As social distancing becomes part of our routine, Shure discusses how its conferencing audio ecosystem can support businesses, education and governments as they rethink workspaces and the user experience.
Shure’s conferencing audio ecosystem can assist in helping implement social distancing. For example, in the district council of the Bad Kissingen region in Germany, council members were unable to meet as usual in the conference rooms of the town hall. AV specialist der Kohl UG ensured seamless communication between council members in a converted gymnasium with the Shure Microflex Complete Wireless conferencing system while still allowing for each member to be seated in a socially distanced manner.
As we move into 2021 and social distancing remains a requirement in some form, what does it mean for the spaces where we work and collaborate? Can we appropriately enforce social distancing without hampering productivity and user experience?
Answers can be found by examining the post-Covid-19 user expectations. With a ‘hybrid workforce’ that spends its time between the office and remote location, videoconferencing is here to stay.
Jim Schanz, Shure’s vice president of global sales, integrated systems, has no doubt about this: “If there’s one thing recent events have proven, it’s that videoconferencing is very, very important in keeping the lights on in your enterprise and keeping communication going – maybe more so than a lot of companies really considered before.”
And when employees are in office settings, they want to feel that they can go about their business without putting themselves at risk – maintaining sufficient social distancing and rigid hygiene standards.
The question of work arrangement (e.g. splitting into team A/B) may also have an impact on scalable office spaces. Maintaining suitable social distancing will inevitably decrease the capacity of even the largest meeting areas. Offices will need conferencing solutions that can easily customised and scaled to the new defined size. The Shure conferencing audio ecosystem provides flexibility in terms of hardware configuration that caters to different room sizes from small, medium to large.
Also, Shure Designer System Configuration Software enables easy setup that minimises efforts from the respective IT administrator.
It is vital that videoconferencing systems are optimised ahead of meetings to minimise contact as attendees fiddle with microphones and other hardware so that they can be heard properly. Array microphones like Shure’s Microflex Advance MXA710 for both walls and ceilings as well as the Microflex MXN5W-C Networked Ceiling Loudspeaker are a great choice for reliable sound pickup from a device that does not need to be moved or touched. Coupled with Shure’s IntelliMix digital signal processing, consistent audio quality can be enhanced in all types of acoustic environments.
In cases where big spaces are still a requirement to maintain social distancing, such as parliaments or larger classroom settings, Shure Microflex Advance MXA910 ceiling array microphone, coupled with Shure’s Voice Lift System Design is very useful. Because its directional pickup lobes are narrower than any shotgun microphone, the width and position of each lobe can be easily adjusted to precisely match the selected coverage area. Voice Lift System amplifies the voices of people in one part of the room so that people in other parts of the room can hear them clearly.
Transformative technology that is able to meet the needs of meeting rooms and videoconferencing today, while still being flexible and adaptable enough to evolve with the changing times is required. The Shure ecosystem is ready to deliver.