Avoid overbooking your conference rooms and hold more efficient meetings with smart scheduling and automated room control. Innovative, easy-to-use solutions can help you focus on your meeting, not on the technology.
A conference-room scheduling system ensures your spaces are used to maximum ability. It makes it faster and easier for your team to find an available meeting space, instantly reserve a room or make last-minute changes such as extending the meeting time.
Many scheduling systems are accessible from a desktop, mobile device or convenient touch panel immediately outside the room. At a glance you can see the room name, current meeting and its duration, as well as the extended calendar for future scheduling. Some touch panels feature LED indicator lights, so people can easily determine from a distance if a room is occupied or available.
In addition, some room schedulers, such as Black Box's IN-SESSION have management options which enable system administrators to centrally control all room scheduler units and to collect meeting room statistics and analytics. Another option is a system wide viewer which displays the occupancy status of meeting rooms on one display in a central lobby or work area.
Intuitive room schedulers require no programming and are quick and simple to set up. For ease of implementation, choose a system that integrates with your existing programs, such as Outlook or Google’s G Suite.
Once inside your conference room, you can keep your meeting running smoothly with help from a room control system. Using a touch-screen interface, desktop and wall panels, or a smart phone, you can lower screens, dim lights and begin your presentation. Comprehensive room control solutions enable you to control multiple items from one control panel, including the room’s automation system as well as multimedia, AV, KVM and IP-enabled devices.
Even if you’re not actually in the conference room, a control system can provide you with remote access. This enables you to set up the room in advance with the swipe of a touch panel. It also gives you the ability to deliver your presentation remotely.
Don’t worry if your existing system and devices are several years old; many conference- room automation solutions, such as Black Box's ControlBridge™, can integrate with new and not-so-new technology.
The last step in setting up a modern meeting room is implementing a wireless presentation system that enables meeting attendees to access and share content from any device and anywhere. Look for a system that makes it easy for users to connect and seamlessly contribute to the meeting. Advanced features include simultaneous sharing, whiteboarding and the ability to control laptops through the main touch screen display.
When considering a room scheduling system or control system, choose a provider who will work with you to create a custom interface to meet the needs of your specific applications. It is a good idea to select systems that are scalable to accommodate your current environment as well as future growth.
Black Box offers smart scheduling and control systems to maximize your spaces and streamline your meetings. Click to learn more about how the IN-SESSION room scheduler, Coalesce MPE Wireless Presentation System, and ControlBridge™ Multisystem and Room Control System can enhance your operations.
