Small meeting room technology is a must for many businesses today. Even as companies encourage employees back into the traditional office environment, demand for hybrid and flexible work continues to grow. Around 87% of staff in the US are still offered at least some flexible work options.

With small meeting room tech, companies can bridge the gaps between their distributed workers and enhance collaboration while reducing real estate costs.

The challenge is building the ideal meeting room that aligns your workers, ensures feelings of inclusion, and paves the way for consistent productivity. The key to success starts with finding the right tech for your meeting room spaces.

The Small Meeting Room Technology Essentials

The design and implementation of your small meeting room environments will depend on a range of factors, from the actual size of your space (usually large enough for up to 5 employees), to your budget, and existing resources. Based on the meeting room trends shaping the current landscape, these are the tech essentials we believe every business will need to consider.

1. Collaboration and Conferencing Software

The first thing you’ll need in your small meeting room technology kit is the ideal software. Virtual collaboration tools ensure everyone in your organization can share ideas and knowledge in real time, regardless of location. There are numerous valuable options, from Microsoft Teams, known for its ease of use and flexibility, to Zoom and Cisco Webex.

The ideal solution for you will depend mainly on how employees use your small meeting rooms. For instance, if you’re creating spaces team members can use to collaborate with subject matter experts on product design and development, you may need meeting room software that includes virtual whiteboarding and brainstorming sessions.

If your smaller spaces are designed to help employees host conversations with clients, you might need to look at combining UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) and contact center tools. You may even consider investing in dedicated solutions for meeting rooms, such as Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms.

2. Connectivity-Focused Small Meeting Room Technology

Next, if you’re aligning remote, hybrid, and in-office employees with your small meeting rooms, you’ll need to consider connectivity. Small meeting room technology focused on connectivity can include everything from wireless routers to Bluetooth-enabled devices.

One particularly valuable trend we see emerging in small meeting room tech is the adoption of wireless presentation solutions. Rather than allowing additional hardwired devices to take up space in a compact environment, wireless presentation systems make meeting rooms more flexible.

They allow users to bring their own devices to meetings and easily share content, apps, and information with participants worldwide. This simplifies the content-sharing process and can even reduce your spending on dedicated tools for your meeting spaces. For convenient content sharing, you can even access compact hardware, like the Neat Pad.

3. Screens and Displays

Screens and displays are an essential but frequently overlooked part of the small meeting room technology stack. Ultimately, the displays you can install in your meeting rooms will depend mainly on your available space. In most cases, the bigger the screen, the more of a sense of “presence” remote participants will have in meeting rooms.

Consider looking for displays combining numerous features into a single solution for effective breakout, brainstorming, and huddle room sessions. A video wall might be overkill, but you can consider selecting a display with built-in speakers and cameras to reduce your investment.

You could also look at interactive displays that in-person attendees can use to annotate documents and collaborate seamlessly in real-time. Whiteboarding-enabled small meeting room displays can increase engagement among participants in your meeting room and lead to more valuable meetings.

4. Small Meeting Room Technology for Video

Video-based meetings have become commonplace in today’s world of flexible work. Some studies even suggest that up to 99% of employees believe video conferencing improves their ability to communicate and collaborate with teams.

When choosing your video conferencing hardware for small meeting rooms, you’ll have a range of options, including desktop-based cameras with 360-degree coverage, like the tools from Owl Labs, wall-mounted solutions, and portable webcams.

You’ll often get the best results for smaller spaces by implementing video cameras with a wide field of view and access to intelligent technology. AI-powered cameras can automatically detect and focus on speakers in a room, ensuring remote workers can follow the flow of the conversation.

They can also automatically enhance video quality, guaranteeing everyone in the meeting space has a clear view of what’s happening. You can even find AI-powered video cameras designed to share documents and screens with remote workers.

5. Small Meeting Room Technology for Audio

Alongside video, the best small meeting rooms always include robust solutions for high-quality sound. Hosting effective meetings is easier when participants can easily share their ideas with clarity. Look for speakers and microphone systems that automatically reduce background noise and echoes, homing in on human voice.

