A good boardroom AV system lets anyone walk in, share their screen or join a call within a minute, and lets everyone in the room and on the call see and hear clearly. That comes from sizing displays to the room, getting audio right, keeping connections simple and making control obvious. The technology is the easy part; the planning is where most rooms succeed or fail.
Start with how the room is used
Before choosing equipment, answer:
- How many people, and how is the table arranged?
- Is it mainly for presentations, video calls, or both?
- Which conferencing platform does the organization use?
- Do guests need to present from their own laptops?
- Will the room be divided or combined with another?
- Who will support it when something goes wrong?
These answers drive every decision that follows. A room for board meetings with remote directors needs very different audio from a training room for presentations.
Displays
The most common mistake is a display that is too small for the farthest seat. The AVIXA DISCAS standard (Display Image Size for 2D Content in Audiovisual Systems) gives a method for sizing displays based on viewing distance and the type of content, from video to detailed spreadsheets. Detailed content needs a larger image than general viewing.
- Flat panels suit most small and medium rooms and work well in normal lighting.
- Dual displays let one show remote participants while the other shows shared content.
- Projectors or direct-view LED walls suit large rooms where a flat panel would be too small.
Mount displays at a height that the farthest viewer can see over heads, and avoid placing them opposite windows where glare washes out the image.
Audio
People forgive a mediocre picture but not poor audio. Audio planning covers:
Microphones
Table microphones, ceiling microphone arrays and beamforming microphones each have their place. Ceiling and beamforming options keep tables clear but are more sensitive to room acoustics. The goal is to pick up every seat clearly without picking up the HVAC diffuser.
Speakers
Ceiling speakers spread sound evenly in larger rooms. Speakers near the display tie voices to the image in smaller rooms.
Processing
A digital signal processor (DSP) handles mixing, acoustic echo cancellation and noise reduction, so remote participants do not hear themselves echoed back. In small rooms this may be built into a video bar.
Acoustics
Hard surfaces, such as glass walls, concrete ceilings and large tables, make a room echo. Acoustic panels, ceiling treatment and soft finishes often improve call quality more than any equipment upgrade. Background noise from mechanical systems should also be checked; see ventilation and indoor air quality for the HVAC side of rooms.
Treat the room before you buy equipment. No microphone can fully fix a room with heavy echo. Plan acoustic treatment with the architect or interior designer early, especially in glass-walled rooms.
Connections and control
- Wireless presentation lets people share without cables, and is popular for guests and BYOD.
- Wired connections via HDMI or USB-C at the table remain the most reliable fallback.
- Control should be a simple touch panel or automatic: the system turns on when someone connects, shows a clear "join meeting" button, and shuts down when the room is empty. For larger or combined rooms a control system ties everything together; see Crestron control systems explained.
Whatever the control method, test it with people who were not involved in the design. If a first-time user cannot start a meeting or share a screen without help, simplify the interface before handover rather than relying on training.
Infrastructure to plan
- Conduit and floor boxes to the table for power and connections
- Network drops for displays, codecs, touch panels and microphones
- Structural backing in walls for large displays
- Equipment rack or credenza with ventilation
- Lighting controls that let faces be lit for video without washing out the display
- Dedicated circuits where the equipment load requires it
These belong in the construction drawings; see coordinating low-voltage work in construction.
A typical case: a mid-sized boardroom
Consider a boardroom with a long table for around a dozen people, a glass wall onto the corridor, windows along one side and directors who often join remotely. A design for it usually works through these points:
- Displays. Measure from the display wall to the farthest seat and size the image for detailed content using the DISCAS method. Rooms like this often end up with two large displays on the end wall, one for people and one for content, placed on the wall without windows.
- Camera. A camera at the display that frames the whole table, with automatic framing or speaker tracking if the room is long, so remote participants see who is talking.
- Microphones. Ceiling microphone arrays over the table or table microphones spaced along it, so every seat is picked up at a similar level. Locate ceiling arrays away from supply diffusers.
- Speakers. Ceiling speakers spaced for even coverage, so the far end of the table hears as well as the head of the table.
- Acoustics. Absorptive ceiling tiles, an acoustic panel on the wall opposite the glass, and blinds or curtains on the windows. Glass walls reflect sound strongly, so treatment elsewhere matters more.
- Connections and control. A wireless presentation option, a single wired fallback at the table, and one touch panel with the same layout used in every other meeting room.
What to test before handover
- A first-time user can start a call and share a laptop within about a minute, without help
- A remote participant can hear every seat clearly, including the far end of the table
- No echo is heard by the far end, with the room speakers at normal volume
- Room speech is clear in the room with the HVAC running at full speed
- Shared content is readable from the farthest seat
- Faces are well lit on camera, with the room lights at their normal meeting setting
- Wired and wireless sharing both work with Windows and Mac laptops and a phone
- The system shuts down or returns to a standby state after the meeting
- As-built drawings, settings backups and a one-page user guide are handed over
How ehZee can help
Our AV systems service starts with how your people actually use the room, then designs, installs and tests the system so it works the same way for every meeting.
Common questions
Should every room have the same setup?
Standardizing similar rooms makes them easier to use and support. Rooms of different sizes need different equipment, but the controls and the way people start a meeting should feel the same.
Is an all-in-one video bar enough?
For small rooms, often yes. Larger rooms usually need separate microphones, speakers and processing to cover every seat.
When should AV design start on a new boardroom?
Before walls and ceilings are finalized. Display backing, floor boxes, conduit to the table, ceiling microphone and speaker locations, lighting control and acoustic treatment are all far cheaper to include in the construction drawings than to add after the room is finished.