Electro-Media Design and AVaStar  

Welcome to HITEC Orlando 2022

Electro-Media Design, Ltd. was founded in 1990 to provide AudioVisual consulting and design, with a mission of creating a supportive, cooperative environment in which talented professionals can grow, flourish, and express their creativity. Now an industry recognized leader, EMD offers a full range of AudioVisual systems design and acoustical consultation with expertise in audio, video, control, and related presentation, entertainment, and communications technologies. 

 Press Releases

• When We Meet Again (May 05, 2022)

  WHEN WE MEET AGAIN™

  Embracing the Future of Meetings & Event Space Design

  It’s clear that the Coronavirus pandemic has profoundly disrupted not only the business of meetings, but also that of the hotel AV industry. Likewise, these changes are reverberating beyond hotels to include conference centers, corporate settings, and even institutional and educational facilities.

  In this guide, we discuss how the sudden shift in the meetings and events industry has introduced a new meeting model for the future.

  WHAT WE'LL COVER:

  ---

  Chapter 1: A Major Shift is Happening to the Meetings Business

  Chapter 2: Into the Fourth Dimension: Digital and Hybrid Events

  Chapter 3: See, Hear, Wow: Solutions for Engaging Remote Attendees

  Chapter 4: Leveraging the Power of ArchiTechnology®

  Chapter 5: The Keys to Effective Operations

  Download our e-book today at   www.electro-media.com/when-we-meet-again

• A Major Shift is Happening in the Meetings Industry (May 05, 2022)

  The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted countless aspects of life and business — and its impact on the business of meetings is a case in point. The situation is highly dynamic, and the response of health officials continues to evolve as more is learned about the transmission of the disease and effective ways to control its spread.

  No one can dispute that the meetings industry has changed over the course of the pandemic and will continue to evolve. Knowing which changes are temporary and which are permanent will help venues with meeting facilities better plan and adapt to market needs and come out stronger and more focused on the other side. In any case, the changes will continue to evolve, requiring continuous monitoring and flexibility from all parties involved.

  Temporary Changes  

  Among the short-term impacts (at least, until COVID-19 vaccines are widely distributed):

  • Social distancing guidelines. While the 6-foot distancing guideline is shifting across the country, the guidance may continue to evolve based on various unknown factors. In any case, the guidelines will continue to have a direct bearing on the size of rooms required to accommodate meetings. An additional complication is that meeting attendees will self-select into trusted small groups of coworkers, family members, friends, etc. who will choose to sit together, just like in restaurants. Meeting room seating arrangements will need to anticipate and accommodate this trend. 

  • Group size limits. A separate but related issue is that of regulations and guidelines limiting the size of groups that can gather indoors. Suffice it to say that there is a wide range of variation in group size limits from state to state. Estimates (the optimistic ones) we are hearing from pundits in the event production, hotel, and meeting planning industries put groups of 500+ returning by the summer of 2021 at the earliest. That being said, some huge convention facilities like Las Vegas may accept larger groups sooner.

  • Mandated masking. The intensity of this concern will fade as the threat posed by COVID-19 is reduced through medical science and other factors. In the meantime, though, there are unintended consequences. Some types of masks, for example, make it hard to understand what the speaker is saying by absorbing the sound of the speaker’s voice. Until vaccines have been administered to a substantial portion of the population, this will present a significant ongoing challenge in the meeting industry.

  • Plans for a “soft re-start” and smaller meetings. With nearly every scheduled in-person conference and meeting effectively pushed to late 2021 at the earliest, both the organizations that meet and the venues that accommodate them are making tentative plans. Many hotels and meeting spaces are working on the assumption that groups will opt for smaller regional meetings instead of larger national meetings.

  At the same time, the process of working through the technology challenges of hosting hybrid meetings — those that include both in-person and remote attendees — may take some time, but the constraints will ultimately be relaxed.

  Permanent, Ongoing Changes  

  • A new, mixed meeting landscape. A mix of smaller regional meetings and large meetings will prove effective and will eventually become the new normal. Through the use of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) technology, smaller regional meetings will be more effectively interconnected and interactive.

  • There will be a continuing demand for meetings that people can attend either in-person or remotely. The reasons people have to NOT attend meetings in person will evolve over time. Today and in the near future, these reasons include group size limits, personal safety, travel concerns, and venue capacity issues. But as we learn how to design and host meetings that can better accommodate remote attendees, the decision about whether to attend in person or virtually will remain an option. As a result, venues that can more effectively use UCC technology to support hybrid models will be better positioned for success.

  Even as larger meetings come back, we expect that there will be a demand for other approaches that offer a “High-Tech, Low-Touch” experience for attendees. Rather than relying on portable equipment that has been handled many times by who-knows-who, the preference will be for clean, easy-to-use, built-in high-tech systems.

  • The rental/outsourcing business model for AV and event technologies* will be radically different. This part of the meetings ecosystem has already been affected, and the demand for hybrid meetings will drive even more changes in how AV rental business operate. The use and sanitation of portable equipment, combined with temporary staff, will increase costs dramatically and cause management teams to consider built-in technology with self-operating and managed services models.

  • Corporate space and work-from-home. Another factor will be the preferences of users in the corporate world, and the companies where they work. Some employees who have been working from home during the pandemic will continue to do so, yet will also have the need to meet with groups of associates who are in the office. Some of their colleagues, meanwhile, will be returning to the office, while still others will seek alternate work settings. To accommodate all these types of users, offering hybrid meeting capabilities is an effective solution.

  • Built-in & Integrated vs: Temporary Technology. In a related development, many hotels and other venues are rethinking their use of portable AV equipment, and instead considering built-in systems that provide an enhanced solution in terms of acoustics, aesthetics, performance, and access. Shifting to built-in systems can help hotels and other spaces improve the guest experience, control costs, and better support their venues’ brand.

  • Accommodating attendees’ personal tech. Another permanent change will be the deeper integration of the technology devices that attendees bring with them. Personal devices will be increasingly leveraged for interactivity and control purposes — and venues will have an opportunity to meet guests’ needs as part of the High-Tech, Low-Touch shift.

    Seeing a Bigger Picture  

    It’s clear that the Coronavirus pandemic has profoundly disrupted not only the business of meetings, but also that of the hotel AV industry. Likewise, these changes are reverberating beyond hotels to include conference centers, corporate settings, and even institutional and educational facilities.

