, the more tools your new employees (and existing employees!) have to learn, the less likely they will be to become masters at all of them. Try to stick with a handful of great tools and avoid bringing in too much tech too quickly.

Use Cloud Storage Wherever Possible

Last, be sure to leverage cloud storage as much as you can. Cloud storage allows you to not only benefit from better digital security, but also help your employees grab files or data wherever, whenever. Cloud storage may be more important if your workplace plans to keep remote work an option, at least in a limited capacity, for the foreseeable future.

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How do Meeting Rooms look like Post – COVID

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Back to “Normal”

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on normal American work life.  At the start of the pandemic, many companies around the world acted quickly to keep employees safe and moved to a new way of work – a work from home lifestyle. Across industries, COVID-19 serves as a lesson into the work-from-home life. How work is done and how offices are run has changed.  As we move forward, and as many companies are beginning to make the switch back to the office, industries are looking at offices and meeting room setups in more creative ways.  

Meeting Times

Studies show that time in meetings has been rising by 8% to 10% annually since 2000. As of 2019, an average of 31 hours are spent on monthly meetings. Meetings did not disappear during the pandemic and they are definitely not going to disappear when everyone is able to return to a conference room. Along with the added distancing and potential for masks, what we knew as typical conference room meetings are a thing of the past.  With modern day AV equipment and wireless presentation capabilities, the way we used to think of meetings will be a thing of the past.  

Meeting Rooms

A meeting room is especially designed for meetings and conferences and are typically found in places like offices, industries, and hospitals.  A meeting room should be equipped with the proper conference room audio video equipment to ensure smooth transmission.  There are a lot of ways a typical pre-COVID meeting room setup can look depending on the purpose of the meetings.  

Technology and Comfort

Thanks to technology (and COVID), meetings do not have to be in typical conference rooms like in the image below. 

 

Having conference room AV systems allows you to host your meetings anywhere.  This means with the proper equipment and positioning, meetings can be held and engaged from anywhere in the office.  This can keep employees safe, by keeping them distanced from each other, and comfortable in their own spaces.  

For example, the meeting space shown below encourages collaboration and flow while also promoting a relaxing and comfortable space.  The mobile lounge chairs allow for employees to distance themselves while the mobile whiteboard and wireless presentation can serve to move meetings to employees rather than all gathering in a stuffy conference room. 

Outdoors

Do you remember the first warm Spring day and your teacher taking the class to learn outside for the day? That first smell of fresh cut grass, sitting under a tree, enjoying a book for the day while you defrost from the cold classroom AC.  Nature has a great impact on humans. According to Kurstry Groves, a work space strategist, “Sunlight, fresh air and natural surroundings positively affect people’s sense of wellbeing and happiness.”  With modern day technologies like portable conference room AV equipment and wireless presentations, you can take your meetings outside! Your employees will be able to take a much needed mask break and enjoy the sunshine while staying productive, maybe even a little more creative too!

The days of piling into a stuffy meeting room are over.  We have to keep employees safe while still maintaining a productive and comfortable working environment.  If you are planning to return to the office and are struggling to figure out how your meetings will look, invest in proper conference room AV equipment, wireless presentations, and research the best way to adapt your meeting space. 

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Are there Shortage of Meeting Rooms?

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When it comes to meeting and discussing serious matters among the staffs, employees, and directors, the first thing to have in mind and put in place is to select a conducive, quiet, secured and comfortable meeting room that will aid interactions and communication.

The Meeting Room

A meeting room (also known as a conference room or conference hall) is a room specially prepared and designed for events such as meetings and business conferences, and commonly found at convention centers, hotels, and establishments such as institutions, and even hospital. The meeting rooms can sometimes be designed for large meetings such as arenas and concert halls. Some of these meeting rooms can be for personal or security reasons without windows. However, a meeting room should be equipped with the latest technology setup, which includes Audio Video Installation for interactive display and should be conducive for smooth communication.