If you’re extremely limited on space in your conference room environment, you could consider giving every employee access to their own headset, ensuring each solution includes passthrough audio technology so that people can hear in-person and remote participants.

You could also consider looking for video bars and webcams designed for small meeting rooms, which include speakers and microphones already built-in. This can reduce the space hardware takes up in your rooms and provide users with a more convenient plug-and-play experience.

6. Room and Device Control Solutions

Collaboration and conferencing tools aren’t the only forms of software you’ll need to consider when implementing small meeting room technology. It’s also crucial to ensure you have solutions administrators and team members can use to manage and configure devices and meetings.

Some solutions, like Microsoft Teams Rooms, have basic room management features. There are also various hardware providers that offer access to software for device management, for instance, Logitech has the convenient Logitech Sync app.

Depending on the design of your meeting rooms, you might want to consider exploring more advanced management solutions. For instance, companies like Neat give organizations access to intelligent lighting and climate control tools to improve employee comfort.

Other solutions provide companies with comprehensive tools for managing meeting room security, analyzing device usage, and tracking essential conferencing metrics.

7. Meeting Room Scheduling and Booking Tools

Depending on your workspace, you may have one or multiple small meeting rooms, which various employees need to access daily. Scheduling technology and booking apps help avoid issues with “double-booked” rooms. You can ensure that team members can book the space they need in advance and even configure it to their requirements.

Plus, you can use the analytical tools built into this software for deeper insights into how teams use your small meeting room technology. This can give you the guidance you need to optimize your workspace and reduce operational costs over time.

Based on the data you collect, you might decide to design more small meeting rooms. Or you may upgrade to larger or mid-sized spaces, depending on the sizes of your teams. Notably, you can also combine meeting room scheduling and booking tools with displays, showing your employees instantly when a room is available, scheduled to be in use, or inaccessible.

8. Innovative Small Meeting Room Technology

As the workplace continues to evolve, companies in various industries are looking for new ways to make their meeting spaces more intuitive, inclusive, and accessible.

In the age of hybrid work, upgrading your small meeting room with immersive solutions can help to bridge the gaps between your employees. For instance, you could equip a meeting room with extended reality technology. This means employees can work together in a virtual world with limitless space for innovation.

You could also look for ways to build intelligence into your small meeting room technology to enhance meetings. For instance, speakers and microphones with natural language processing capabilities allow users to control a meeting space without using a desktop or smartphone application.

Some AI solutions can even automatically transcribe and translate conversations during meetings.

Critical Considerations for Small Meeting Room Technology

While there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for building the ultimate small meeting room, all of the tech solutions above have something valuable to offer today’s workspaces. When you’re choosing the right small meeting room technology for your team, remember to focus on the following:

  • Integration: All of the hardware and software you choose for your meeting rooms should work seamlessly together, eliminating the need for complex setup and configuration. Look for flexible solutions that align the tools your employees need in a single environment.
  • Ease of use: Simplicity is crucial when choosing any meeting room technology. However, in small meeting rooms, where conversations often happen on a rapid-fire and ad-hoc basis, a straightforward experience is essential. Look for plug-and-play hardware, intuitive software, and solutions that work seamlessly with the tools your teams already use.
  • Inclusivity: Small meeting rooms are often essential for bridging the gaps between remote and in-office employees. To ensure every team member feels they have a seat at the table, look for technologies that empower remote workers. The right tools can help them to feel included in the conversation. Consider exploring immersive tech for a greater sense of presence.
  • Scalability: Just because you’re limited in space in a small meeting room doesn’t mean you should be restricted in functionality. Ensure your hardware and software can adapt to the changing trends in your workplace, addressing the needs of various types of workers.

Choosing the Right Small Meeting Room Technology

As we continue to explore the future of work, small meeting room technology will be crucial. Carefully considering all the tech essentials mentioned above will ensure you can create spaces where creativity and collaboration can thrive.

If you’re struggling to design the ideal small meeting space, plenty of technology vendors can help you build the perfect environment.

Check out our comprehensive market maps for insights into some of the top small meeting room vendors and the solutions they can offer.



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