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TechSpark Showcases the Future of Workplace Collaboration

AV Events

Throughout 2019, AVI-SPL has been hosting its TechSpark series of evening networking events, which give you access to digital workplace experts and technology providers that improve team productivity and reduce your real estate costs.

We’ve already held successful events in Atlanta, Cleveland and Philadelphia. And we’re excited to bring our insight to more cities in September and October, including Dallas, Houston, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

At venues like the Minute Maid Park, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Porsche Experience Center you’ll learn how the new, agile, digital workplace includes the meeting solutions, video collaboration, and enterprise video capabilities that attract and retain talent.

You’ll understand how to apply technology strategies and solutions that increase business agility and results. You’ll also learn how AVI-SPL services ensure they measure up to your objectives. We’ve got three more events ready for your registration.

TechSpark Cities in 2019

TechSpark Agenda

Each event takes place from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., local time.

  • 5 p.m. – Registration
  • 5:15 p.m. – Welcome by AVI-SPL office representative
  • 5:30 p.m. – Keynote speaker
  • 6 p.m. – Sponsor presentations
  • 6:20 p.m. – Networking
  • 7 p.m. – Q&A: Collaboration and Technology in Your Organization
  • 7:15 p.m. – Prize drawing

Register for the TechSpark event you’d like to attend >

To view our Partner blog, click here

Learning Solutions for Hearing-Impaired Students

Audio Conferencing

The following is a guest post from Sennheiser, an AVI-SPL partner that specializes in audio solutions, including those designed for business and education applications.

In order to promote integration at universities and other educational institutions, ever better technical solutions are being developed that enable all students to have barrier-free access to research and teaching. Inclusion means that no one is excluded; inclusion technology means, for example, that there are no separate places for hearing-impaired students in lecture halls and that everyone can sit wherever they want. Of course, the prerequisite for this is that the hearing quality is the same in all places.

Learning requires listening. In the course of the global digital transformation, the digitization of AV devices affects universities in particular, because they need the best tools for exchanging thoughts and words. Students are best supported in their personal development by creating ideal conditions for the exchange of knowledge and ideas in lectures and discussions.

Audio barriers can be costly for universities in the context of growing societal demand for true integration. Audio streaming on top quality intelligent devices perfects the integration of hearing-impaired students.

In order to make inclusion at universities possible, Sennheiser has developed MobileConnect: Sennheiser MobileConnect transmits audio content via WiFi live and in top quality directly to any smartphone. Using the free MobileConnect app, you can intuitively adjust the sound properties.

Personalized accessibility for students
MobileConnect is Sennheiser’s WiFi-based system for barrier-free hearing. It is optimized for use at universities, where it best meets students’ wishes for state-of-the-art and easy-to-use audio technology.

The system for assistive listening
MobileConnect streams audio content via WiFi live and in excellent quality directly to your smartphone. The audio signal is forwarded to the headphones, hearing aid or cochlear implant.

Personal hearing assistant
The Personal Hearing Assistant developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT makes it easy to adapt the audio signal to individual hearing needs. This intuitive touchscreen control provides hearing aids for the hearing impaired and improves speech intelligibility and sound quality.

How it works
With MobileConnect, the innovative assistive listening system, lectures are transmitted to mobile devices and smartphones via WiFi in real time and in high quality. To access a livestream, students simply download and install the free MobileConnect app (available for iOS and Android) and use their own device to connect to their university’s WiFi network.

Fast amortisation – bring your own device
Students use their own smartphones, so no additional hardware is required. MobileConnect requires no maintenance or operating costs, resulting in lower total cost of ownership and a faster return on investment. This eliminates the need for device handling, headphone hygiene or battery management.

Quick setup, easy operation
MobileConnect integrates easily with any existing audio infrastructure and can be installed within a day. The ConnectStation is simply connected to the existing audio system and WiFi and the app is then launched. The entire system is easy to maintain and quickly configured via the Admin Web Interface.

In order to further develop innovative streaming solutions, audio specialist Sennheiser has founded Sennheiser Streaming Technology GmbH (SST) as a competence centre for innovative streaming solutions.

Sennheiser Streaming Technologies combines the 70-year audio expertise of the German family-owned company with future-oriented developments in the field of streaming. The Hamburg-based subsidiary will initially focus on low-latency audio streaming to mobile devices (MobileConnect).

Shaping the future of audio and creating unique sound experiences for customers – this aim unites Sennheiser employees and partners worldwide. Founded in 1945, Sennheiser is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems. With 21 sales subsidiaries and long-established trading partners, the company is active in more than 50 countries and operates its own production facilities in Germany, Ireland, Romania and the USA. Since 2013, Sennheiser has been managed by Daniel Sennheiser and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, the third generation of the family to run the company.

 

To view our Partner blog, click here

Webinar Recording: Improving Your UCC Meeting-Room Audio

Audio Conferencing

In this webinar, recorded on March 6, learn what it takes to deliver high-quality audio throughout your organization’s meeting rooms so that all participants — including those joining remotely — have an effective, productive experience.

