Conferencing is the act of conducting real-time, virtual meetings with people from different locations (locally or internationally) via an electronic communication system.
Gone are the days when it was challenging to communicate internationally or locally. In the modern age we live in now, technology has grown and continues to develop to meet man’s needs. One of the major benefits of technology in this century is making interactions and communication better and more effective.
In business settings, technology has made communication easy with the rise of audio and video communication. We can debate on many advantages and disadvantages of audio and video collaboration, but for now, let us focus on which suits your next virtual meeting.
Audio Conferencing
Audio conferencing, which is also known as teleconferencing, makes it possible for distant participants to communicate with each other using a telephone or an audio equipment. This type of modern conferencing is widely accepted by almost everyone in the business field.
Types of Teleconferencing Devices
Audio conferencing can take place in different forms depending on the level of integration. For use in a conferencing room, an IP conferencing phone is the best as this will help boost audio performance for everyone in the conferencing room to hear and interact.
The use of deskphone as a mode of communication is mostly suitable for single operators, though switching audio transmission of deskphone to speaker mode may also boost audio performance. However, deskphones do not have all the features and efficiency that a conferencing IP Phone will provide. Click here for types of IP Phones.
Another device which is used for audio communication is the mobile speakerphones. These speakerphones make it easy for users to join both audio and video conferencing from anywhere while it serves as an audio output for audible meeting experience.
When to Consider Audio Conferencing
The integration of either audio, video, or both in your meeting room may depend on the purpose involved. Audio conferencing is always the best choice to make if you are looking towards achieving quick and straightforward communication that requires no visuals. The following tips will help you understand more about audio conferencing.
Meeting Length and Flexibility
If you need to quickly address a few points, probably one or two points with your virtual workers, opting for audio conferencing may be easier and faster.
Meeting Agenda or Topic
The nature of the subject to be discussed is a crucial point to consider. Is it a meeting where you have to see everyone eyeball-to-eyeball? Is it one that voice clarity is paramount? Would having a visual take away from the import of the subject? Your answers to these questions will help determine what to settle on.
Environment
For impromptu meetings in a challenging or awkward environment, an audio integration will be the best choice to make. You can collaborate with your clients without worrying about where you are at the moment. In addition, audio conferencing collaboration also improves the security of the current location, which means your meeting partner will not be able to know where you are. You can join meetings from anywhere, including the room, living room, restaurant, and so on.
Another interesting part of audio conferencing devices is that some of them are built with beamforming microphones technology which aids noise-cancellation. This helps filter background noises for you to achieve a smooth audio meeting experience.
Video Conferencing
A video conferencing collaboration is the combination of both the visual and audio device to achieve the best meeting experience. Video conferencing devices are built with both audio and video technology, which means people can join meetings as long as they have a device with audio and video capability. It is most useful for environments where a lot of important information needs to be shared and objects need to be demonstrated. For more on video conferencing, click here.
With a video conferencing device, you can easily understand what a client or participant from the other end is trying to explain quite easily. This is because in addition to the voice being heard, it accommodates reading facial expressions, hand signs and body language.
Choosing Video Conferencing Products to Invest in
Getting the right video conferencing device for your meeting room may be challenging. Having the idea of what you need when venturing into getting a video conferencing device is key. Here are some basic things you need to know if you want to consider video conferencing:
- The room size, which can also be classified as the number of participants
- Video quality
- Meeting/Work Environment
- Preferred Meeting Platforms
- Budget
Room Size
Your room size may determine the number of participants that will be able to attend a meeting. Room size can be categorised into three categories, viz small/huddle room size, medium-sized room and large room size. All these room sizes have different video conferencing products that are suitable for them.
Small-sized Room - This type of room accommodates participants ranging from 1-4 or 4-8. For this room, you need devices that have the capability of covering everyone in the room. Here are some top selling video conferencing devices which are suitable for this room size: Logitech MeetUp, Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam, Jabra PanaCast 180° Camera, NUROUM Conference Webcam, Owl Labs Meeting Owl, and Poly Studio X30.
Medium-sized Room - This type of setting usually accommodates up to 9-13 participants. Some of the video conferencing devices that are perfect for this room size include Logitech Rally Camera, Logitech PTZ Pro 2 Camera, Owl Labs Meeting Owl 3, and Jabra PanaCast 50.
Large-sized Meeting Room - This meeting room is able to accommodate up to 14-20 participants. Video conferencing devices such as PTZOptics 20x-SDI Gen2 Live Streaming Camera, Polycom EagleEye Director II, and Poly Studio E70 Smart Camera, are the perfect solution for this room size.
Video Quality
Another vital thing to consider when choosing video conferencing is the quality. Some cameras, whether single cameras, webcams or all-in-one cameras are equipped with some fascinating features that will take your meeting experience to a smart level. Some of the quality features are the ability to automatically focus on real pictures or objects, voice tracking technology to find an active speaker in the room and pay more attention to their face, noise suppression and noise cancelling technology for clearer audio output and video quality and many more.
Meeting / Work Environment
Your work environment may also be a huge challenge when it comes to achieving seamless meeting experience. Some video conferencing devices are built with beamforming microphones technology that help filter background noises for you to achieve a smooth meeting experience.
Preferred Meeting Platforms
Enjoy meetings across varieties of cloud meeting platforms. Cloud meeting platforms make it easy to collaborate with quite a large number of participants virtually. It enables users to share screens with other participants and many more. Fortunately, there are video conferencing devices that are optimised for different cloud meeting platforms, including Zoom, Microsoft, Bluejeans, Unify, Skype for Business and others. Products like Logitech MeetUp, Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam, Jabra PanaCast 180° Camera (Optimised for Microsoft Team and Zoom), Neat Bar Collaboration Bar (Optimised for Microsoft Teams) and Poly Studio X30 are good examples.
Budget
Budget also differs from person to person as well as company to company. Interacting using an audio device definitely costs less compared to a video conferencing device. However, you can still get some video conferencing devices that are affordable without compromising quality.
Important things to know about Video Conferencing
Video Conferencing is More Engaging
Having a lifelike collaboration is way beyond imagination. Deploying video conferencing devices into your meeting room improves the idea of meetings. With video conferencing, you are able to see your meeting participants and not just that, meetings are more engaging because you are able to discuss, interact, read body languages as well as facial expressions. All these details make it easier to understand discussions and emphasise pain-points.
It Saves on Travel Money
Save your business from unnecessary spends. In the past, meeting business associates to discuss business can be time and money consuming because many organisations have to go through the rigorous stress of arranging travels from time to time. This era, a simple plug-and-play video conferencing device, will convert your meeting room into a virtual room in no time, making it possible to see your business associates virtually in real time. You can now save and spend money on other business expenses.
It Helps Employee Retention
Video conferencing improves productivity, mobility and flexibility for your remote workers in the sense that they all stay connected from anywhere in the world and are able to get familiar with themselves through video collaboration. This brings about stronger team relationships and teamwork.
Which suits your next virtual meeting- Audio or Video Conferencing?
From the foregoing, you would have an idea of what you want to integrate in your next virtual meeting- audio or video conferencing. However, the burden of choice can be taken away as both audio and video could be combined to achieve an all-in-one virtual meeting solution. This all-in-one solution includes:
For more all-in-one solutions, visit paykobo.com all-in-one category.
