For years, the best wireless presentation systems (WPS) have streamlined meetings, enabling seamless and secure content sharing with a tap of button. Yet, the post-pandemic era has ushered in the age of hybrid. This has reshaped the nature of meetings. A vast majority of meetings now include both in-person and remote attendees, which presents new demands to enable the same seamless, high-quality, and productive experience as before. There’s still the need to swiftly switch to any device to present to the meeting room screen, but now meeting attendees have additional requirements: first, to present to the screen wirelessly while integrating with the room’s video conferencing equipment and video conferencing platform, and second, security. The latest evolution of the WPS can play a pivotal role in the transforming the collaborative hybrid landscape in meeting rooms and other spaces.
Rise of Hybrid Work, Seamless Content Sharing
The hybrid work era has transformed the traditional conference room into a bridge between the physical and virtual realms. This change amplifies the importance of wireless presentation systems, which now need to seamlessly share content sharing across distances and with more equipment. But we’re up against several hurdles.
In Donna McGeorge’s book, “The 25 Minute Meeting: Half the Time, Double the Impact,” the author states the optimal length for a meeting is 25 minutes. Where did this number come from? It’s actually the number the author based on Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro time management method, which cited 25 minutes as the maximum length of time people spend in focus. McGeorge posits that after 25 minutes, focus — ergo productivity — is lost in meetings.
Twenty-five minutes certainly seems healthy enough, but remember, we’re dealing with both the virtual and physical worlds now. Minutes can tick down quickly just getting everyone logged in, on screen, and ensuring AV system are connected properly. Time is of the essence.
Those 25 minutes certainly will be eaten away if you had to pass around cables and figure out how to get everything connected to the video conference platform and displays, video bars, speakers, cameras, and room microphones. It’s near impossible to have a quick, smooth, and frustration-free meetings — and that is the expectation.
The WPS ensures that attendees make the most of those 25 minutes. Just tap the WPS’ button, and any user’s screen is launched onto the display in seconds. The days of passing around cables and connectors is over. With a button-based system, there are also no apps to hassle with. App-based WPS shave off benefits in efficiency since they require additional time for downloads, updates, and logging into the network.
In the landscape of hybrid meetings, system integration has taken center stage. In order to achieve that the same seamless, high-quality meeting experience the WPS has always provided, it has to be compatible with all video conferencing platforms as well as integrate with the room’s systems. That means providing all the connectivity for full room integration of displays, video bars, speakers, cameras, and room microphones. It also needs to take the guesswork out of room setup, quickly adjusting the room setup from a local meeting to a hybrid in seconds, so no valuable time is wasted.
Risky Business: Secure Hybrid Meetings
Another benefit of button-based WPS is increased data security. Solutions that establish a standalone wireless network with an embedded firewall transmit data securely without connecting to the company’s intranet, and thereby prevent any data breach or unintended exposure. In addition, features such as WPA2, AES 128-bit and router-level internal channel isolation provide transmission and data security. As organizations send sensitive information — whether financial, creative, or HR related — it’s important that the system be certified against hacking and tampering. These security features and certifications not only help reduce security vulnerabilities but also eliminate the hassle of physically locking up WPS components in order to prevent malicious tampering.
This is where the latest button-style WPS, like the BenQ VS20, hardware shines. The VS20 is purpose-built for efficient and secure operation by Bring Your Own Meeting (BYOM) teams. It streamlines meeting startups with one-touch simplicity and prioritizes data security with a comprehensive suite of features. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with in-room AV systems, ensuring a smooth and secure exchange of ideas in the hybrid meeting environment. Plus, it adds a microphone so organizations can create a scalable microphone system to fit any meeting size.
The button-style WPS is an essential tool in today’s hybrid meeting room. It can streamline content sharing in modern conference rooms, enhancing meeting efficiency by eliminating cables, apps, and network log-ins and integrating with in-room video conferencing equipment while prioritizing data security. With the right capabilities, it bridges the physical and virtual realms to make every minute count.
Bob Wudeck serves as Senior Director of Business Development for BenQ, a leading global visual display solutions provider. He can be reached at [email protected].