    In a sense, the pandemic has acted as an industry-wide reset button, providing a unique and strategic opportunity for hotels, conference centers, institutions, and corporate facilities ... in other words, any venue that hosts meetings. For those venues that act decisively, the “pandemic pause” represents an opportunity to establish themselves as providers of a new meeting model that better meets guest expectations — and is easier and more profitable to operate. This unforeseen crisis is forcing all of us to make a quantum leap into the future of meetings and event technologies.

    In short, there’s no going back to the old way of offering meeting space — and that’s a GOOD thing.

• Event Technology Services: 6 Keys to Effective Operations (May 05, 2022)

  A central challenge in planning and executing event technology services is that success requires insight and skills in a broad variety of areas, from the technical (audio, lighting, and AV capabilities) to broader marketing and business management practices. It can be a complicated endeavor, but you can greatly increase your chance of success by making smart decisions regarding the most fundamental matters — not merely as an afterthought, but as an ongoing strategy. In this post, we offer six areas of operations that can have a great impact on your success.

  1. Traditional Operating Models  

  Until recently, the two primary models used to provide event technology services have been Outsourcing and Self-Operation. In the Outsourcing model, the venue contracts with a third-party vendor to provide event technology services on behalf of the venue. The vendor is responsible for providing technical staff and an inventory of portable equipment. The Self-Operating model, on the other hand, is when the venue provides event technology services utilizing internal staff and its own portable and built-in equipment.

  The Outsourcing model provides the greatest benefit to venues with large, flexible (that is, divisible) meeting and event spaces. Such spaces frequently require advanced technical support such as concert sound and lighting systems and multi-camera productions. Third-party AV production vendors are better aligned to provide these types of services, because they can shift specialized equipment and highly skilled labor between venues rather than carrying these costs in one venue alone.  

  The Self-Operating model provides the greatest benefit in venues where most events require only basic presentation support. In this model, the venue provides event technology services utilizing internal staff, who may or may not include dedicated technicians, using a combination of portable and built-in equipment. This provides management with control over service quality, aesthetics, and guest experience — while maximizing revenue and profits. These capabilities are going to be particularly important as hybrid meetings become more ubiquitous.

  2. Evolution of AV Services Outsourcing  

  There was a time long ago when AV equipment was limited to slide projectors, overhead projectors, and occasionally film “movie” projectors. These were electro-mechanical devices that were reliable, easy to use, and relatively low cost. Then, beginning in the mid 1980s, portable computers, VCRs, and video projectors came onto the market, and the world of AV became much more complicated, expensive, and difficult to manage. Technologies advanced so fast that some equipment had a service life of less than a year before they were surpassed by newer, better products. Meanwhile, demand for the “latest and greatest” AV equipment rose steadily, and everyone wanted the “wow factor” in their meetings and events. This situation gave rise to the AV rental and production industry, and many hotels and event spaces opted to outsource their AV services.

  Today, however, basic AV functionality is provided by equipment that is very high quality, affordable, reliable, and easy to use. Plus, all of our staff and clients are adept at operating this type of equipment, since they have the same kind of equipment at home and in their offices. There is still a need to engage outsourced AV companies for the more advanced services like streaming, large staged productions, multi-site hybrid events, etc. But basic AV for business-level and hybrid meetings can easily be provided using built-in equipment and venue staff.

  When evaluating the best business model to follow, there are many factors to consider, such as size of venue and expected revenues, type and cost of equipment required to meet expected customer needs, local competitive market and services offered, and availability of qualified third-party providers.

  Regardless of the business model chosen, to provide consistent, high-quality guest experiences and services, it is critical to establish the service standards that will guide event technology services within the venue. Many venues leave this up to their outsourced service providers, while self-operating departments often have no standards at all. Nevertheless, service standards are critically important, and effective event technology service requires having and following established guidelines, regardless of who is providing the service. As such, these standards should also address outside AV service providers as well.

  3. Managed AV Services and AV-as-a-Service

  A new, innovative approach to providing event technology services is through a Managed Services arrangement. This model builds upon the Self-Operating model by adding an outsourced support program that includes resources, training, and consulting services. It also empowers properties to provide standard meeting technology support using internal resources at a level appropriate for the venue and event.

  This arrangement provides venues with all the flexibility, control, and profitability of the Self-Operating model. In addition, it provides the meeting venue with the confidence and professionalism of the Outsourced model, thanks to the knowledge that their staff is utilizing proven systems and procedures, and has the resources and support to overcome challenges and learn new skills.

  One common misconception is that if you self-operate, you must be prepared to provide 100% of all your meetings customers’ needs. To the contrary, even outsourced providers do not necessarily stock and staff every venue they operate with 100% of what is needed. While the baseline for which services can be provided internally varies by property, nearly all properties can be capable of supporting such standard, day-to-day needs as presentation displays, presenter microphones, and accessories such as flipcharts and whiteboards.

  Historically, an ongoing challenge for venues that choose to self-operate is the lack of training options for their staff, whether technical or non-technical. There are no trade programs or higher education courses that lead to a certification for event AV technicians. What’s more, many properties do not hire dedicated technical positions. The Managed AV services model solves this challenge by providing a program for the on-property staff to follow, including standards and best practices for the proper selection, operation, and troubleshooting of AV and event technology equipment.

  Another emerging business model is making its way into the AV industry, reflecting the practices of the IT and telecommunications industries: AV-as-a-Service, or AVaaS. This business model shifts from straightforward ownership to a long-term rental or subscription model for the systems and equipment, and includes comprehensive preventative maintenance, repair, upgrades and support services. Often these arrangements can be made with no (or very low) up-front costs by the venue, and very affordable monthly operating lease payments. For organizations that have been limited to structuring their investments in meeting spaces as either CapEx or OpEx expenses, the AVaaS option may provide a welcome third choice.

  4. Marketing and Needs Analysis  

  Whether a venue is public or private, hotel or institution, it should be able to handle the unique technical requirements for the various kinds of meetings and events its users want to host. When a venue is equipped with great event technologies, the related features and capabilities should be promoted within the facility (if private) or to the marketplace (if public).

  In promoting these capabilities, the emphasis should be on describing the functionality and performance of the technologies — not on the technologies themselves. Examples could include performance and functionality options, such as platform-agnostic solutions, plug-and-play support of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) enabled hybrid meetings, streaming and/or recording capabilities, systems for interconnecting with remote sites, and solutions for group collaboration and interaction.

