Conference room furniture blends design aesthetics with functional and technical requirements.

You know it’s a formal conference room when there is a 20-foot long table made of natural dark wood surrounded by matching pieces. You can tell it’s a group collaboration space when you see furniture with durable, manmade surfaces in lighter colors, and by the flip charts and white boards.

What isn’t always evident is how much audiovisual technology is hiding in that furniture and the expertise that went into integrating it. The unknowing eye may perceive a handsome room and may not realize that often, every piece of furniture was custom-made to accommodate very specific conference room AV requirements.

“The importance of the furniture in relation to an AV system is huge,” says Patrick DeZess, director of engineering at Audio Video Systems, a Virginia-based integrator. “If the furniture is not designed

Audio Video Systems’ installation at the Command Conference Room, United States Marine Corps Commandants at the Pentagon features two video walls, a plasma monitor, and full matrix capability. Photo courtesy of Audio Video Systems

for the AV system, there can be major issues. Elements such as cooling, cabling, and mounting are all critical to the design of the AV system.”

Richard Mangione is president of one such AV furniture company, Illinois-based Marshall Furniture. “Conference furniture must accommodate AV and IT usage gracefully,” he says. “The room itself, the furniture, the wiring, lighting, and window controls all come together to make the room a joy to use or an aggravating and very expensive failure.”

Today’s basic conference room furniture most often includes a meeting table, chairs, and a credenza. There are sometimes other pieces as well. Every decision regarding conference room furniture, including the color, the choice of finish, and accommodations for AV, depends entirely on how the room will be used.

AV FURNITURE: THE TRENDS
Several current trends affect AV furniture design. One of those trends is network usage.

"One of the neatest things we have seen is that many AV components now talk to each other through ethernet,” says Tad Petrick, director of marketing and product management at Bretford Manufacturing, an AV furniture manufacturer in Illinois. “We no longer have to deal with piles of cables going from the source to the amplifier and out. This will allow us to have very small profile furniture and put a liberal amount of equipment into a smaller area.”

Along those lines, Petrick says Bretford also worries less about working with ethernet cabling too, since so many conference rooms are opting for wireless.

Green is another trend with which all AV furniture companies contend with as manufacturers move toward recycled and recyclable materials. “Some of these options are very expensive,” says Petrick. “But that’s fine, because some customers are very passionate about it.”

Modularity is hot, too. Furniture that can be moved according to what is needed in the room at the moment allows more use out of each AV component, and better fits with today’s space-saving mindset. That space-saving mentality also results in fewer rackmounted enclosures in closets or adjacent rooms. The AV equipment is, instead, often housed in the room itself.

CENTERPIECE: THE CONFERENCE TABLE
The table is the focus of the room — where the action happens. It needs to give participants comfortable lines of sight, appropriate proximity to others, and

Marshall Furniture created this cherry, Y-shaped video teleconference table with barrel legs. Each leg has a door to allow easy access for service and wiring. The table shape ensures each participant can be seen on camera in a videoconference.

effective use of AV equipment.

Fixed tables are often rectangular, “boat-shaped,” oval, or U- or V-shaped. Round and boat-shaped provide better personal sight lines and U-shaped is often best for training. V-shaped improves sight lines and is often used for videoconferencing, as are wedge and Y-shaped configurations. Ontario, Canada-based office furniture dealer atWork suggests a 24-inch wide space for each chair (more may be needed depending on chair size and needed workspace). The table should provide enough room so that people can shift, spin, and lean back in their chairs to stay comfortable.

Bretford’s Petrick says a modular approach is very popular. A set of six of Bretford RHOMBII modular tables can be put together in a variety of ways — as one long rectangular conference table, a larger rectangle with an open middle, and arrangements suited to videoconferencing or team breakouts.

“Everyone is watching their budget these days,” says Petrick. “Modular gives more bang for the buck. The integrator can give the end-user a multifunction room at the cost of just one room.”

Each seat has access to connectivity, one of the crucial considerations in a modern conference room. New Jerseybased FSR and California-based Extron are two companies providing floor, table, and wall connectivity. FSR’s T3- AC2 table box is a box embedded into the table with a flip-up top. When the top is open, two computers can plug into AC power and ethernet. The keystone areas can be populated with a variety of connectors, including network, telephone, RCA or mini stereo audio, push buttons, and more.

Extron says the most common connectivity needs in a conference room are power, VGA, audio (3.5mm mini stereo jack), USB, network, and power. HDMI and DisplayPort will join VGA for video connectivity. Extron’s Architectural Connectivity line is designed to provide connectivity, yet blend into the environment.

“The Extron HSA 822 MS is the ultimate invisible connectivity product,” says Lee Dodson, vice president of marketing. Extron’s HSA 822 MS, which features a motorized, vertical-lift enclosure, has a top that can be finished in the same material as the table. When closed, it is flush with the table surface and virtually disappears.

Visibility of displays may also alter the table design. Marshall’s president, Mangione, says a recent install of a giant table seating 60 resulted in 14-inch monitor lifts at every seat to ensure audience viewing.

