Conference rooms are where we come together. It is where your team meets and generates new ideas, discusses issues, puts together a strategy to move forward, and more. It is where you meet with vendors and put together new deals.

Throughout the pandemic, they gained a ‘next-level’ of importance. Having conference rooms set up for hybrid meetings gained a huge significance. Where traditional conference rooms were set up to accommodate many people physically in the room, businesses are now actively trying to improve employee safety. Video is an ever-increasingly important part of meetings moving forward. Video allows you to effectively meet with those you need to meet with while limiting the number of people physically in a single location and adding a sense of convenience.

With conference rooms gaining importance, let’s look at conference room trends for 2022.

High-quality video

Not only do you need high-quality video in the conference rooms, but for your team members joining remotely as well. The higher-quality the video is, the fewer distractions you will have from poor quality, audio cutting in and out, and pixelated images. You may have your team working remotely full-time or in a hybrid solution. Don’t let poor-quality video become a barrier to productive and efficient meetings.

Flexible Meeting Space

Traditional conference rooms tend to be large, and your organization may only have one or two of them available for use. This style of a conference room is great for traditional, company-wide meetings, department check-ins, and client meetings. However, when you want a quick brainstorming session, pull a few team members together for a side project, or something that is a smaller meeting, these large conference rooms are not efficient. Often, you will find these large meeting rooms booked for something small when you need them for something important.

This is where multiple smaller meeting rooms are a benefit. You have a few options available to you to achieve this as well. You don’t need to do away with your large conference room; you may break it up with removable wall dividers. This way, if you need it for a large meeting, you can break down the wall dividers as needed. If some of your team is remote, or hybrid, you can take some of the free space and turn it into several smaller meeting rooms.

Video conferencing

With a hybrid or remote team, you will want to be sure that meetings can happen effectively and smoothly. You already have the high-quality video in place. Invest in quality video conferencing software so even though your team is not physically in the same room, they are still meeting face-to-face. Platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Webex, and more can make your team feel connected, even when apart.

Interactive whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards bring your presentation to life, allowing you to have more productive meetings. You can integrate this into many video conferencing platforms, allowing you to:

• Record meetings
• Collaborate with team members across different devices and locations
• Annotate documents, files, photos, and more
• Save and email files in different formats

Interactive whiteboards are a valuable asset when meeting hybrid or remotely as they offer a platform for participants to communicate visually.

High-quality acoustics and audio

As always, your need to be able to clearly hear and understand others to have an effective meeting. Be sure the acoustics in the meeting room are clear so participants in the meeting, whether in-person or joining remotely, can clearly hear anyone that is talking. Likewise, be sure to have a quality audio setup in the room, allowing those joining the meeting remotely to be heard and understood.

LED Video Walls

Video walls are the most innovative display for any conference room currently. Video walls enable presenters to deliver their message more effectively. Video walls allow you to easily target your audience, team members, and any other participant joining the meeting. The display quality of LED video walls is top-notch, allowing you to clearly see anything on the display. Projection screens can be impacted by natural light, hazy displays, and more. You may also utilize touch capability if you so choose, inviting more interaction and collaboration. Not to mention that the video wall has internet connectivity and is ideal for video conferencing.

How is your conference room setup looking for 2022?