  The venue staff should have a series of questions ready in advance to ask any prospective user of the event spaces to pinpoint the technology needs of the anticipated event. To enhance the effectiveness of the event, these questions can be organized in a decision-tree format, perhaps even including prompts for advanced features and functions that will meet the customer’s needs and expectations.

  5. Protecting Owner Investment  

  Event space technology infrastructure and equipment represents a significant investment in such assets as audio amplification and sound systems, lighting and dimming systems, digital signage and visual display devices, control systems, infrastructure, and related technologies. While event space technologies are a revenue-generating and critical component of the meeting experience, the owner’s investment also extends to the background music systems, F&B and entertainment, venue audiovisual systems, and televisions in multiple guest amenity areas. These technologies are often forgotten… until something goes wrong.

  Effective venue management requires the owner to not only invest in these types of technology systems and infrastructure, but also to ensure that the investment is responsibly managed. This starts with the recognition that built-in technologies provide higher quality and more reliable services that are more easily provided with internal staff (compared to using all portable equipment). In addition, a responsible operator will ensure that preventative maintenance, service contracts, repairs, and upgrades are planned for and budgeted as part of the operating expenses.

  All technologies require preventative maintenance to provide reliable functionality and performance. When properly maintained and operated, audiovisual systems, components, and equipment have useful service lifespans that range from several years to several decades. Preventative maintenance programs will specify monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks that can be performed by in-house staff.

  In addition, certain more technical services can be arranged through local AV companies, which may also provide break-fix and repair services as part of a preventative maintenance program.

  Planning for lifecycle upgrades is an important part of responsible stewardship as well. For effective planning each year, a rolling three- and five-year look-ahead plan should be updated to advise the management and ownership teams regarding probable CapEx expenses.

  6. Measure, Monitor, and Manage  

  Managing outsourced vendors and services requires a proactive approach and partnership agreement with mutually beneficial terms and conditions, as well as key service-level metrics. As Peter Drucker wisely advised, “You cannot manage what you cannot measure.” Self-Operated and Managed Service event technology business models can be among the most valuable elements of any facility’s management program.

  For hotels and conference centers, this translates to profitable revenue streams and great guest satisfaction scores. For corporate and institutional facility management departments, it means delivering very high value to your internal and external clients and their guests. The event technology operations model should have key performance metrics established, monitored, and reported to management to ensure high quality and effective services.

  Finding opportunity in challenge

  Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating and disruptive for individuals, families and the economy. Yet at the same time, it’s also serving as a unique opportunity for the meetings industry to do a reset. A truly historic convergence of user expectations and technological capabilities is opening up new possibilities for more flexible, collaborative, and diverse meetings.

  Fortunately, organizations that develop both internal capabilities, and take advantage of the many resources available on the market, have a compelling opportunity to seize the day and establish themselves as leaders in the bold new frontier of meetings. In short, better meetings equate to a better bottom line — for all stakeholders.

• Hybrid Meetings and the Power of ArchiTechnology® (May 05, 2022)

  When it comes to meetings and conferences, value is in the eye of the beholder. This is one of the reasons that if not thoughtfully planned and implemented, hybrid meetings — those that bring together in-person and remote attendees — can create highly uneven experiences, depending on whether an attendee is in-person or remote.

  Fortunately, by applying the insights and strategies that comprise the discipline we call ArchiTechnology, spaces intended to accommodate hybrid meetings and events can be designed to engage both in-person attendees and remote attendees. The key is to remember a few essential strategies and design principles.

  First, a definition. ArchiTechnology is the art and science of optimizing human experience by integrating the meeting environment (or envelope) with the supporting technology. Through ArchiTechnology, we’re guided by our understanding of human perception: how people use their eyes and ears to interact with others (either face-to-face or virtually), as well as the technology and spaces in which people use it. The discipline is concerned with the design of the space itself — and whether it will enhance or hinder the effectiveness of the technology needed to accommodate hybrid meetings. Architecture, layout, interior design, lighting, and acoustics all come into play.

  To be effective, ArchiTechnology requires a different mindset on the part of the practitioner. Here

  are a few thoughts to consider:

  • Human beings are analog, so attendees’ preferences for perceiving and communicating should be central. For example, our sense of sight includes not only seeing but also legibility, and hearing includes not only listening but also intelligibility. The quality and positioning of image displays, ambient lighting, sightlines, and audio equipment are all critical factors.

  • Hybrid meetings and events require more advanced AV equipment. In an ideal world, the space you’re planning to use for hybrid meetings is already equipped. But in many cases, additional cameras and microphones may be needed to connect remote attendees. These types of equipment are highly sensitive to noise and lighting problems. As a result, features that are simply “nice to have” for in-person audiences become critically important for remote attendees.

  • If the intent is to design or renovate spaces to be “high-tech” and ready to accommodate hybrid meetings, the envelope or room design must be carefully planned and integrated. No one can “fix” a bad room by simply throwing technology at it. The architecture, interior design, acoustics, lighting, and infrastructure must first be analyzed and issues addressed before determining the event technology requirements.

  • It’s important to recognize that although there are some overlaps between the disciplines of AV and IT, they actually require completely different insights and skill sets. This is why it is critical to have an AV design specialist involved in any design project for spaces intended to accommodate AV technologies. IT designers simply do not have the training or need to accommodate the nuances of analog perception and communication.

  Choosing Between the Theater and the Roadhouse  

  Before we get into some of the specific design considerations involved in ArchiTechnology, let’s try a thought exercise to illustrate two very different kinds of event experiences.

  First, try to remember the most satisfying meeting, event, or performance you’ve ever experienced. Whether it was a concert, play, sermon, performance, or presentation, you may have had the experience that everything but the presenter or performance itself seemed to “disappear” from your awareness. The magic of such an experience is that you didn’t need to make compromises in terms of your physical, aural, or visual perception. For our purposes, we’ll call this the “Theater Experience.”

  Now, imagine a very different experience — one where you’re sitting in an uncomfortable folding chair in a warehouse with a stage at one end where a presenter is speaking. Scattered around the room are tangles of loose cables running across the floor, portable speakers on stands, and random lighting equipment. The audio (when you can actually hear it over sound of the air conditioning and the technicians chattering behind you) is loud, distorted and echoing off the walls. Projectors are set up on carts facing a portable projection screen. In short, it’s a mess, and is what we refer to as the “Roadhouse Experience.”

