Most organisations have invested in their meeting rooms. Screens, cameras, conferencing equipment: the hardware is often there. So when a room still underdelivers, the natural assumption is that something in the technology stack needs upgrading. A better camera, a different platform, perhaps the WiFi.
In most cases, the hardware is fine. The design is the part that needs attention.
Meeting room AV performance is primarily a specification and design question. Get those right at the outset, and the technology tends to look after itself. This article explains what that process involves and the difference it makes to how a room performs day to day.
Why upgrading hardware often misses the point
When a meeting room consistently underdelivers, the default response is to replace the equipment. A new camera, a better speakerphone, a replacement screen. Sometimes that helps. More often, the improvement is short-lived, because the root cause sits earlier in the process.
Specification decisions drive room performance
Among organisations that report meeting rooms falling short of expectations, the leading reason is insufficient audio and video endpoints, cited by 42% of European employers in Cisco’s Global Hybrid Work Study 2024. The issue is coverage: too few endpoints, in the right positions, for the rooms they are supposed to serve.
Camera angle, microphone coverage, display sizing, acoustic treatment: these are all specification decisions made at the design stage. The equipment selected to fulfil that specification can only perform as well as the thinking behind it.
How rooms are used has changed
According to Panasonic’s 2024 Meeting Room Whitepaper, 68% of remote participants say they contribute less in hybrid meetings, with a third contributing up to 50% less. That points to a design gap rather than a hardware one. Many rooms were built for in-person presentations, with AV systems that reflect that original assumption.
The way organisations use meeting rooms has changed significantly. A design process that accounts for hybrid working from the start produces rooms that work equally well for everyone in them, wherever they are joining from.
What AV design actually involves
AV design is the stage that happens before any equipment is selected. It is where the decisions get made that determine how reliably a room will perform. It is also the stage most often left out of low-cost installations.
Starting with how the room is actually used
A properly designed meeting room AV system starts with questions. How many people typically use the space? What proportion of meetings include remote participants? Which platforms does the team use: Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, something else? What are the acoustic properties of the room? How does natural light change across the day?
The answers shape every technical decision that follows: screen sizing, camera placement, microphone coverage, audio distribution, control system design, and platform compatibility. A specification built around these factors gives the room the best chance of performing reliably, day after day.
Platform compatibility is worth getting right from the start
Cisco research found that 98% of knowledge workers expect remote participants in their meetings going forward. Yet only around 15% of conference rooms globally are equipped for video conferencing, and many of those cover only one platform, leaving people to switch to their laptop for anything else.
Good AV design specifies for the actual platforms in use, with interoperability built in from the start. The room works consistently regardless of which platform the meeting is on.
Acoustics matter more than most people expect
Audio quality is the single biggest factor in how well a meeting room works for hybrid collaboration. Hard surfaces cause echo. Open-plan adjacency introduces background noise. Ceiling height affects how sound distributes across the space.
A well-designed AV system addresses all of this at the specification stage. Microphones are selected with appropriate pickup patterns, acoustic treatment is added where the room needs it, and speakers are positioned for even coverage. These decisions are far more straightforward to address during design than after installation.
The business case for getting meeting room AV right
The productivity value of well-functioning meeting room technology is well documented. Owl Labs’ 2025 State of Hybrid Work Report, based on a survey of 2,000 UK workers, found that 79% of employees have lost time to technical difficulties in meetings. On average, workers spend seven minutes just getting hybrid meetings started, and over 7 in 10 have given up on room technology altogether and fallen back to their laptop.
89% of UK employees now rate access to good technology as a top-three workplace priority, behind only pay and a supportive manager. Organisations that consistently deliver on that see it reflected in employee satisfaction, in office attendance, and in how fully remote participants engage.
These are organisation-level outcomes. They start with a design decision.
What a well-designed meeting room AV system looks like
A well-specified meeting room AV system is one where the technology is invisible. The call connects first time. Audio is clear for everyone in the room and everyone dialling in. The display is readable from every seat. The control interface is straightforward enough that anyone can use it confidently.
Getting there requires the design stage to come before the equipment stage. Someone needs to ask the right questions about the space, the users, and the platforms involved, then make technical decisions that reflect those answers.
It also requires commissioning. A system that has been properly configured and tested in real conditions performs to its full potential from day one. Commissioning is the final step in a thorough AV installation, and it makes a measurable difference to how reliably the room performs.
Getting your meeting rooms to perform
Meeting rooms that work well share a common pattern. They were designed with sufficient input, specified around real use cases, and installed with the configuration and testing that makes technology reliable day to day.
A proper AV design consultation identifies what each space needs and produces a specification built around how it will actually be used. The result is a room that works the way it should, from the first meeting onwards.
Pyramid AV designs, installs, and supports commercial AV systems for organisations across the UK. If you want your meeting rooms to perform more reliably, our team is happy to talk through what a proper design process would involve. Book a free site assessment and we will come to you.