Meeting Room Setup

Meeting rooms may be set up in diverse styles like Banquet, Hollowed, U-Shape, Conference Style, etc., aiding wireless presentation depending on the purpose of the meeting.

Shortage of Meeting Rooms

Scarcity and unavailability of meeting rooms are alarming due to the vast creation of new companies. They are consequently contributing to the shortage of Meeting rooms.

Shortage of meeting rooms could lead to unnecessary changing of the meeting venue, and this could get you or your boss pissed off than you could ever imagine.

Imagine a situation whereby you have received a mail with stating that you need to hold a meeting your boss, and you need to book a meeting room, and you find out that there is no meeting room available at the moment. Sadly, this could be frustrating and make you depressed.

The Solution to Meeting Rooms Shortage

In such a scenario, it is a clear sign that you need more or explore other needs like:

  • Legacy meeting
  • Phone calls
  • Concentration

Writing a communication guideline can change peoples’ mindset of what a meeting room actually means. The space we inhabit have to change as the world of work is changing.

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AV setup for showrooms

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Gone are the days when traditional methods such as whiteboards, and flip-charts, methods were employed to pass out information. As a business owner, it is imperative for you to go with the tides and embrace modern technology by using Audio-Visual Setup while in meetings, conferences, showrooms, and so on. Using AV for your conference room setup will not only boost your worker’s efficiency but also increases your company’s productivity.

Using the AV setup to streamline your conference room is one of the must-haves conference room technology to possess as a business owner.

Conference Room Setup
Relying on email, Slack, and web chats to build a team does not quantify digitalization. Those tools could be helpful for communication, but they don’t give space for accountability, commitment, or conflict resolution, which are critical functions of a team.

Talking about setting up conference room means more than adjusting attitudes or beliefs. However, you have to make virtual collaboration seamless, intuitive, and simple for remote workers. That does not mean you should bombard your conference room with glitzy conference room technology and robot. Meanwhile, all you need is to make space that encourages interaction and collaboration in a positive work environment.

What do you need to boost your conference room AV design technology?
Consider the following ways:
⦁ Connection upgrade
⦁ The right mix of speakers and microphones
⦁ Quality display screen
⦁ Use of an interactive whiteboard
⦁ Sensitive AV repair and support
⦁ Easy conference room schedule
⦁ Training employee how to use your technology
⦁ Content sharing with a wireless presentation

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5 ways to optimize your meeting room setup

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Productive, thought provoking or non-value add – whatever the view is on the relevance of business meetings, a study shows that 15 per cent of an organization’s collective time is spent on meetings. Hence, they are not going to disappear any time sooner. But with an optimized meeting room setup, AV equipment, and the right mindset, we definitely have the power to transform meetings into a tool for some great team collaboration and productivity.

Broadcast wirelessly

With the advancements in technology, it’s now easy to bring meetings and collaboration to the masses. Rent a conference room and use a wireless presentation to broadcast a webinar, round table discussion bouncing ideas off one another.

Think outside the meeting

Thanks to the technology that meetings no longer have to be in cramped, traditional board rooms or conference rooms. Meeting rooms are now seen as ‘enablers’ rather than ‘containers’, and they strive to be more humble yet fluid, connected and inspiring. Install conference room AV and cable-free presentation, and voila! You can have your meeting room set up anywhere. And for a bit of spice, install a table tennis table next to the conference table for mini bursts of gameplay in between the meetings – like Dreamhost in La Brea, California below:

Let comfort be the driving force

When was the last time you felt relaxed with your conventional meeting room being an inviting haven for creativity and ideas? It’s very difficult to feel relaxed by sitting up right, constantly being aware of a formal meeting room set up, especially when a meeting is supposed to go on for hours. With the help of wireless presentation capabilities, offices these days are able to make meeting rooms out of anywhere. So, let comfort drive you and your ideas for those couple of hours when you are in a meeting. Get cosy chairs, a perky rug and just get going. For instance, look at this meeting room from Moo, a business stationery and promotional experts in London.

