There’s a reason we wear those favorite sweatpants far beyond the point of human decency. They’re comfortable. They fit. They just work. And we don’t like change. 

Familiarity with AV can be the final make or break aspect of any conference room, especially when making equipment upgrades. If the users can’t figure out how to run the new tools, they’ll spend valuable time trying to get things to work, or potentially ditch the equipment altogether and run an awkward meeting with everyone looking at their laptops. Not good.  You could even end up in a "how not to" stock photo.

The benefits of providing familiarity cannot be overstated. It is what maximizes meeting time without needing to pause for troubleshooting or accidentally cutting off remote team members. No one likes surprises in a meeting. Except maybe if the surprise is a bonus. Or chocolate. 

For end-users, familiarity comes with standardization of solutions across an enterprise, which gives them a sense of confidence that when they book a room, they know how to make it work no matter which room they get.  

Look for video conferencing equipment that simply requires a USB connection to the presenter’s laptop – no tedious driver installation needed. With the right setup, the users can work across whatever conferencing platform a company prefers while also providing the flexibility to work with another company’s platform of choice.  

You can also make sure rooms are capable of working with any device. How? By eliminating the “how do I connect” meeting room panic with docking stations and adapter rings that end users will rely on for getting presentations and meetings up and running. Congratulations! You have a finely tuned conferencing machine that will impress everyone at every level of the organization. Look at you, all awesome and stuff. 

Familiarity goes beyond the end users for us. At Legrand | AV, most of this particular value is added at the specification/installation/servicing levels. We’re not showy – hiding as we do behind displays, walls, tables and more to silently support the video and audio interactions.  

For installers, there’s so much to be said with the familiarity of installing a well-tested, UL listed solution supported by a top-notch customer care team and backed by warranty. Installers know Legrand | AV brands and are well equipped with the experience to efficiently set up systems that provide an intuitive experience for the end user.  

Many of the brands of Legrand | AV have already been working together to create systems that build on the strengths of each industry leader. For example, Chief in-wall storage systems come with Middle Atlantic’s LeverLock technology in one tidy Proximity package. The best example of this is the Forum Collaboration Suite. It builds on Middle Atlantic furniture and storage solutions by adding a Chief display mount. That mount opens up accessory options like a camera mount for Vaddio solutions. The display stand itself is designed to accommodate Wiremold OFR or Connectrac raceways for elegant routing of power and data. In short, we work together to make integration and utilization easier. 

Specifiers can get comfortable with all the resources available for room design, including diagrams, Revit Models, selection guides, calculators and much more at the Specifier Zone.  

And if you aren’t yet familiar with the breadth of solutions from the various brands, we can help. The Solutions Engineering Team is ready and eager to help fill out room diagrams that can accommodate any given projector or display. Check out their collection of diagrams for conferencing. We don’t expect you to know every cable or camera shelf accessory available to create a solid video conferencing space, but we can certainly introduce you. You may even find yourself in a "how to" stock photo.

Learn more about the other trends we’ve seen emerge for the hybrid conferencing space by checking out our trends book full of features to look for and solutions that provide them. Need to get many spaces up and running in a hurry? Take a look at our mass deployment book for conferencing.