What criteria should you consider when choosing your video conferencing equipment?

Remote collaboration is becoming a norm in many companies, both for formal meetings and for day-to-day exchange on various projects. Our guide to video conferencing will help you learn more about the benefits of this type of communication and the various equipment useful for running a remote conference.

However, in order to get the most out of video conferencing at work and have the right video conferencing solution, it is essential to identify the spaces in which you will be conducting online conferences, the frequency of use of the service and the options you will need. In addition, videoconferencing is certainly a practical and economical solution, but good organization is essential to make it an effective and productive tool.

The size of the room

The size of the room and the number of participants are the main criteria in choosing your video conferencing equipment. The system must not be:

• Undersized so that all participants are clearly visible and audible ;
• Oversized so that the quality of the meeting is not degraded.

So we will review all types of rooms to advise you based on your situation.

Single office or telecommuting

You are alone in your office, or with a colleague in an isolated and reduced space. In this case, a professional webcam added with a good microphone will be largely sufficient. Etilux offers a few webcams for video conferencing and audiovisual solutions from Logitech, Poly, Sennheiser, etc.

If you want to stay on site and use a board during your videoconference, Etilux also offers webcams specially designed for teaching and "auditorium" type videoconferences. With an automatic tracking function, an adapted zoom and the possibility to connect a microphone via Bluetooth, this type of professional webcam will be your solution if you want to move beyond your office.

Huddle room (2-4 participants)

Here we move out of the office or personal space and into the smaller, coworking space type of rooms. This configuration is gaining popularity lately, so it's worth paying attention to.

Video conferencing level It is going to be important to expand your field, using a video conferencing bar and a screen. Video conferencing bars are usually equipped with microphones and speakers for sound and a camera for video capture. You will then have to connect it to a professional screen to display your correspondents and the user interface.

Some video conferencing bars have a built-in operating system and video conferencing platform and therefore do not require a computer to operate.

Small room (4-7 participants)

Now we come to the small meeting rooms, as found in small businesses or SMEs. Again, a good video conferencing bar will be ideal, along with a screen of the right dimensions.

With this number of participants, it also becomes interesting to think about installing sound solutions such as speakers in the corners of the room and possibly a ceiling microphone.

Meeting room (7-12 participants)

At this point, you reach the large corporate meeting rooms. Simple "video conferencing bars" may not be enough, given the size of the room and the number of participants.

You should therefore look into the sound solutions that our audiovisual department studies and installs according to your expectations and the specificities of your rooms.

Other wireless screen sharing solutions, such as ClickShares can also be used in your videoconferencing system.

Conference room (12 participants and more)

From 12 participants, your video conferences will have to take place in a conference room, large enough to accommodate everyone.

In terms of technical equipment, you will have to opt for wide angle cameras to frame everyone. Some self-tracking cameras allow you to frame and zoom directly on the speaker, so that all attention is focused on him or her.

As a complement, a custom audio solution is preferable. This will allow you to distribute the sound outputs and inputs in an optimal way so that the sound is picked up and distributed evenly throughout the room.

As far as microphones are concerned, floor-standing models generally work very well, but you'll need a number of them to get everyone talking. That's why we recommend ceiling mics, which can be integrated directly into the composition of your custom audio solution. These are built into the ceiling, making them barely visible, and feature tracking and noise cancellation, so that only the voices of the people speaking are picked up.

For video conferences involving so many people, we strongly recommend this type of microphone.

Conversely, large screens or video projectors are ideal for displaying your correspondents in a way that is visible to everyone in your room. Depending on the size of your room, it is even possible to install several screens.

Video conferencing software

With the Covid crisis, many online video conferencing platforms have emerged or been popularized. Most of the video conferencing bars we offer directly integrate an operating system for any of these platforms, so you can use them very simply and without a computer.

For more elaborate video conferencing solutions, we invite you to learn about the platforms and choose one in order to build your entire system with compatible hardware.

We have already installed many complete video conferencing solutions based on the Microsoft Teams platform.