Etsy’s meeting rooms have a vintage feel to it, reflecting their online reputation.

Get an updated AV equipment

Although overhead projectors have been used by organizations for as long as we can remember, more and more businesses are now adopting newer technologies, and AV equipment are increasingly being used to streamline meetings and make them more efficient. An update AV set up means you are more flexible in terms of the kind of devices used by the attendees in meetings.

Take it outdoors

According to workspace strategist Kursty Groves “Nature has a profound impact on humans. Sunlight, fresh air and natural surroundings positively affect people’s sense of wellbeing and happiness.” With contemporary adaptable boardroom technologies like wireless presentation, conference room AV equipment, you can now consider taking your meetings outside the conference room. For ideas to flow you need to take your ideas to place and set up where they can flow.

Final word

With the right meeting room setup and technology, you can do wonders in terms of productivity drastically improving the efficiency of meetings – promoting stronger collaboration and happier businesses and customers.

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Conference Room Chairs: 10 Styles to Choose From

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In our previous blog entry, we took a look at conference room tables. Since forcing your end users to sit on the floor during business meetings is usually frowned upon, you’ll probably want to buy some conference room chairs to go along with your table. If that’s the case, you’re in luck: We’ve looked at hundreds of conference room chairs and compiled a list of 10 that we think really stand out.

As we saw in the previous entry on tables, chairs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The trick here is to get chairs that aren’t stylistically the opposite of your table. For instance, if you’ve gone with a lush mahogany table out of The Godfather, you may want to refrain from buying hipster-y wooden stools to place around it.

And now without further ado, our list…

Farrah (National Office Furniture)

conference room chairs
Although intended for lounge seating, we think that the tapered legs and inset base panels would look pretty in a conference room.

Respect (National Office Furniture)

conference room chair
Environmentally-conscious companies may want to consider National Office Furniture’s Respect line, which earns SCS Indoor Advantage Gold and level 2 certifications, which means it can contribute to LEED points.

Lavoro (National Office Furniture)

conference room chair
National Office Furniture’s Lavoro combines sleek metal arm rests with a subtly curved back support that looks like it belongs inside a luxury Italian car.

Valoví Chair (Opendesk)

conference room chair
Engineered from 19 interlocking parts, Valoví features a curved seat and back to ensure maximum comfort.

Tivoli (Calibre Office Furniture)

Tivoli (2)
For companies that are unable to avoid longer meetings, uncomfortable chairs are bad for business (except for perhaps the chiropractic business). Calibre’s Tivoli, which features a stretched structural synthetic mesh upholstered with 10mm thick injection molded polyurethane foam padding, is ideal for those longer marathon sessions.

Sculpe High Stools (Calibre Office Furniture)Stools0-10196 (2)

There’s no rule that says conference tables need to have chairs. If your table is high enough, these stools from Calibre would get the job done just as well.

Balance Stool (Krost)

Balance-Stool-Side-to-Side
And now for something completely different: Not only does Krost’s self-balancing stool follow the user’s every movement, it also returns to its upright position after each use. For start-ups attempting to do something outside the box with their conference room, there are few better alternatives.

Page Chair (Boss Design)

boss-page-chairs-p1622-9549_image

For companies seeking a 60s vibe, Boss’s Page chair is a tour de force of retro chic.

RBG Task Chair (Teknion)

Low-RBTTask-Chair-3-4-View-Right-Polished-Aluminum-Base-tif
Teknion’s RBT (responsive back technology) chair incorporates patented technology that responds to the shape of the user’s back and supports continuous changes in posture.
This blog post previously appeared in the fourth chapter of our e-book Conference Room Design: A Guide For the Perplexed. To read the full e-book, click here.
ADDITIONAL READING
Top 5 Conference Room TVs of 2017
Wireless Screen Sharing vs. Conference Table Cable Management
Meeting Room Setup in 1 Day