With the shift to remote meetings and telepresence, screens and microphones are now essential feature of meeting spaces. Here are the most common ways to integrate them. (Many of our clients use several of these strategies simultaneously.)
Screens can be hidden, if paired with a projector. Both of these are often mounted in the ceiling, and only appear when activated. In this room, screen and projector are out of sight but the control panel and camera are sitting on the ledge at the back of the room.
Many of our clients want their table configured primarily for videoconferencing. V shaped tables (narrow at one end, angled arms) give everyone a good view of the screen, and also allow all users to be seen by remote viewers. These tables can be made either with an open center, as seen here, or just as keystone shaped tops. Keystones work better for tables that have up to 20 participants.
Table shapes affect how viewers interact with screens.
Boat These tables are great for face to face meetings, but not the best for viewing a single screen. If you want all viewers to have good sightlines, consider multiple screens in the room.
Keystone These work well for both face to face and screen viewing. The screen should be place at the wide end of the table. Users sitting at the wide end will need to turn around to see the screen. It’s common to omit users from that end. This means that Keystones need to be longer for a given number of people, which can be a restraint.
Committee/Head table These are best for times when it’s the users, not the screens, that need to be visible. It’s common to have a large screen behind the users, with individual screens for each user so that they can see what is being presented.
Round/Oval/Racetrack Like boats, often not so great for screen viewing. Very large open ovals can have screens mounted in the center space. This helps somewhat, but these shapes are not preferred if seeing a screen is of primary importance.
Modular/Reconfigurable When we design this type of table, we also make sure that there are configurations which allow for easy screen viewing.
Some of our clients want to supplement wall-hung screens with a few in the center of the table. There are two ways to do it: put the screens in a stand-alone kiosk, as seen in image above; or hang them on the inner faces of the table, as seen in the two images below. It’s extremely important that sight lines be checked before beginning construction. Users are often sitting farther back from the edge of the table than the designers allow for, and the bottom of the screen is obscured by the top adjacent to the user. And very large screens in a kiosk can prevent users from seeing their peers across the table.
Who doesn’t like a cool, motorized screen in a table? The CFO, that’s who. Pop-up screens are very elegant, and very expensive. They also require special construction techniques as the cutouts for the units can affect the structural integrity of the top. We don’t do a lot of these because of the cost, but the ones we have made work well.
Aside from the initial cost, pop-up screens are prone to early obsolescence. They are absolutely not for the budget conscious buyer, and are very likely to shorten the lifespan of an otherwise perfectly functional table.
Free standing display devices are a great way to future-proof your table. When plugs and standards change, just get new devices. Your IT team may not thank you: keeping all of those devices up to date and cyber secure is no joke. But we hear that users like this option.
Microphones are essential when the table gets to be very large. The most sophisticated microphones sense who is speaking and mute everyone else. One thing for designers to keep in mind: Microphones are like icebergs. The visible bit is only a small part of the entire thing. Usually there is a long stem and a lot of wires hanging down under the table top. Microphones work best when the table has a large enough base to accommodate all of that extra clutter.
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