To quote Yogi Berra: “The future ain’t what it Used to be.”
This is so true for meeting and event technologies. We will explore how technology is now not only being built in, it is being featured as a “techorating trend.” But first, let’s look back.
Imagine walking into a meeting room 10 or 15 years ago. What does it look like?
As you enter the room, you step over a “speed bump” bundle of microphone, video and power cables. Portable projection screens are in the front of the room on stands. You notice projectors on carts in the front of the seating area, with noisy fans and more cables taped across the floor. Those front-row seats will be putting up with that projector noise during the meeting.
On each side of the stage platform, you see portable speakers on stands and more speakers on the sides, halfway back in the audience. You certainly do not want to sit in front of one of those speakers! More cables are taped across the floor and around the room.
“Tech tables” are set up in the back of the room, maybe on a riser, with sound, video and lighting technicians chatting with the producer on radios. The audience sitting in the back chairs will be hearing that chatter for the whole meeting. You also see light trees in the back and sides of the meeting room with theatrical lighting fixtures to highlight the podium. More cables and dimmer packs run around between them.
“Roadhouse” technology is all portable, loose and temporary. It is how performance acts move from place to place with all their own gear and take hours to days to set up for an event or performance. After the event, everything is disassembled and packed away, put into storage or trucked to the warehouse or next event.
How Did We Get Here?
Meeting technology used to be simple, with flip charts, overhead projectors, film and slide projectors, and public address sound systems. It was easy for hotels to purchase their own inventory of the audiovisual equipment to support their customers’ meetings. This equipment was easy to operate, reliable and affordable.
Then in the mid-1980s, things started to change. With portable computers and video projection, presenters and meetings became more technology-enabled. But technology was in its infancy, and it was unreliable, complicated, expensive and needed skilled AV staff to connect and operate these systems. Video technology standards for resolution, brightness, contrast and connectivity were changing so fast that the useful life for this expensive equipment was being measured in months, not years.
This was a problem for hotels. The rate of change in audiovisual technologies meant that hotels could not afford to buy and operate audiovisual equipment cost-effectively. Instead, hotels and meeting planners turned to third-party AV rental companies for equipment and operating staff on an event-by-event basis. This fueled the AV rental industry, and soon deals were made for the AV companies to set up shop inside hotels, as concessionaires, sharing the rental revenue with the hotels.
And those AV rental companies needed to use only their own equipment. The rental companies did not own the equipment that was installed in hotels, and they didn’t trust it. Any technology that had been built in was either of poor quality, out of date or neglected and therefore unreliable. So it was abandoned.
AV rental companies operate a Roadhouse business model out of necessity. Meeting and event technology equipment was expensive, unreliable, complicated and rapidly evolving. And back then, audiovisual was not anything that the average person had any experience or expertise with.
None of that is true today.
What’s Possible Today? Theater Experience
The steep advancement of audiovisual technologies leveled off 10 years ago. Industry standards were created. Image quality exceeded the threshold of human perception. Mass production of video and computer products to meet consumer demand and development of simplified, intuitive controls democratized AV technology so now everybody can connect and use basic equipment. And today’s audiovisual equipment is very affordable and reliable with many years of service life.
So, why not build it in?
Meeting planners and venue managers are tired of seeing temporary systems set up, cluttering the rooms, disturbing their guests and removed event after event. Guests have great technology at home and in their offices and see it everywhere they go. They expect today’s hotels to be similarly equipped.
'Techorating'
Today, venue designers are featuring technology instead of hiding it or ignoring it. We’re seeing digital displays, signage, ticker-tape readouts, matrixed video walls, large-screen video displays and built-in ambient sound systems being built into lobbies, food and beverage, and event spaces.
Another unique way built-in video displays can be use is as virtual windows. Still and video scenes from the surrounding landscape can be shown on video displays that are not being used for meetings. Live video from cameras installed outside can feature the golf course, mountains, or local city or harbor views. This is very effective for meeting rooms that might not have real windows.
Another way to feature technology is as art. In addition to using images from your own property or local community, there are subscription services for digital art that allow you to change the themes by season, holiday or even on an event-by-event basis to reflect the interests of the group that’s in-house this week.
When contemplating a renovation or new development, consider integrating technology into the design. It’s important to plan the infrastructure for power and signal cabling to display locations. Basic audiovisual in the meeting rooms allows guests to “plug-and-play” for basic and advanced hybrid meetings, and this generates a very profitable revenue stream for the hotel. Engage an audiovisual consultant to get the most value for your investment.
Jeff Loether is president and founder of audio-visual consultation group ELECTRO-MEDIA DESIGN, Ltd., and a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel News Now or CoStar Group and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to contact an editor with any questions or concern.