As the environment in most corporate offices continues to evolve, organizations are realizing the value of using the cafeterias as a place for communication with employees and also for use as a multi-purpose space for activities that require a large number of people to get together.
These spaces are now routinely transformed into “digital cafeterias” which allow their use for town halls, team building and leisure activities and so on. AV design and integration play an important role in determining well these spaces are able to leverage video, audio communication and interactive technologies for your business objectives.
Our AV design team suggests the following tips to help make your Digital Cafeteria an effective space for communication and collaboration:
1. A digital cafeteria should have a large display that makes it possible for all participants in the room to clearly view the digital content that needs to be shared. This could be in the form of either a projector/video wall (100” and above) which is large enough to be effective in a presentation or a town hall event. Secondary (smaller displays) may need to be incorporated to provide visibility in areas where some obstruction may prevent visibility for some people in the audience.
2. Digital signage can help make your cafeteria an effective space for communicating with your team, who are usually in a more leisurely state of mind in that space. Distributed displays with a media player for signage applications can be the tool for this and can be used to displaying rolling text, daily menus or company news. It can also play video from a high-resolution IPTV/Set up Box (2K/4K).
3. Your cafeteria should have a distributed ceiling speaker system that can be linked to an audio processor and microphones (hand-held AND collar) to address the gathering during a town hall event. It can also be used to play Background Music and during emergency/evacuation, it shall be used for announcing emergency messages.
4. The presence and placement of input connectors are extremely critical in digital cafeterias. Ideally, these should be in the form of a wall plate placed next to the projection system, which has the appropriate connectors for input devices such as laptops. Auxiliary wall plates, both audio/video, should be available to connect external cameras by any third party user to shoot the event.
5. A control system can considerably simplify many of the challenges in conducting live events in makeshift venues like a cafeteria. This should be designed to be user-friendly and intuitive and allow the event managers to operate all the AV equipment from a single touch panel/user interface.
For more information on how your cafeteria can be converted into a multi-purpose meeting and event space, contact Actis at 022-30808080 or write to contact@actis.co.in
(Image Source: Extron)