  There’s no question which of these settings you would prefer to attend or offer to your guests. That’s why using event technologies specifically chosen for and built into each space will always provide a far more elevated experience, in all dimensions, for both attendees as well as event sponsors. This is especially true when planning for a hybrid event — because the last thing you want to do is provide a theater experience for your in-person attendees, while delivering a roadhouse experience for remote attendees.

  MYTH OF FLEXIBILITY  

  In the discussions around building AV technology into rooms versus using all portable equipment, we often hear that when the AV is built into a space, it limits the flexibility for the meeting planner to arrange the room creatively. This is simply mis-direction; these arguments are typically made by the AV rental companies. When the AV is built-in, there is nothing preventing portable equipment from being brought in and set up any way the meeting planner wants.

  However, when AV is NOT built-in, then ALL AV must be brought in, set up, adjusted, operated, and then disassembled and stored for EVERY event. That drives up the cost of providing AV both in time and money. Meeting rooms are typically designed to have an obvious “front” or “object wall” end of the room, and the vast majority of the time, the room is set up the same way. So, building in the AV equipment to serve that typical arrangement saves time and money, while providing a much better technical and aesthetic experience for the attendees. What’s not to like?

  Satisfying Attendees’ Expectations  

  In-person attendees of a hybrid event come with a variety of expectations and needs. At the most basic level, they must be able to see and hear the presenter and experience the program content (presentation, performance, PowerPoint, video, etc.) on the room’s display.

  In addition, an in-person attendee can look around and see their fellow attendees, and hear the presenter interacting with attendees. The event may also feature thought-provoking Q&As with the keynote speaker… and even simple opportunities to meet and interact with fellow attendees. The more of these types of features and experiences, the more likely the attendee will perceive the event as engaging and being worth their time.

  In contrast, consider the same event’s remote attendees. Unless planners have intentionally taken these attendees’ event experience into account, they may experience only a fraction of the value that in-person attendees enjoy. Instead, remote attendees may be able to see and hear only the presenter and view their presentation slides. Remote attendees may not be visible to the in-person attendees at all, or perhaps they appear in a “Hollywood Squares” or gallery view format on a display screen.

  Designing a Hybrid Meeting Space to Engage All Participants  

  Now let’s talk about the next generation of meetings — the hybrid event, where half of the audience is physically present and half are remote, attending via a collaboration platform such as Zoom, WebEx, Teams, etc. What is that experience like for these events’ attendees, both in-person and remote?

  We cannot fix a bad room with technology, so let’s start with the basics of an effective room: good acoustics, lighting, and arrangement. Then add in good sound system technology, including microphones for both presenters and participants, and sound reinforcement for the presenter, program, and remote participants. Last but not least, ensure good placement of cameras and displays.

  As hybrid meetings occur more frequently, many venues and their technical teams will need to experiment with portable equipment and temporary configurations until they get it right. Until they do, there will be many low-quality experiences that will test the tolerance of remote attendees. It’s also likely that many venues will plateau at “good enough” and simply meet the level of toleration. Unfortunately, their remote attendees will be marginalized, and far less engaged than in-person attendees.

  Conclusion

  Most of us have learned to tolerate participating in virtual events that feature rather low quality. Fortunately for hotels, conference centers, and other meetings venues, we’re seeing evolutionary advances in the unified communications and collaboration (UCC) platforms’ functionality and quality. Just as importantly, attendees themselves are beginning to be more aware about camera angles and lighting, actual and virtual backgrounds, microphones and room acoustics, etc. — in other words, all of the elements that support a more professional event that engages all attendees, both in person and remote.

  With a little planning and thoughtful application of the principles of ArchiTechnology, you can arrange for a hybrid event where remote attendees’ experience is much more welcoming and enjoyable. And as a byproduct of intentionally designing an event space to accommodate hybrid meetings, the space itself becomes even more friendly and accommodating for the in-person, analog, human attendee, as well. The quality of experience for both in-person and remote attendees is elevated, and you’re also setting new quality standards and exceeding customer’s expectations. And that’s a great reputation to strive for in any marketplace.

• Meetings in the Fourth Dimension: Virtual, and Hybrid Events (May 05, 2022)

  Without question, the Coronavirus pandemic has led to wrenching changes in the meetings business. But seen in a broader context, it’s merely going to accelerate and transform a process that has been taking place for millennia – virtual and hybrid communications and events.

  The search for better ways to communicate and collaborate over distances in real time (or synchronously) is not new. In fact, it dates back to around 200 BC, when Chinese inventors developed a system for communicating via smoke signals while building the Great Wall. The next significant steps on this continuum occurred many centuries later, with the invention of the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s.

  How and when were these technologies first used to connect larger groups in real time and for more formal communications on a regular basis? It happened in the 1930s, when educators began using radio broadcasts to teach remotely located students. But it was not until the 1980s that two-way collaborative audio and visual “distance learning” truly took hold. It was at this time that hotels and conference centers first began using satellite video teleconferencing as a paid service to interconnect remote audiences for meetings and events, primarily via one-way video and audio bounced off of earth-orbit satellites, sometimes with “phone-in” connections for questions from remote audiences watching from locations known as “pods.”

  In the 1990s, we moved first to high-speed digital telephone lines, and then to Internet Protocol (IP) and wide/local area network (WLAN)-based conferencing. Later still, it was FaceTime and similar apps on personal smart devices; around the same time, video conferencing on larger video displays became more practical.

  In the early 2000s live streaming began, originally transmitted over devices that converted live audio and video to digital signals. Much like satellite video teleconferencing, live streaming was first used for broadcasting to remote attendees or viewers; later, it was able to add two-way collaborative experiences. When the images of the participants were shown at close-to-actual-size dimensions, this was referred to as “telepresence,” and various manufacturers developed mirrored rooms with cameras and displays to create the immersive effect of remote participants being in the same room. However, each manufacturer’s solution was unique and proprietary and there was no way to connect the “vendor-locked” systems from different providers, leading to the failure of widespread adoption in the hotel and conference center spaces. Telepresence set-ups are still used as legacy systems in corporate and government facilities, however, where interoperability with third parties or alternative platforms is not a requirement.

  Hybrid Event Topologies  

  The arrangement and interconnections of two or more physical meeting spaces can occur in several different structures, or topologies. It is helpful to consider how each event needs to be organized to understand what types and scale of physical and digital technologies will be required.

  THE POINT-TO-POINT TOPOLOGY

  This is the simplest arrangement of communication links and nodes. There are two “points” that are interconnected either by telephone lines, video teleconference circuits, or a unified communications and collaboration (UCC) platform via the internet. Each end of this link can have one or more people, who are fully enabled to see, hear, talk, and share content with each other.

