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How to Design Huddle Rooms for Your Organization

AV Everywhere

Today’s workers want the ability to collaborate from any location, anytime. Impromptu meetings — whether face to face or via video conferencing — is the new normal for today’s workforce.

While there’s still a need for large meetings in formal conference rooms, many employees are choosing huddle spaces to collaborate and share ideas. Rising real estate costs are also motivating companies to provide spaces that can accommodate small groups of people and connect them with colleagues around the world.

When equipped with the right audio, video, conferencing, sharing, and scheduling capabilities, modern huddle spaces can significantly increase work efficiency and improve productivity. 

In the HARMAN Huddle Space Design Guide, you will learn about topics like:

  • Why dedicated meeting spaces are ideal for group collaboration
  • Rooms designed for inspiration and productivity
  • How to show everyone on a video call
  • Tools that improve the audio experience
  • One-click meeting start
  • Easy document access
  • Room scheduling

To learn more about how you can create inspiring huddle spaces that people will want to use, complete the form in the link below to download the design guide.

Download the HARMAN Huddle Space Design Guide >

To view our Partner blog, click here

How to Build Your Company’s Activity-Based Work Spaces

activity-based spaces

We want flexibility in how and when we work. When we’re at the office, we expect to have the tools to do our jobs efficiently and to the best of our abilities. That sometimes means being able to rely on one another’s knowledge as we work through projects. It also means being able to exchange that knowledge in ways that engage us and feel comfortable.

Activity-Based Work Spaces and the Technology That Supports Them

When you have a variety of activity-based spaces, you enable people to work with one another using tools that facilitate collaboration. And that capability can build a strong team culture. Just a few of the activity-based spaces we find at work include conference rooms, huddle rooms, ideation spaces, and quiet rooms. Depending on their size and purpose, these areas may have solutions like BYOD web conferencing, interactive displays, digital signage, and wireless presentation and content sharing.

In AVI-SPL’s white paper on multigenerational teams, you’ll find a helpful chart that shows how seven types of technology solutions can be applied across seven room types. Here’s a sneak peek:

Activity-based spaces chart

Benefits of Activity-Based Work Spaces

Meetings can be about what has been done, what could have been done better, and planning for upcoming projects. A lot of meetings — perhaps yours as well — follow this format. Activity-based spaces encourage productivity; they are places to do the tasks that are usually on the to-do list following a meeting that’s long on talk and short on action.

And when you have a variety of activity-based spaces, you enable everyone in a workplace to gather in groups, work one-on-one, and alone. Some of their benefits include:

  • Giving different generations the spaces where they feel comfortable working.
  • Encouraging collaboration. Bring people together, and you create a environment for innovation. 
  • Empowering people to be more productive because they have the resources — including colleagues and technology — to work effectively.
  • Attracting and retaining talent. Give people the tools and culture they need to work at their best and grow into their positions, and you’ve created a workplace where people want to be.

Activity-Based Work Spaces Close the Generation Gap

AVI-SPL’s white paper “Building an Inspiring Digital Workplace for Multigenerational Teams” explains the differences in collaboration, communication, and work-space preferences among different generations. And it shows how activity-based spaces meet the needs of boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z, whether they prefer video conferencing, working face to face, or collaborating in groups.

You’ll learn how you can create a collaborative environment that works for everyone as you gain insight into the kind of work spaces and technology that can bring the generations together and foster teamwork. 

Get your copy of “Build an Inspiring Digital Workplace for Multigenerational Teams” >

To view our Partner blog, click here

Webinar Recording: Intersection of AV and ADA Compliance

ADA compliance

Access this webcast for a look at the issues you’ll encounter with accessibility and ways you can ensure your AV technology complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

When technology solutions don’t follow compliance dictates, they have the potential to create more barriers. For example: a lectern where the AV controls are not accessible to people in wheelchairs or a display that sticks out too far from the wall and becomes a hazard for those with sight disabilities.

In this AVI-SPL webinar, Legrand | AV’s Kathryn Gaskell and Karen Smidt discuss a few sections of the ADA (American With Disabilities Act) most relevant to AV, including:

  • Reach Ranges (section 308)
  • Operable Parts (sections 205 and 209)
  • Protruding Objects (sections 204 and 307)

You’ll gain an understanding of the AV challenges inherent in each section, and learn solutions for creating a more inclusive environment.

