July 14, 2011

By James Wood

Conference rooms need video. With the ubiquity of PowerPoint, Keynote and Skype it’s unthinkable that any modern business conference room would be without the ability to use these tools. And the typical response is to install a projector and screen, however, a whole host of considerations need to be addressed when installing a projector: the ambient light, the screen placement, the projector location and the ability for everyone in the room to see what’s going on. In large settings with controlled lighting and a dedicated audience, a projector is an ideal solution. Most business meetings, however, don’t take place in such an environment.

Conference rooms are more suited to a dozen or so people connecting over ideas in a conversational manner. That conversation is limited when the lights dim for the projector to fire up. Then the screen can be difficult to see when the blinds are open. The orientation of the screen at one end means that people need to adjust where they’re facing and it immediately generates a divide between the perceived audience and speaker roles. Coworkers sit around the conference table and when the lights flip off they are tempted to zone out like they did when they were students in Biology 101.

Instead of installing a projector, install the Planar EP-Series displays in your conference rooms. Choose either a 46-inch or 55-inch screen, which is as large as a projector could produce in most moderately sized conference rooms anyway. The back-lit liquid crystal displays produce their own illumination so turning down the lights won’t be necessary to see your presentation clearly. There’s no chance that you’ll get in the way of the projector beam and block out half of the screen when the image is all up on the wall. The EP-Series displays are light and thin so there’s very little of the room’s valuable space sacrificed to display.

Rather than dividing the presenter from the audience in a conference room, you can use the efficient, cost effective EP-Series displays on two or more walls of the room so everyone in the conference room can see the important information without having to adjust where they’re sitting or looking. This means the group dynamic remains intact, which leads to better brainstorming and problem-solving.

So, instead of turning your conference rooms into nap-inducers, create spaces where your team can collaborate and connect. Reclaim your conference room.