  THE STAR TOPOLOGY

  This arrangement is where more than two nodes (also referred to as “hubs” or points) are interconnected. Each of the nodes can have one or more people participating, all of whom can see, hear, talk, and share content with any or all of the other participants. Sometimes one or more of the nodes will lead the presentation.

  THE HUB-AND-SPOKE TOPOLOGY

  This topology represents an arrangement where one of the hubs is the primary session or “main event,” and all of the other sites that are interconnected are remote audiences. This main hub may be set up like a television studio, complete with professional backdrops, furnishings, lighting, and even a studio audience. Often, the remote audiences are visible on large displays in the main hub studio, but typically those remote audiences cannot see each other. All eyes are on the main stage. This is also sometimes called:  “point-to-multipoint.”

  Unified Communications & Collaboration

  Now, the latest iteration has incorporated each of the earlier topologies: UCC, a term for various services that facilitate multi-participant conferencing that everyone can use, and that comes with many different flavors, platforms, and choices.

  In the last few years, there had been a growing interest in the technology and capabilities that would eventually become known as UCC. But the widespread use of UCC during the pandemic has accelerated its adoption even more. In fact, it has allowed us to leapfrog ten years of incremental adoption in the space of a less than a year. The bottom line is that meeting in a virtual space as opposed to a physical one via UCC technology is not only viable, but also offers many advantages. Another implication of this rapid adoption is that UCC technology is quickly becoming a new basic requirement for meetings of the future — one that probably will soon be as widely accepted as email. This gives those venues that devise successful ways to support such meetings a distinct market advantage.

  For companies and professionals in the meeting business, this is good news. Industry veterans may recall that when the meetings industry first encountered satellite video teleconferencing, many pundits saw it as the end of the in-person meetings business as we knew it. The subsequent experience and statistics have proved this prediction to be very wrong. In fact, many events that include remote attendees have experienced benefits, as remote attendees who wish they had attended this year’s meeting in person, often do so in the following year. Quite simply, humans need to be around each other.

  Where & When to Collaborate?

  Another way to appreciate the development of meeting technology is to consider two of the most central aspects of collaboration: when and where it occurs. As shown in Figure 2, these two factors can intersect in several ways, and today there are examples of three distinct scenarios, often referred to as “digital events”:

  • Here & Now (Synchronous): The most intuitive type of collaboration, this is represented in the central circle in Figure 1. This represents the most traditional way of meeting, also known as analog, face-to-face, or in-person meetings.

  • There & Now (Synchronous & Hybrid): This modality can describe a scenario such as the countless purely virtual meetings currently taking place on Zoom, WebEx, Teams, and other platforms. In addition, it describes hybrid events that include both in-person and remote attendees through the use of such solutions as Twitter feed displays that allow remote participants to share comments and ask questions of speakers.

  • There & Then (Asynchronous): This choice describes such interactions as video on demand and scheduled webinars. To accommodate demand for this collaboration model, in-person and hybrid meetings must have the technology needed to capture event presentations and interactions and make them available for future (THEN) reference and experience.

• See, Hear, Wow: Solutions for Remote Attendee Engagement (May 05, 2022)

  Ideally, meetings allow people to interact as equals and peers. In reality, most people’s recent experiences with Zoom and other unified communications and collaboration (UCC) platforms have shown that virtual experiences are not on a par with being there in person (at least not yet). Likewise, the meetings industry is just now trying to figure out the best ways to bring together a group of remote participants with a group of in-person meeting attendees.

  Fortunately, the technology to improve remote attendee engagement is developing rapidly, and new possibilities will continue to emerge.

  As an analogy, consider the countless ways the sports and entertainment industry has innovated in only the past 20 years to better engage remote fans watching on TV and cable. To cite just a few examples, there are now ubiquitous score graphics in the corner of the screen for every game, in every sport; news crawls providing scores and sports updates from across the league and even other sports; and digital indicators of scrimmage lines, play clocks, strike zones, and augmented reality. These technology improvements enhance the remote viewers’ involvement in the game by creating a sense of augmented reality — allowing them to appreciate nuances of the game to an even greater degree than those fans who are actually in the stadium.

  A similar wave of innovation is beginning to happen in the way meetings can engage remote attendees.

  Challenges: On the Outside Looking In?  

  All too often, a meeting’s remote attendees feel at best like second-class participants in the event, and at worst, invisible. They may not have the ability to see anything more than the keynote presenter and their presentation materials and may lack easy and effective ways to share comments and questions in real time. They may also not be visually represented to in-person attendees appropriately, such as when their heads or faces either appear too large or too small in video displays.

  Even the newest UCC technology has practical limits in how it accommodates remote attendees and optimizes their experience in virtual space. For example, in a typical call on the Zoom platform, participants are mostly individuals or small groups in “huddles” of two to six participants at each location.

  Technically, the technology can accommodate many participants — but there is a practical limit on the number of individuals who can show up on the “Gallery View.” Currently that limit is 49 participants (displayed in a grid of 7 X 7 images), but even that number is too large for individuals’ faces to be visible and conversations to occur without interruptions and lags.

  Complexity vs: Room Size  

  The extent and type of technology required to capture the voices of in-person participants and to present remote attendees increases rapidly, depending on the size of the meeting room being used.

  Smaller rooms may be served with basic “huddle room” systems, while larger meeting rooms used for hybrid meetings require much more complex and sophisticated audio and visual technologies.

  Cameras, displays, sound systems and microphones all need to be prescribed specifically for the meeting space being equipped. Larger rooms often have more challenging acoustical characteristics, requiring more complex sound and microphone systems. There’s no one-size-fits-all.

  Built-in technologies that are engineered specifically for the meeting rooms will always be more cost-effective over time, compared to using portable AV equipment. In addition to the distraction and aesthetic compromises of temporary portable setups, the time required to set up, adjust, operate, and then tear down and store the portable systems, adds considerably to the cost. Portable systems are often patched together from many components and require standing technicians to operate, whereas built-in systems are much simpler and easier to operate as well.

  We Need to Get Used to Change

  Clearly, the demand for hybrid meetings is here already, and will only continue to become more of an industry norm. Remote attendees will increasingly expect to feel as welcomed and engaged as their in-person colleagues; and for their part, in-person attendees will come to expect that their remote colleagues will be able to interact with them on an equal (though virtual) footing. To remain viable, venues need to acquire the technological capability to fully support hybrid meetings — not as an afterthought, but as a core part of their offering.

