A Board of Directors or Trustees meeting may be one of the most important events your organization holds. Corporations, universities and health care organizations all host formal discussions with leadership where critical decisions are made. You can improve the meeting experience in several ways, which can be particularly beneficial as your organization grows, holds off-site retreats or needs a hybrid solution.
The single most important factor in your meeting is the audio. Each person must be heard clearly by the meeting attendees. Many installed board rooms use area microphones that cannot tell the difference between well-stated opinions, coughs or rustling papers.
Participation is critical to a meeting's success, and you need technology that facilitates hassle-free discussion. HB Live’s favorite solution is to use a Conference Delegate Microphone system. When all board members are present in the room, the delegate system facilitates a clear and orderly method of identifying which person has the floor.
A delegate microphone system creates a clear audio setup that allows your attendants to hear each other clearly — and know that they are being heard. Each in-person attendee will have one microphone in an interconnected set. When they wish to speak, they push a button on the microphone. A red indicator light turns on to let members know that the other person has the floor.
When some of your members are joining remotely, the delegate system easily connects to your conference system as one audio input. For your remote participants, the setup operates the same as having a single microphone in the meeting room. However, the delegate system provides individualized sound quality for every board member. Because each participant has a microphone, you can hear everyone properly.
The system includes a network of built-in speakers allowing each in-person attendee to hear the remote participants equally. Just as the delegate microphones function as one audio input, the speakers will operate as one output. In other words, when your remote attendees speak, the sound will come through all speakers in the system.
Delegate microphone systems are easy to use and highly reliable. They are the perfect audio enhancement event during confidential discussions when the AV team must leave the room. The systems are available in wired or encrypted wireless so the audio is not susceptible to hacking or eavesdropping.
Board of Directors meetings are generally held in a fully furnished and technologically equipped board room with limited options for changing the setting. When you outgrow your board room or decide to host the event in a different venue, we offer proven solutions to enhance your meeting.
If you use presentation materials, like PowerPoint, they are typically set up in the front of the room. Depending on the layout of the chairs and tables, some attendees might have to turn to see the screen. Their view could also be obstructed by other members seated nearby.
As your board grows, people need to sit further from the screen and could have trouble seeing details clearly. Adding some floor monitors in the middle of your U-shape seating brings those visuals closer to the viewer. It also allows them to sit naturally at the table and continue to make eye contact with others in the room as they discuss the presentation.
These same monitors can be used to display video from your conference system. Remote participants will appear on these monitors, creating an intimate and effective way for the in-room members to engage with that person.
Fully furnished board rooms should already have cameras installed and connected to a conference system. The system may have been designed for a specific seating plan or only capture wide shots of the room. For introductions or agenda items for which a complete view of the room is more effective, these are perfectly acceptable. Flexible, efficient technology allows you to host a hybrid meeting that's adaptable enough to feel like an entirely in-person event.
You have some options if you want to enhance an installed solution or create an engaging video collaboration when you move your board meeting off-site.
The camera setup should allow your remote board members to see the in-person attendees clearly. You need cameras capable of capturing details and emotions as each person speaks, and you need an arrangement that lets every participant see each other. When you host lengthy meetings or have many board members, these video cameras save the remote attendees from the fatigue of staring at a boring, wide room view.
Remote-controlled pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras turn as needed to provide a view of any active speaker or group of members. These are frequently used for hybrid or remote meetings. You might have 30, 40, 50 or more members in your meeting, which means that a singular, inflexible camera setup might not be able to capture everyone effectively. PTZ cameras' flexibility allows the operator to pan the device to each speaker so the remote participants can see who's talking every time.
Advanced delegate systems offer automated cameras. When a member presses their microphone button, a camera automatically turns to capture their video. This kind of system may be desired when our AV team is not allowed to be present for confidential discussions.
Your Board of Directors is discussing highly sensitive matters and cannot risk eavesdropping or Zoom-bombing. HB Live works with all video collaboration solutions including Zoom, Teams and WebEx. We can even interface with hardware-based systems from Cisco and Poly. Whatever software your IT or security team deems best, we are happy to work with it.
At HB Live, we provide hybrid event production so you can host an effective and productive Board of Directors meeting, no matter where your board members are in the world.
Our experts will come to your meeting space to set up and operate the equipment so you can focus on accomplishing your meeting agenda. We bring PTZ cameras with an on-site operator, delegate microphones, monitors and speakers.
Moreover, we know how to set up your meeting space to facilitate hybrid communication. Our ideal Board of Directors meeting setup arranges tables in a U-shape along three sides of the room. Your in-person attendees will sit along the outer edges of the tables, each with their own delegate microphone. We place multiple monitors in the center of the U-shape to allow every in-person participant to see the remote attendees.
The PTZ cameras will also go in the center of the U-shape layout to provide the best line of sight for virtual participants. One of our team members will be on-site to operate the cameras with a remote. Having an on-site operator allows them to see your meeting structure so they can tilt, pan, zoom and swivel the camera as needed to provide the most seamless hybrid meeting possible.
With the proper setup, you can take advantage of the many benefits hybrid meetings have for your board members, such as inclusivity and schedule flexibility. HB Live's arrangement takes those benefits one step further, offering you even greater advantages, including:
At HB Live, we know how to create engaging in-person and hybrid events. When you host a board meeting, you need the right technology and a constructive setup so every participant can contribute effectively. Our team will handle your room arrangement and audiovisual equipment on your behalf. We'll foster the environment you need to host a worthwhile discussion with your board members in-room or worldwide.
If you're ready to make your next board meeting more engaging, contact our team to learn more about our services today.