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Conference room equipment determines the effectiveness and how comfortable your conference room is.
You might first have ideas about what features you want in your conferencing services and you know who will be on the other end of the conference.
But what to look for when deciding for the right equipment for your conference room? There are several features you will need, and others you may need.
There is simply no substitute for a table to provide space for papers and gear.
This should be a sturdy and attractive table, one that won’t distract attention from the actual content. This means a table that won’t make metallic sounds when things are placed or moved on it.
Like counters in kitchens, the shelf space needed is as much as is possible, and there will be a need for any you have, sooner or later. A table should have room for as many chairs as you will need attendees from your site if possible, and should ideally be small enough that at no point is it difficult to converse from one side to another.
Many times when very large audiences are needed, the table will be made from segments to assemble into a convenient shape such as a "U" to maximize chair space.
Tables imply chairs. These should not look as if they don’t belong with the table, simply to avoid being a distraction. Some will suggest buying uncomfortable chairs to discourage long meetings.
I’d say instead that the moderator should be the best defense against long meetings, and uncomfortable chairs are a good defense against good content within meetings.
There are also other pieces of furniture you may need in your conference room equipment. If you will have video content in a speech, you need a podium on which to place notes, perhaps a remote and certainly a glass of water. This should fit the room décor and should have provision for a microphone and light.
Another valuable piece of conference room equipment is a projection screen. A big budget enough operation may use a large screen display, like a widescreen television set, but most will find the much cheaper projection screen an adequate substitute.
This can be used to display a speaker from a remote site, a power point presentation or video clip of some sort. An electronic display would start at $1000 for the equivalent of a 27" display and grows rapidly more expensive from there.
Another important bit of conference room equipment is storage space. This might include credenzas, cabinets or even traditional filing cabinets. Like shelf space, this is something that will be needed sooner or later and the need will only grow.
At first you might find it worthwhile to keep spare batteries and cords for the conference room wireless equipment, then you’ll add some common office supplies, a small tool kit, a CD rack with the contents of the presentations you’ve conducted on site and any files that go with them, perhaps maps, blueprints, organization charts, a digital photo printing center, a coffee machine and the sky’s the limit from there.
Since there is a natural desire to get all possible value out of the conference room, it will almost certainly end up being a meeting room and occasionally a multipurpose room for unexpected needs.
If you are designing your own conference room, standard equipment should include high-speed internet access with many outlets and spaces for hubs, plenty of power connections, a digital projector with screen, perhaps an overhead projector for those times you want to actually draw on the presentation, a TV/VCR, copy machine, printer, fax and flip charts.
Most conference room equipment is pretty standard office furniture or needs. Some are more specialized. If you are going to conduct webconferences of some sort, you will need a sound system.
A basic system will probably start between $300-400 but it is easy to find options over a thousand dollars by adding lapel microphones and other options. The way to optimize is to carefully plan to determine what your needs are, and provide room for growth as experience provides more data and situations change over time.
For webconferences, you should also need a video system so you can project your speaker and perhaps physical documents. These and bridges are increasingly examples of conference room wireless equipment since the lack of cables can be very liberating and much safer.
A cheap webcam can be had for $20, but a business quality set will very rapidly increase in price to meet your potential budget.
Related article: Web Conferencing Equipment Guide
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