• How Hoteliers Can Be Responsible with the Owners’ AV Technology Investment (May 05, 2022)

  How Hoteliers Can Be Responsible with the Owners’ AV Technology Investment

  10 steps to maximizing ROI from an owners’ investment in audio/visual equipment, sound systems and amplification, background music systems, lighting and dimming systems, digital signage and more

  It's been a decade since the hospitality industry emerged from the depths of the economic recession. It took some time, but today hoteliers are experiencing a strong U.S. economy coupled with one of the lowest unemployment rates in history. According to the Deloitte 2019 US Travel and Hospitality Outlook, "unprecedented growth, driven by a robust economy, rising global consumer purchasing power, and digital innovation, however, comes with strings attached." Mounting operating costs, fuel costs, wage increases for staff, and real estate appreciation are just a few of the obstacles staring down hoteliers and putting them under immense pressure to operate leaner this year. With a downturn on the horizon, the Deloitte report is advising that hoteliers focus on operating more efficiently, saying that "creating leaner, more efficient businesses may require bolder thinking in 2019."

  How's this for bold thinking: Be responsible with your hotel owner's investment in AV technology systems and equipment.
  The event space infrastructure is a big expense, and it's not optional for owners who choose to buy into a major brand franchise. This expenditure includes audio amplification and sound systems, lighting and dimming systems, digital signage and display devices, control systems, infrastructure and related technologies. These technologies are a critical component of the meeting experience, but the owner's investment also extends to the background music systems, digital signage and televisions in the lobby, lounge, spa and pool, and food & beverage outlets, and these are often forgotten until something goes wrong.

  To compete effectively for meetings business today and in the future, hoteliers are requesting additional owner investment in capital funds for technology systems and infrastructure. But then it's up to those hoteliers to ensure that the investment is responsibly managed, and to understand the return that can be brought back to the bottom line. Investment in built-in technologies can enable hoteliers to provide higher quality basic services with internal staff. A truly responsible operator will go the extra step and make sure that preventative maintenance of AV equipment and AV service contracts, repairs, and upgrades are budgeted as part of the hotel's operating expenses.

  Whose job is it anyway?

  Before determining how to protect the owners' AV investment, hoteliers first need to determine who, or which department will take on this challenge. An outside third-party AV company will not look after a hotel's built-in, brand-required equipment or any supplemental portable equipment purchased by the hotel; their responsibility lies only with the equipment they bring to the property. Engineering doesn't manage AV; if it's a small property, manpower is probably an issue, even if staff knows how to run the equipment. And with today's property technologies operating in the cloud, on-site IT staff who had once dabbled with AV now manage systems remotely - oftentimes regionally. Therefore, AV is not part of the IT realm. This means that the owner's AV investment is being left in the hands of unsupported event setup or catering staff whose primary job responsibility is something other than managing AV.

  Maximizing an owner's ROI on their technology investment requires oversight of multiple events simultaneously and the juggling of large amounts of information dealing with meetings management, and multiple systems that track and communicate meeting needs. It requires the ability to plan meeting technology needs, manage AV equipment and resources, coordinate with vendors to order additional equipment as needed, and ensure that portable and built in equipment is serviced and repaired and that expenses are controlled. So how can hoteliers optimize their owner's AV technology investment?

  Here are 10 steps to maximizing ROI and protecting a hotel owner's AV investment:

  1. Evaluate Installed System Capabilities - determine who is responsible for the equipment and if it works, needs need fixed, upgraded or replaced. Should additional equipment be purchased to complement or complete the system to meet planners' requirements?
  2. Budget for Portable Equipment Inventory - develop a budget, issue an RFP, research local AV vendors and develop pre-priced packages of advanced AV services from the local vendors that complement your hotel's systems and services.
  3. Develop Management Systems - Create a P&L, track costs, review performance, create SOPs for equipment set-up, operation and removal, train staff, and create collateral for pricing guides, service packages and outside provider guidelines.
  4. Add AV to the hotel's Preventive Maintenance Plan - Find local AV contractors to repair installed and portable equipment; define scope of work for PM; develop and implement a tracking system for PM and break/fix service and repairs.
  5. Create a system to schedule and forecast equipment and resources for events.
  6. Create a system for identifying shortages or non-inventory requirements.
  7. Create a system for contracting/scheduling additional equipment and services from local vendor(s).
  8. Create a system for tracking costs associated with securing outside equipment and services.
  9. Create training for planning and operations staff on above systems and procedures; include in SOPs.
  10. Invest in a dedicated cloud-based event-technology platform that will conduct all AV technology activities listed above easily and affordably, enabling the hoteliers to demonstrate responsible management of the owner's asset and optimizing a return on the owner's AV investment.

• Hard Lessons in Acoustics (May 05, 2022)

  In renovations, hard lessons in room acoustics

  When changing from carpet to hard flooring in guestrooms, make sure your renovation and upgrade sounds as good as it looks.

