Conference Room Design With Unified Communications In Mind


When exploring conference room technology ideas, it's crucial to make design decisions that encourage productivity and team collaboration. The room should also have comfortable furniture, balanced acoustics, and quality equipment for seamless conversation. In this practical guide, we've shared a few strategies for designing a conference room.

Intro to Conference Room Design

Making the most of your conference room doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor. Here are some tips that cost little to no money, but can transform your space into a work paradise:

Keep the Room Clean and Bright: Your space should feel comfortable and welcoming to employees, with minimalist furniture, no loose cords, and clean work surfaces. Meanwhile, natural light can be a huge morale booster for employees, so make sure the windows are letting light in. On the other hand, be mindful that fluorescent lights can zap creativity and motivation.

Get Rid of Distractions: Ideally, your conference room design should be as seamless and unobtrusive as possible. People should enter the room and get to work, without being distracted by harsh lighting, wobbly furniture, noisy ventilation or a hard end-user technology experience.

Install a Whiteboard: You might rely on an all-in-one conferencing system with a television, but having a whiteboard or interactive display is useful for quick brainstorming as well. Some employees prefer tactile tools, and they'll love having the option to jot down notes while engaging with their team. Depending on your industry, a place to write can be an essential element for your conference room design.

Acoustics: To ensure that your sound quality is pristine, we recommend adding wall and window treatments to minimize acoustic reflections. You might want to fill the room with a few bookcases and large decorative objects to dampen the reflections as well.

Furniture: Bear in mind the type of furniture used in the room. to help foster a more collaborative atmosphere a round table can be useful to ensure everyone is sharing ideas at the same level.

Technology Ideas for Conference Rooms

Once you've created a welcoming work environment, it's time to decide what kind of conferencing technology makes sense for the space. Here are a few conference room ideas to get you started:

Choose the Right Tech for the Room: When shopping for a conferencing system, it's important to invest in technology that works well in your particular room. Size, shape, and the number of seats should all play a role in your purchasing decision. For example, a huddle room has different needs than a large conference room. The right technology can have a dramatic effect on the conferencing experience, which will lead to more productive and communicative teams.

Focus on Audio Quality First and Foremost: Many of today's cutting-edge UC systems rely on ultra-wideband audio, which replicates the full range of what humans can hear and produce. This high-fidelity audio makes it feel like everyone is in the same room, even if the other parties are in different time zones. When it comes to conferencing, the most important variables are sound capture, transmission, and reproduction. If you can't hear the other parties, it really doesn't matter how incredible the video feed looks.

Use a Camera that Captures the Room: Once you've calibrated the room audio with proper microphones and speakers, it's time to focus on video capture. Do you have a camera with a wide lens that can capture the full conference room? How high is the resolution? Can the other party discern individual employees and see their facial expressions in real time?

Setting Up Your Conference Room with Unified Communications in Mind

Ultimately, unified communications is about reproducing an in-person conference with technology, so that you can take in the same non-verbal cues. Without effective audio, video has only a fraction of the impact. Likewise, high-resolution video can enhance communication by showcasing body language, facial expressions, and eye contact.

To learn more about selecting the right technology for conference rooms, click here to watch an informative webinar from Holger Stoltze, Director of Product Management. Then, visit our Product Finder to find the perfect device for your conferencing goals!

Questions? We’d love to help