"Can you hear me now?" was a famous tagline of a long-running series of commercials for Verizon Wireless. While cell phone communication continues to improve, it's a line we all tend to still use now and then with calls in certain areas.

One place that line should never be uttered is in a conference room during an important meeting. Unfortunately, all too many conference and meeting rooms are still equipped with only a speakerphone for calls with remote teams and partners. In today's fast-paced business world, and the need for clear and effective communication across town or across the globe, yesterday's technology doesn't measure up.

Keep reading below to see how to upgrade the audio in your Wildwood, MO conference room system for increased 21^st-century productivity.

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Conference Room Audio

Conference room sound is not just about phone calls; it improves video conferencing as well. Given the circumstances of the current pandemic, video conferencing systems like Zoom and Skype have become required business tools. Going forward, many businesses will allow professionals to work from home more often, and the ability for office-based teams to be clearly heard by remote workers will be even more critical.

One of the most challenging things in conference rooms is ensuring everyone is heard clearly no matter where they are sitting. Huddling around a speakerphone or extended microphone or shouting is not an efficient way to hold a meeting. Asking people to repeat what they said is also a time-wasting productivity killer.

Microphones and Wireless

Several solutions exist to improve conference room audio and make meetings crystal clear. Our partner Shure offers a wide array of products that fit most meeting room layouts. For example, boundary microphones can be installed around a table at strategic points to pick up all participants. These can be low-profile models that sit close to the tabletop to gooseneck models that can be adjusted closer to a participant.

In some rooms, you may not want the table clutter of permanently installed microphones. Another popular option is the array microphone, which can be integrated into a ceiling or sit on the table. Array microphones use sophisticated digital signal processing technology to pick up sound from a wide field around the room so that people standing or sitting all over can be heard without getting close to a microphone.

Portable Solutions

Sophisticated conferencing audio can also be moved from room to room. For example, say you need to hold a large meeting in an ample flex space that is not a dedicated conference room. Systems like Shure's Microflex Wireless have portable microphones and presenter control equipment that can set up a small to large meeting where you need it. Going further, the Microflex Complete system goes beyond voice with built-in capabilities for taking votes, supporting interpretation to other languages, ID recognition for voting and security, and more to make any gathering more productive.

We’ve only scratched the surface here with solutions for better audio for your meetings and conferences. Elite Technology Solutions can show you all the audio, video, and technology options for increasing your organization's productivity. To learn more, call us today at (636) 939-4474 or visit our contact page. We look forward to working with you.