Recent ideas from Microsoft on hybrid meeting room layouts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an interesting article by Arianne Cohen at Bloomberg on April 7, 2022 titled Swap in a triangle conference table for an ideal hybrid meeting. As shown above, it describes triangle or half-oval layouts (where everyone is visible on camera, and they aren’t clustered together like with the overfilled rectangular table at left).  

 

Four best practices are:

 

1] Keep the digital chat open; it’s often hidden on conference room screens. ‘Sometimes it’s a parallel meeting,’ says Baribault.

2] Cameras should focus on people’s faces and not on their bodies, the conference table, or empty chairs.

3] Conference room screens should be made bigger to show attendees along the bottom and the chat and workspace along the top.

4] No virtual backgrounds should be allowed; that artisanal wallpaper is distracting.

 

The first three are sensible. But I disagree with the fourth – a simple virtual background can be useful and not distracting. For Zoom meetings I use a laptop on a built-in desk at the end of a hallway diagonally opposite our kitchen. I use a simple virtual background to eliminate showing that distracting kitchen on one side. On May 8, 2021 I blogged about Creating wallpapers for Zoom virtual backgrounds.

 

An earlier article by Nicole Herskowitz at LinkedIn Pulse on February 1, 2022 is titled

‘On the same eye level’: reimagining the future of hybrid meetings. It begins:

 

“Last year my colleague Greg Baribault embarked on an ambitious journey. He saw the opportunity to build the hybrid meeting room experience of the future; a new kind of meeting space that bridges the gap between digital and physical workspaces.

 

His vision is becoming a reality with ‘front row’ for Microsoft Team Rooms. This new meeting layout moves the video gallery to the bottom of the screen so in-room participants can see remote colleagues face-to face across a horizontal plane – as if they are in the same room. It also brings relevant meeting content, like chat and a rostered view of raised hands, to the forefront so you can participate fully wherever you sit.”