2014年10月10日

Choosing the right display for your meeting room

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The choice in displays for your meeting, conference or collaboration room has never been this big. But how do you choose between a flat panel and a projector? And what’s the ideal resolution? Are there other features you need to think of when making your decision?


A National Statistics Council study showed that employees spend on average 37 per cent of their time in meetings. In the United States alone, more than 11 million formal meetings are held every day. It goes without saying that having adequate meeting-room facilities, including the right display solutions, is therefore a crucial factor to maximize productivity.

Content is a factor

A lot depends on what exactly is shown on the meeting-room screen. Does the primary content mainly consist of PowerPoint presentations with white backgrounds and relatively large, black text? Or are you looking to visualize spreadsheets with lots of data and complex data models? The latter requires a higher resolution than the former.

Readability above all

Your primary content will also affect what might be the most crucial factor: readability. Can everybody in the room read what is displayed onscreen, regardless of where they’re seated? A basic rule of thumb: the bigger the room, the bigger the display. If you select too small a display for your meeting room, those sitting at the back of the room will most likely be unable to make out the details.

A simple but good tip is to take a seat in the back of the meeting room and conduct some tests with font sizes typically used in presentations and spreadsheets. You might be surprised to see that 70 or 80-inch displays often don’t suffice, even for small meeting room set-ups.

Resolution

Determining the right resolution is equally important. As with readability, the proper resolution greatly depends on the type of content you plan to show. If you need to visualize more data than a typical PowerPoint presentation, higher resolutions such as Full HD (1920x1080), or, ideally, a wide aspect Panorama resolution (2560x1080) or the WQXGA (2560x1600) will be best suited.

Look at it like this: if employees rely on high resolution devices for their everyday job, then how could it be that you use a low resolution display in the room where all critical business decisions are made? What’s more, research has proven that people work more efficiently when using high resolution displays.

Brightness

If you have a room with high levels of ambient light (direct sun, no blinds) you might consider getting a direct view display. Compared to a front projection solution, direct views make it easier to maintain contrast ratios and readability. The same goes for rear projection solutions, which might also be an option.

On the other hand, if you have control over ambient lighting, your options are wide open. In such a situation, depending on the level of ambient light and screen size, you need to select a projector with proper brightness levels. Our Projector Selector is the perfect tool to help you on your way!

Why go large?

It is also worth noting that people work more efficiently and are more satisfied when working on large, high-resolution displays. So, if the right conditions are in place, and you can go for that exquisite high-resolution, big screen solution – we really don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t!