  There is a “boutique-ing tsunami” that is washing over the hotel industry. Everyone wants their hotel to look “fresh,” and to current thinking that’s driving many interior design changes. From colors to light fixtures to furnishings to flooring, everything is getting a boutique-like makeover.  One of these trends in particular has triggered a wave of concern, frustration and guest complaints: the changing of carpet to hard flooring. Suddenly, everything has become louder. A dropped pill bottle or belt buckle sounds like a gunshot; moving furniture in the room above sounds like water buffalos in heat; high heels can be heard three guestrooms away.  The guest complaints are building. Why?  Fundamentally, it’s just the laws of physics. Carpet is quiet; it absorbs a portion of sound striking it, and it helps to isolate the floor below from impact (or footfall) noise. Hard flooring does none of these things. However, in an effort to be “helpful” (read: sell products), some manufacturers are making rather fantastic claims for magical flooring underlayment that, even though paper thin, claim to solve the noise problems of hard flooring.  Think about it: How convenient would it be if a hard flooring system could be the same thickness as the carpet and padding it is replacing?  If only it were so easy. Here ’s where physics comes in. The entire system between guestrooms comes into play. The density, thickness, construction and vibro-acoustics response of flooring, the underlayment, the screed, the structural concrete—all of it matters a lot.  If all structures were identical—same concrete mix, same thickness, same construction, etc.—that would make things a lot easier. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. And, the solution for your renovation might not be simple. Do you have different wings that were built differently? Some planked and some pour-in-place? Some popcorn ceilings and some drywall?  Think about it: What should a guestroom sound like? Maybe like the guest’s own bedroom?  What do you want your guestrooms to sound like?  Peaceful, relaxing, restful, safe, private, secure? Nothing says quality like quiet, yes? A good working definition for reverberation is: the tendency for sound energy to bounce around in an enclosed space until it is absorbed. So, not only do hard floors create noise, they reflect noise from other sources such as televisions, telephones, laughter, alarm clocks, etc. Hard surfaces in guestrooms create the equivalent of an echo chamber, allowing the overall level of sound to build upon itself. When sound strikes a surface, it can be absorbed, reflected or transmitted. Transmitted sound is the opposite of isolation, especially when the sound is the result of impacts on hard floors. The hard floors become part of the structure, and the energy moves through the building structure much more efficiently than through air. The underlayment is supposed to be the barrier to this transmission, but that barrier must be tuned to the rest of the structural elements to be effective. So, hard floors create noise; they reflect noise; and they transmit noise. Prevention vs treatment When do you want to find out if the specific flooring system being recommended by your contractor, architect or supplier will work in your specific property?  Before or after installing 200 guestrooms?  What are the consequences of finding out later?   How do you chip out 200 guestrooms of bedded ceramic tile or un-stick engineered wood flooring, so that you can install the proper underlayment and build ramps to the new surface?   Well, fortunately, there are ways to prevent this nightmare scenario.  Consult an acoustician. A real one, not a manufacturer’s representative. They will want to inspect and test the existing construction and each typical type of floor. Then using various formulae and software (laws of physics, remember?) and verified manufacturer’s lab data, they will model the intended new flooring system, working with your architect or contractor to ensure that all of the details are explained and understood. Then, after all of the above has been done to your satisfaction, build out one or two rooms of each type, and re-test. When all goes well, the results will pass your hopeful expectations and you can roll out the renovation. Properly engineered flooring systems with proper underlayment can perform every bit as well as carpet.  And they can be predicted and modeled before the major renovation work is done.

  So, is it worth it?  Is the ounce of prevention worth the pound of headaches, complaints and costs associated with fixing the problem after the fact?  Sure it is.

  Make sure your renovation and upgrade sounds as good as it looks.

• NOTHING SAYS QUALITY LIKE QUIET (May 05, 2022)

  NOTHING SAYS QUALITY LIKE QUIET By Luis-Eduardo Soares

  How noisy is your hotel? Is the acoustics in your guestrooms, lobby, restaurant and meeting rooms driving guests away? Studies show that there is a correlation between health-related quality of life and the acoustic environment. Unfortunately, most of us who live and/or work in noisy environments do not realize the physiological and psychological effects of such exposure; probably because we just get used to it. While this may be an acceptable excuse to some (depending on the industry or living environment), it is not tolerable for hotel and resort guests. In fact, noise is among the top two complaints at hotels, and it is a subject that most general managers do not like to discuss. Noise can be described as unwanted sound (or a combination of sounds) that can adversely affect our health, both in the short and long term. Regardless of level, noise exposure consequences range from relatively minor but still harmful concerns (e.g. communication/speech interference, disrupted sleep patterns, and reduced efficiency) to irreversible hearing loss. Since humans perceive and experience noise differently, noise sensitivity (in both physiological and psychological terms) and tolerance levels (for different noise types) vary significantly among individuals.

  Consider this scenario. You decide to take a break from the hectic and noisy environment and book a room for the weekend. You search online and find this impressive, new resort and spa conveniently located just off the highway and only a few miles from the airport you are flying into. This is it – three days of peace and quiet… or so you hope. After dealing with the typical travel stress, you arrive at your weekend destination. The resort buildings are even more impressive than the online pictures, but from the moment you step out of your car, you start to wonder about the proximity to the highway. Between road noise and the loud music being piped in at the porte-cochére, you wonder when peace and quiet will become reality. As you enter the hotel, you cannot help but notice the remarkable 20-story atrium lobby, entirely cladded with Carrara marble. Unfortunately, these beautiful finishes cause background noise to linger and become distracting. Reverberation is so bad it should be measured in “furlongs per fortnight” instead of seconds. Your first impression of this hotel quickly transports you from standing in a tranquil oasis to standing in the middle of Waterloo Station in London, or Gare-duNord in Paris, on a late Friday afternoon. By the time you approach the front desk staff to check in, you feel confused – your visual and aural experiences simply do not match. Arriving at your room, two things immediately become evident: 1) the floor looks like hardwood, but it is really a plastic knock-off which creates self-noise and makes your room “sound loud”, and 2) there is a distinct and distracting sound of high-heels coming from room above. Rather than being relaxed now that you finally arrived in your room, your stress level begins to rise. You head to the shower before going to diner, but unfortunately your neighbors had the same idea. You can clearly hear all the typical plumbing noises and the discussions about attire for the evening. To be immune to the noise, you immerse yourself in the conversation.

  Now it’s time for dinner. You follow the directions on the elevator and arrive at your restaurant of choice for the evening. As you peruse the menu, you cannot help but look around and appreciate the clean architecture and exquisite décor. You think about the effort put in the design to achieve such visual impression. As you attempt to enjoy the nice dish the server places in front you, the loud environment takes over and you start to wonder about the failed design attempt.

  You head back to your room thinking about the “nightclub-like experience” you just had during dinner and convince yourself that a good night sleep is all it takes to put you back in a good mood in the morning. You set the thermostat to your liking and realize how quiet the HVAC system is. As you turn off the lights, you suddenly think you acquired Superman’s hearing capabilities – you can hear everything… I mean everything, including the loud and constant banging against the demising wall behind your headboard, water running above the drop ceiling, ESPN coverage of Swedish curling championships from the room across the corridor, a toilet flushing below, the ice machine dropping cubes down the hall (as if wishing you “ice dreams”), a toilet flushing below, airplanes taking off from the conveniently located airport, and everything else in between. After taking a double-dose of sleep-aid pills, you finally fall asleep. Your unsolicited wake-up call at 5 a.m. has several distinct sounds coming from the loading dock, including a garbage truck, a fork lift, diesel engines, and pallets being dragged and/or dropped. After all, you asked for a room facing the mountain, right?

