As an audio manufacturer we spent a lot of time planning and designing our stand for the show so that we could demonstrate our wired and wireless conferencing systems in an environment which was as close as possible to actually being in Chambers or council committee rooms.
For us, the concept of the Shure stand was a great success as delegates who visited could relate to it instantly, immediately recognising their own conferencing needs and requirements based on our demonstrations.
A very high proportion of delegates – I would estimate about 90% – were looking for systems that were easy to set up and use, were wireless, and allowed multiple users to share content across various spaces within Chambers and meeting rooms, thus providing a multi-functional room solution.
Because of the stand design we could demonstrate exactly how a system would operate in this way, with a partition creating the effect of individual rooms for daily use, such as one-to-one meetings, break-out groups and discussions.
By removing the partition, we could demonstrate how the system could then be used for bigger meetings, such as evening council meetings and wider committee meetings that bring together larger numbers of councillors.
This kind of flexibility in a conferencing system was a popular requirement, with more than half of the delegates who visited requesting products that could be operated individually or brought together as a whole to create a bigger conferencing solution.
The demonstrations helped our team to explain just how easy these kind of systems are to use and operate, and we had great engagement from delegates who were surprised at how user-friendly a multi-functional room system is to operate – particularly with the growing trend to increase budgets through the incremental revenues of hiring out unused council spaces to third parties.
Another key request from the show floor was for versatility and scalability in a system.
Essentially, delegates needed to be assured that any system that was purchased provided exactly the right functions necessary to conduct council and chamber meetings, with the option to be able to add and improve in the long-term if needed.
This future proofing approach towards a conference system is a popular request and is totally understandable when working within particular budgets.
Recording and voting capabilities are a popular requirement now, along with the need to be able to increase the system if ever councils should merge or significantly grow in numbers.
By providing intuitive systems that offer these functions, council chambers and meeting rooms can be equipped with the best possible AV solutions, making sure that accountability is recorded and any future upgrades are cost-effective and quick to install.
Speaking with the delegates who visited the Shure stand at LGA19 gave us real insight into the trends and opinion of the various councils across the UK, which we will feed back to our development teams as we continue to design progressive, forward-thinking conferencing solutions.
Above all, clear audio, reliability and precision are absolutely essential when big decisions are being made and important information shared.
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