Building the Video Conference Experience

The promise of telepresence is to connect people anywhere, anytime, with a life-like experience.  Building a solution that can deliver this experience requires understanding who is meeting, where they are when they meet, and why they are meeting. For most participants there will be more than one answer to these questions.  Telemerge understands that these variables call for planning beyond the room, to account for how to connect everyone, anywhere, anytime.

Successful Video Conference System Checklist

The best video conference strategies begin by answering questions like who is running the meeting, what is the purpose of the meeting, how will they access the video conference equipment, how will they connect to the video conference call, and how will they reach the other participants?  This checklist will help you understand these questions and the implications of the answers.

1. Who is Meeting?

This question will answer why they are meeting, and where they will be when they call.  You will probably find there is more than one meeting type for which you need to build a solution.

2. What Video Equipment will they Use for the Call?

Why, where and when will determine the equipment available for their call.  In the office, on the road, or at home will change the answers.  If it is the CEO or CFO who needs to join the video conference call then they will need a good answer from each location.

3. How will we make it easy to use?

Connecting to the call from any of these locations needs to be simple, one button simple would be ideal.  In some cases you might need to plan to have someone there to turn it on for them, maybe this assistance could be provided remotely?

4. Video Conference Room Design

Knowing where the video conference call will take place dictates the environment for the video conference call.  Telepresence is the ideal immersive experience, and it requires a dedicated room built to optimize the seating arrangements, lighting, camera angles, and sound elements.  However, sometimes the executive may need to participate in the call from a regular boardroom, their desk or home office.  A true immersive experience may not be possible in these circumstances, but it is still necessary to optimize each environment to provide the ultimate, consistent meeting experience.

5. Network Requirements

What network will you use to connect your video conference calls on?  Will it be a public network or private network? Will it be a shared network or a dedicated network? Video requires proper network planning for bandwidth and quality to ensure a consistent user experience.

6. Dedicated Video Conference Network

One way to address bandwidth issues is to build a dedicated, purpose built video conference network for the entire organization.  A dedicated video conference network is the best way to achieve guarantees of high quality of service measurements that will support a telepresence experience that participants will love and come to rely on.

7. Video Conference Exchange

Are there people in the call who are outside your organization?  Where are these people, what network are they using, how will you connect past their firewalls?  Many people are surprised after installing video conferencing equipment when they find they cannot connect with anyone, anywhere.  This lack of reach kills adoption of telepresence in the organization. Video conferencing needs to provide the same accessibility as the telephone reaching anyone, anytime, anywhere.

8. How many Video Conference Locations will be in the Video Conference Call?

How many locations need to connect into the meeting?  Point to point calls can be pretty straightforward, but three or more participants create new complexities in connecting everyone and supporting their roles in the meeting.  Will you need a resource to manage the call, make the connections and stay on the call to make sure it all runs smoothly?

9. Making Connections & Starting a Call

How will calls be placed?  How will participants join the call?  Will the host of the meeting also manage connecting all these different sites?  If so, how will you make it easy for anyone to understand, and how will you get them all trained to do it?

10. Planning for the Future

Telepresence is a strategic opportunity.  Well deployed video conferencing creates numerous opportunities to improve a variety of meeting types.  As people realize this in your organization adoption can skyrocket.  How can you plan for this?

Conclusion

Telemerge can work with you to build a successful video conference experience that guarantees high user adoption.  We can help gather the answers to each question on this checklist and build you a complete system that will meet or exceed your telepresence goals. We deliver global excellence in the design and implementation of video conference hardware, network, exchange and immediate end user support services. The system and network Telemerge delivers will meet the needs of the meeting participants, enable your business’ unified communication strategies, and guarantee a high rate of adoption.

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