Get the recording for “The Intersection of AV Technology and the ADA: Challenges and Solutions” >

About the presenters

Kathryn Gaskell
Director of Product Management – Chief Brand
Legrand | AV
 
Kathryn has worked at Legrand | AV for six years, leading product management for the Chief brand. Her efforts have led to the development of industry-leading display mounting solutions for education and corporate environments, digital signage applications and more. Her interest in ADA was spiked by frequent questions from customers, and a desire to solve their accessibility challenges with practical, well-designed solutions.
 
Karen Smidt
Director of Marketing – Commercial Brands
Legrand | AV
 
Karen began working at Legrand | AV 13 years ago and is currently leading the commercial marketing team in their efforts to provide useful, educational content to our customers and end users. Working with Kathryn to better understand customer questions around ADA, she has developed educational resources to help explain and solve many of the challenges at the intersection of AV and accessibility. 

To view our Partner blog, click here

How to Calculate the Value of Your Digital Workplace Solutions

AV Everywhere

Just about any significant expenditure you make in business needs to be justified with an estimated return on investment (ROI). Because AVI-SPL provides the digital services that are designed to improve how your business operates, we’ve created a calculator that you can use to figure out the financial value of digital workplace solutions.

Our new productivity calculator will factor in your company’s information and show the benefits of solutions that improve the employee experience and productivity in the workplace.

Forrester Consulting’s “Total Economic Impact of AVI-SPL’s Digital Workplace Solutions” shows the kind of value you can get from improving your collaboration solutions and outsourcing their support to AVI-SPL. Based on a three-year model, the study showed a meeting productivity increase worth $11.9 million. Other findings from the report, which aggregated four different AVI-SPL customers into a composite company, found:

  • 14.3% net reduction in total cost of ownership of digital meeting solutions 
  • 20% increase in meeting-room utilization
  • $1.5M in savings on management and support costs

To estimate your savings, go to this landing page to access the calculator. Once you’ve downloaded the spreadsheet, you can enter information like:

  • The number of meeting rooms in your company
  • How many rooms will be equipped with video conferencing systems
  • Hourly cost of your full-time employees
  • Cost per square foot of meeting spaces

Take a few minutes to gather the info needed and a few seconds to enter it into the spreadsheet. Our calculator will then determine the value delivered by higher meeting-room utilization, improved staff productivity, and AVI-SPL’s managed services. And you’ll have the ROI numbers that clear the path for digital workplace transformation that improves the culture, productivity and efficiency of your business.

Download the AVI-SPL Digital Workplace Solutions ROI Calculator >

To view our Partner blog, click here

Show Us Your Collaborative Work Space on National Selfie Day

AV Everywhere

Friday, June 21, is National Selfie Day. Which probably means it’s a day like any other for people who love (or live) to share on social media. But whether you’re a novice at the self portrait or a seasoned expert, we have a special request.

AVI-SPL is taking part in this unofficial holiday by asking its clients, offices, and LinkedIn and Twitter followers to share their favorite collaborative work spaces and tag them #NationalSelfieDay. To give you some guidance on what we’re looking for, AVI-SPL’s Marketing team has shared its enthusiastic contribution.

As we receive photos, I’ll upload them into a gallery in this post, so check back over the next few days for more images — and possibly some inspiration for your organization. 

AVI-SPL specializes in being a digital services provider to organizations around the world — which means we provide them with the collaboration technology that helps team members share knowledge, brainstorm, and drive better business outcomes. We work with our customers to define what collaboration looks like to their organization. And over the next few days, we hope to see examples of where that collaboration takes place for you.

Share your images to our Twitter or LinkedIn accounts. 

AVI-SPL Canada selfie
AVI-SPL Marketing Team

To view our Partner blog, click here

Webinar Recording: Moving Your Audio Distribution Over IP

Audio distribution

In this webinar on audio over IP, you’ll learn about your organization’s options for networked audio distribution.

During this free Commercial Integrator and MyTechDecisions webcast, sponsored by AVI-SPL and HARMAN, you’ll get a comprehensive rundown of AV over IP technologies like Dante, AVB, CobraNet, and BLU Link, HARMAN’s digital audio bus that can complement the other audio transport technologies.

HARMAN’s Al Crain walks through the pros and cons of these audio networking protocols, reviews the AES67 interoperability standard, and takes questions from attendees.

Get the recording for “Moving Your Audio Distribution Over IP” >

To view our Partner blog, click here