  After skipping breakfast, you take a book to the pool with very little hope to get 15 minutes of peace and quiet. Good news: kids in the pool prove you are not wrong. You decide to check out and cut your “relaxing time” short. At least the airport is nearby. So, what is the lesson to be learned? It doesn’t matter how beautiful a facility is or how good of intentions the designer and management had when selecting the finishings. Unless acoustics is taken into consideration during the early design phase, the loveliest of facilities can end up being the ugliest of stays. For the hotel aforementioned, engaging an acoustics professional at the onset of the design process would have been a wise investment.

  About Luis-Eduardo Soares Luis-Eduardo Soares is the Principal Consultant specializing in the area of Building Acoustics for Electro-Media Design Ltd., an AudioVisual systems design and Acoustical consultation group with expertise in audio, video, control, and related presentation, entertainment, and communications technologies. The practice also includes AudioVisual Operational and Management consulting to address the entire AV systems lifecycle. As independent consultants over the last 25 years, EMD has provided consulting services for more than 800 projects globally, including: hotels, conference and convention centers, spas and resorts, government facilities, corporate board rooms, theaters and auditoria, schools and electronic classrooms, training and meeting rooms, courtrooms, places of worship, restaurants and nightclubs, sports facilities and venues, and command and control centers.

• Sound Advice for Event/Meeting Space Site Inspections (May 05, 2022)

  Sound Advice for Event/Meeting Space Site Inspections

  Nothing says quality like a quiet event; What every facility manager needs to consider to ensure they are providing acoustically-sound event spaces before site inspections are performed

  By Eric Bracht

  Many things go into the selection of a venue for a meeting or event. One criteria that is often overlooked is the ability of a facility (hotel or independent conference center) to support the technical requirements of the function. To ensure that a venue will meet all event/meeting planner specifications during a site inspection, facility managers should first conduct an examination of their own to ensure that architectural and entertainment acoustics are in check. Every event has specific technical requirements—not only the capabilities of the in-house provider or an outside service orchestrating the event behind the scenes, but also the physical environment of the facility itself. “How does the room sound when it is empty? Is it quiet or noisy? Do you hear sound coming in from adjacent areas? How loud is the HVAC system? These are all questions that need to be addressed in the design stage in order to ensure a facility will pass the site inspection.

  Sound Basics: Hearing and Intelligibility

  Since a meeting is fundamentally people communicating, the ability to BOTH hear and understand the material being presented is critical. While hearing is a function of sound volume, understanding is based upon intelligibility; and intelligibility relies heavily on the acoustics of the room. Before a site inspection is performed, facility managers need to look and listen to their event spaces. Are there a lot of hard surfaces in the room; wood floors or walls, windows or glass, hard ceilings? Or are the floors carpeted, the walls padded and the ceiling covered with acoustical tiles? If you stand in the middle of the room and clap loudly one time how many echoes of that clap do you hear? This is actually a good test . . . try it. If you get multiple echoes of that clap, it means that sound is bouncing all over the room. Imagine being in that room full of people with all of the background noise they generate. Do you think it is easy for attendees to understand the presenter with all of that sound bouncing around? Providing a microphone will increase the ability to hear the person speaking (volume), but in actuality, it only adds more sound to bounce around the room. Understanding (intelligibility) will not be improved.

  Acoustical Issues: Noise Annoys

  Speaking of noise, how does the empty room sound? Depending on location and the season, it is almost certain that the HVAC system will be used to either heat or cool the space. Will the equipment be running during a prospective customer’s site visit? If it’s not, you can be sure that the event/meeting planner will ask for it to be turned on (or at least they should ask). No systems will be completely silent if on, but what do you hear? Air movement, fan noise or rattling, whistling, rumbling, mechanical noise through the ducts? As with any mechanical system, performance will vary over time, but today’s event/meeting planners are trained to listen for equipment noise during their site visits to give them a good indication of what to expect during their actual functions. Another major acoustical concern is sound that comes through the walls from an event in the next room, or from the service hallway. Walk into an empty meeting room with an adjoining room that has an event in progress. Listen to determine how much you are able to hear in the next room. When event/meeting planners are looking at a space that is divided by operable partition walls, they will conduct an “eyeball” test to identify how well the panels will perform in keeping out unwanted sound. Make sure the lights in the adjacent room are turned on full, and then, in the room you are in, turn the lights off. Wait five minutes for your eyes to adjust. How much light do you see leaking around the movable wall, or through gaps in the panels? The more light you see, the more sound will pass through. Since lights are typically always on in any adjacent service corridor, that same test can be performed to see how much noise can invade from the service area. Does your facility have sound-lock vestibules between the meeting spaces and the service corridor? This offers additional protection from noise intrusion by having two sets of doors to pass through, ensuring there is always at least one closed door between the space and service area. Some facilities that lack the vestibule will have a thick curtain that can be drawn to provide some insulation from sound and light intrusion. Others may have a “Meeting in Progress” light or sign to indicate to the staff the need for quiet. While you are in the service hallway, also take a look at the floor. Is it carpeted, smooth concrete, or tiled with grout lines? Imagine a large cart full of dishes being pushed down the hall. What will the wheels have to run over?

  A ‘Sound’ Conclusion

  When we boil down the reason for bringing people together for a meeting, it is typically to communicate a message. It is important to ensure that the environment being selected for an event will help, not hinder that goal. Spaces that let sound in from adjacent rooms and service areas, have noisy HVAC systems, or are filled with hard surfaces for sound to bounce around in are stressful environments not conducive to communication. The suggestions above are easy ways to identify potential challenges so that facility managers can find ways to resolve them before event/meeting planners conduct their inspections and then find alternative venues. Alternatively, event/meeting planners also can use the above questions while they are performing site inspections to avoid unwanted distractions for presenters and attendees. Nothing says quality like a quiet event. Only when the acoustics are just right will attendees be free to focus on the message. 

  About Eric Bracht Eric Bracht is a senior consultant with Electro-Media Design Ltd., an AudioVisual systems design and Acoustical consultation group with expertise in audio, video, control, and related presentation, entertainment, and communications technologies. The practice also includes AudioVisual Operational and Management consulting to address the entire AV systems lifecycle. As independent consultants over the last 25 years, EMD has provided consulting services for more than 800 projects globally, including: hotels, conference and convention centers, spas and resorts, government facilities, corporate board rooms, theaters and auditoria, schools and electronic classrooms, training and meeting rooms, courtrooms, places of worship, restaurants and nightclubs, sports facilities and venues, and command and control centers.

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