With a sharp focus on the cutting-edge technologies shaping our work lives, networking specialist Matilda Bailey joins us to unravel the complexities of the modern hybrid meeting. As companies navigate the return to the office, the challenge of creating a seamless and equitable experience for both in-person and remote participants has never been more critical. We’ll explore why a participant-first approach is essential, how new AI-powered camera and audio systems are changing the conversational dynamics in meeting rooms, and the often-underestimated importance of crystal-clear audio. The discussion will also cover the unique demands of outfitting large, complex meeting spaces and the simple training strategies that can make or break user adoption of these powerful new tools.
Many IT and AV leaders prioritize room logistics like table layout over the actual meeting experience. How can they pivot to focus on the participants first, and what key metrics should they use to measure whether remote attendees feel fully included?
That’s the core of the problem right there. For too long, the focus has been on the room itself—the furniture, the screen placement—rather than the human experience. The pivot needs to be a shift in mindset from “How does the room look?” to “How does the remote person feel?” Leaders should start by imagining themselves on the other end of the call. Can they clearly see who is speaking? Can they hear every word without strain? It’s incredibly difficult to feel like a full participant when you can’t raise your hand or interject naturally because you’re just a face in a gallery view. Instead of just technical uptime, success metrics should be about engagement. Are remote participants contributing equally? Are they able to follow conversations that move around the room? True equity is achieved when the technology becomes so seamless that the barrier between being in the room and being remote virtually disappears.
New AI cameras from Crestron and Logitech promise features like speaker tracking and intelligent framing. Beyond the marketing, how do these capabilities tangibly improve the flow of conversation, and what challenges might still exist even with this advanced technology?
These AI features are a genuine leap forward. Think about a traditional video call where the camera shows a static, wide shot of the room. It’s impersonal and hard to follow. With intelligent framing, the camera zooms in to capture the active speakers, creating a more dynamic, TV-production-like feel that keeps remote attendees engaged. When someone new speaks, a device like the Crestron 1 Beyond i12D or Logitech Rally AI Camera can automatically pan, tilt, and zoom to frame them perfectly. This makes conversations feel much more natural and direct, as if you’re making eye contact. However, the technology isn’t a silver bullet. The challenge remains in capturing the subtle, non-verbal cues of the entire group. While speaker tracking is great, it might miss the person at the other end of the table who is nodding in agreement or looking ready to speak. The goal is to make the experience fluid, and while we’re much closer, there’s still work to do in capturing the full human dynamic of a room.
Given the assertion that audio’s importance is an “11” on a 1-to-10 scale, what specific audio hardware mistakes do you see companies making? Could you walk us through the ideal audio setup for a large, complex meeting room to ensure amazing quality for everyone?
I absolutely stand by that “11 out of 10” rating for audio. The biggest mistake is treating audio as an afterthought to video. A meeting can survive choppy video, but it completely falls apart with bad audio. If people can’t hear each other clearly, communication stops, and any AI transcription or summary features become useless. For a large, complex room, a single speaker pod on the table is a recipe for disaster. The ideal setup is a multi-layered ecosystem. It starts with an advanced audio processor, like Crestron’s DM NAX, that can handle things like acoustic echo cancellation and noise reduction. Then, you need multiple microphones strategically placed to capture every voice, supplemented by in-ceiling Power over Ethernet speakers to distribute sound evenly. This ensures that a person speaking softly from the corner of the room is heard just as clearly as the person next to the main display. It’s not about just being good; the audio has to be amazing for everyone.
As companies encourage a return to the office, large meeting rooms are becoming important again. What are the unique challenges in outfitting these complex spaces for hybrid equity compared to smaller huddle rooms, and how do dual-camera systems address these specific issues?
Large meeting rooms are an entirely different beast. In a small huddle room, a single high-quality video bar can often capture everyone effectively. But in a large, high-value space, you’re dealing with greater distances, more participants, and more complex acoustics. A single camera simply can’t provide both a wide-angle view of the entire room and a clear, close-up shot of the active speaker simultaneously. This is where dual-camera systems, like Logitech’s Rally AI Camera Pro, become essential. These devices use one camera, often a wide-angle lens in the base, to maintain a constant view of the whole room, while a second, more powerful PTZ camera dynamically frames individual speakers. This multicamera approach means remote participants get the best of both worlds: they see the context of the entire group while also getting a clear, engaging view of who is talking, making them feel much more connected to the live discussion.
Technology can be intimidating, leading employees to default to a simple desktop call instead of using a fully-equipped room. What are some practical, low-effort training methods, like video tutorials, that can boost adoption and help employees run more effective meetings?
This is a critical, and often neglected, part of the puzzle. You can install the most sophisticated system in the world, but if employees are afraid to touch it, it’s worthless. The key is to make the technology approachable. Intensive, mandatory training sessions often fail because they’re overwhelming. Instead, short, simple video tutorials are incredibly effective. A two-minute video that lives right on the room’s touch screen showing how to start a meeting, share a screen, and use the AI camera features can make all the difference. The goal should be to require as little user intervention as possible. When an employee can walk in, press one button, and trust that the system will handle the framing and audio automatically, they’ll use it. The less work they have to do, the more likely they are to choose the fully-equipped room over a less effective call from their laptop.
What is your forecast for hybrid meeting technology?
My forecast is that the technology will become increasingly intelligent and invisible. We’re moving away from users having to manually control cameras and microphones. The future is about creating spaces where the technology anticipates our needs. AI will not only frame speakers but also understand the context of the meeting, perhaps by automatically focusing on a whiteboard when someone starts writing on it. The hardware itself will blend more seamlessly into the room’s design, and edge computing built into devices will enable even faster, more sophisticated AI features without relying on the cloud. Ultimately, the goal is to completely erase the technology barrier, allowing human connection and collaboration to take center stage, regardless of where anyone is located.