The most important part of any video call or conferencing meeting is the audio. Without good audio, there’s no meeting. Get the recording of this free Commercial Integrator and MyTechDecisions webinar, and learn how Biamp audio solutions provide a high-quality experience. Zach Snook, product manager for Biamp, covers:

  • Beamtracking microphones
  • Power-over-Ethernet amplifiers
  • desono™ conferencing speakers
  • Soundmasking
  • Bluetooth and USB connectivity
  • DSPs
  • VoIP deployment tools

You’ll also hear from Charlie Salto, a project engineer for AVI-SPL. Charlie gives his insight into audio design for meeting rooms. Whether you’re refreshing a meeting room or designing and installing a new solution on a tight timeline, experts from Biamp and AVI-SPL explain how they can address these challenges quickly and efficiently.

Get the Recording for “Improving Your UCC Meeting-Room Audio” >

 

To view our Partner blog, click here

Discover the Future of Work With AVI-SPL at ISE 2019

AV Events

The world’s largest exhibition for AV and systems integration begins in less than 24 hours, and AVI-SPL is already there, getting ready to share its latest solutions and services that help companies enter the future of work.

At ISE 2019, guests to AVI-SPL booth 11-C155 will understand what we mean by digital workplace transformation and why it’s so valuable to organizations of all types. In short segments, our staff and special guests will use a five-panel MultiTaction display to explain:

You’ll find the times for these presentations at AVI-SPL’s ISE event website. At our website, you’ll also find a form for requesting a meeting with AVI-SPL representatives to answer your questions.

To view our Partner blog, click here

AVI-SPL and JLL Guide Companies Into the Future of Work

AV Everywhere

We’ve just shared a video about the future of work on the AVI-SPL YouTube channel that shows the efforts of JLL, AVI-SPL and other partners to help companies open up their value by improving how they work. The members of the Project and Development Services Strategic Council also include Interface, Interior Architects, Wiedenbach Brown, and Steelcase.

In this video, produced by VideoLink VLCreative, you’ll see how JLL’s preferred vendors support its “future of work” initiative, which focuses on helping companies find better ways to innovate and collaborate so they lead to better business outcomes.

AVI-SPL contributes by providing its expertise with the AV and collaboration technology solutions and services that improve the worker experience and help them perform their jobs at a high level.

Watch the video and tell AVI-SPL about your company’s goals for being a part of the future of work.

To view our Partner blog, click here

Driving Change in the Workplace

AV Everywhere

You’re committed to improving the way people work at their jobs. How do you get those you’re trying to help — and those whose support you need — to share your enthusiasm for a vision of working smarter?

The term “digital workplace transformation” lends some industry weight to this vision.  But it doesn’t capture the complexities and obstacles different organizations may encounter as they try to improve their internal processes and their ability to interact with customers. It also doesn’t make a case for the benefits, which include helping companies connect with customers (through tools like video collaboration and interactive displays) and making it easier for individuals and teams to work together.

Let’s add some context to our consideration by addressing AVI-SPL’s perspective on — and contributions to — workplace transformation.

AVI-SPL designs, integrates, and supports the type of meeting spaces where it’s easy for participants to start video collaboration meetings, connect personal devices to room systems, and present materials to in-room and remote participants. Among AVI-SPL’s case studies, you’ll find many examples of corporations, museums, and schools using interactive displays to engage their guests so they can find information and get a favorable view of the organization.

As you commit to workplace transformation, consider the value your business provides and how that value could change or be delivered more effectively. AVI-SPL helps companies improve their ability to collaborate in teams because it gives them the technology tools that today’s workers expect to have, and it makes them easy to use. One reason for that ease is automation, where rooms are designed for a minimum number of user interactions to engage any of the major functions. And scalable cloud-based services automate the scheduling, launching, and management of meetings so that they start on time and with no inconvenience to the participants.

Gaining consensus for workplace transformation

Digital workplace transformation requires people and an organizational structure that are open to change and are willing to put in the work to achieve it. To gain consensus for workplace transformation, learn how people want to work, their current struggles, and what kind of functions they expect of their technology systems. By collaborating with consultants and internal focus groups, you’ll identify areas for improvement. The solutions providing that improvement may include a catalog of meeting spaces with systems for video collaboration, simple control of room devices, interactive touch panels, and wireless presentation systems.

Always remember that the end goal is a better way of working together. Don’t undergo a process of change for its own sake, just to say that you’ve done it. The technology systems should fit the workplace culture (be it the current culture or the culture the company wants to emulate).  Because change will affect the entire company, give a voice to different stakeholders, including representatives from HR, marketing, finance, operations, and the like.

Once you’ve determined that change is necessary to improve the way people work, follow these steps laid out by JLL:

  • Those in leadership positions must endorse the commitment to change. If the executives don’t believe in the plan, why should the rest of the company?
  • Understand why employees might be resistant to change. If they are resisting because they think they don’t have the ability to change, or because they won’t have sufficient support, work through these obstacles through workshops and training sessions.
  • The resistance can be cultural (“this is how we’ve always done things”) and personal (“we don’t have the skills “). When you understand different cultures and how they can affect your strategy, you can address employee resistance through training and new processes.
  • Your company’s circumstances should dictate how you implement change. Some companies can change quickly, while others would be better off with an incremental process.
  • Manage your strategy. Be flexible and willing to change the strategy as you learn more about the way your company operates.

The entire business doesn’t have to be ready for change. To make changes on a small scale, focus on a couple of internal groups or departments that would benefit from better collaboration with one another. As they are successful, they can be part of the advocate groups who share the news of their success to the rest of the company.

In the comments, tell me about your challenges with improving the workplace through meeting spaces and collaboration systems. You can also fill out this form and share your questions with AVI-SPL’s collaboration experts.

To view our Partner blog, click here