System integration firm AVI-SPL faced such a design challenge with an installation of a boardroom for APi Group of St. Paul, Minn. AVI-SPL’s design included a 165-inch diagonal HD 1080p rear projection screen at one end of the room, but all 46 people could not view it. Seven Sharp 46-inch 1080p LCD flat panels around the table, three with automated swing arms, did the job.

SITTING COMFORTABLY: THE CHAIRS
As with the table, chairs need to be specified according to use. In a formal conference room, high-quality leather may be appropriate, but in a daily working conference room, cloth may be a more practical choice, since it’s less costly to repair should it become damaged.

Chair ergonomics are important for keeping people comfortable during long meetings. Office furniture manufacturer Steelcase of Michigan has research indicating that people frequently modify postures when seated for a long time. In fact, the most comfortable people are likely to change

A traditional conference room using coordinated furniture that’s specially designed to house and hide AV equipment. Photo courtesy of Bretford

their posture 20 to 30 times per hour, so the chair needs to provide tilt and swivel. Seats should be height-adjustable so that people of different heights can sit with their feet on the floor. A comfortable attendee will pay more attention than an uncomfortable one.

CONFERENCE ROOM WORKHORSE:
THE CREDENZA
“Credenzas are a great way to hide electronic equipment,” says Bruce McCullough, president of Arkansas-based Sound-Craft Systems. “Also driving sales of credenzas is that videoconferencing is filtering down to smaller companies wanting to save on travel. With airfare, car rental, gas, and meals, it makes more sense to videoconference with the whole team.”

A flat-panel monitor on top of a credenza becomes the focus during a videoconference, and McCullough says some integrators are even requesting hutches with crown molding tops to further beautify the install.

Of course, just any credenza won’t do. A credenza holding AV equipment must provide ventilation, and lots of it. A credenza needs to deal with cable management easily and it has to be just the right width and depth to house equipment. It may need a sensor on the outside to handle IR commands, and it may need sound proofing so that whirring fans don’t disrupt meetings. It should also be accessible from the back for easy servicing. But put your refreshments elsewhere: food and drink on top of electronic components can result in quite a disaster.

FOCUS ON THE SPEAKER: THE LECTERN
Presenters are better seen when standing at a lectern, and today’s lecterns offer more than just a place to put papers. They are height-adjustable to accommodate the shortest women and tallest men. Many have built-in microphones, touchpanel control, computer inputs, a laptop well, cable wells, connectivity plates, monitor wells or extendable or articulating monitor mounts, the monitor, and focused lighting.

Sound-Craft has a smart approach to manufacturing lecterns. “The work surfaces are removable by just unscrewing them,” McCullough says. When lecterns need updating with different cutouts or mounts, Sound-Craft simply sends new ones that the integrator can replace in the field. “We just provided 22 new surfaces for lecterns at Brooklyn College,” he says.

MOBILE AV: THE CARTS
Although most AV gear is permanently installed these days, carts are still often used in conference rooms. Why? Mobility. Carts keep rooms clutterfree and help attain maximum use of each AV component.

Mike Skinner, CEO of Ontario, Canada-based Video Furniture International, points to videoconferencing as one application where carts offer advantages.

“Portable videoconference carts shine in today’s internet environment,” he says. “No longer are systems restricted to single-room usage. Simply roll the system from room to room, plug in your network connection and a power source, and you’re up and running.”

Skinner says freedom from mounting is another major advantage. “Bear in mind that, when you mount screens, it involves a lot more than just putting mounts on walls. You have to hide cables in the wall and reroute power as well. Lots of today’s offices utilize metal wall studs that require special hardware to support heavy plasma or LCD screens; this is not the case with cart applications.”

Skinner says his company provides carts with single- and dual-screen mounts, mounts for a camera or set-top codec, in a variety of roll-about styles, including a wood-grained credenza finish. A variety of storage is offered within the carts, from 19-inch EIA rack rails to shelves.

Carts are even used as mobile administration stations. Some rooms have fixed operator stations, but some companies wheel an admin cart in and out. This approach allows the end-user to buy one station and use it in various locations rather than having to duplicate the AV — a huge cost savings.

As with most conference room furniture designed for AV, not just any cart will suffice. Carts need to be resistant to tipping. UL-listed carts ensure a cart can handle equipment of a certain size and weight. The shape of the cart is important, too. The wider the cart, the more the equipment can be placed in the center of gravity, meaning the cart is more likely to stay upright. Other stability considerations are safety straps and locking casters or wheels.

Carts are still used for hospitality. Food and drinks can be wheeled in during breaks. The difference now is that furniture manufacturers make the wheels very quiet in order to not disturb the meeting.

AV FURNITURE: A SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT
AV furniture resembles regular furniture in appearance only. The nuances are many, and a well-conceived AV installation allows meetings to run smoothly and leaves a good impression of the professionalism of a company. “A furniture company’s knowledge of custom hardware and mounting mechanisms is crucial,” says DeZess of AVS. “It’s important that we have a high trust level in their design and that they understand exactly what we do. It makes our job easier and the system that much better.”

Denise Harrison, a writer and marketing communications consultant, has managed publications in a variety of industries, including commercial and consumer audiovisual. Got a comment? …