What is a Huddle Room? – The New Meeting Space Experience

Formality is out of fashion in business – the huddle room is in

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What is a Huddle Room?
Meeting Rooms and Devices

Published: December 9, 2022

Rob Scott

Rob Scott

Publisher

What is a huddle room, and is it still relevant in today’s business collaboration environment? For years, when most people visualized a “conference room,” they automatically thought of huge spaces with bulky tables and audio equipment. However, as mobile, hybrid, and remote work has grown increasingly popular, traditional conference spaces are far from the most efficient option.

Many businesses are switching to smaller huddle room spaces, where in-office and remote workers can connect and collaborate without consuming large amounts of real estate. Huddle rooms make it quick and straightforward to engage team members in rapid, organic-feeling meetings with fewer overhead expenses.

Here’s everything today’s businesses need to know about the huddle room.

What is a Huddle Room?

Huddle rooms are small meeting spaces designed for fewer physical participants than the average boardroom meeting.

Typically, these rooms already have the hardware and software required to launch a successful collaborative conversation, such as audio and video capabilities. However, companies can also provide users with plug-and-play devices that turn virtually any office space into a huddle room. This is particularly true in the age of video bars and room kits.

Huddle rooms are ideal for last-minute meetings and less planned conversations between members of staff working in an increasingly flexible and diverse environment.

What Are the Key Features?

The same components of a huddle room are based on the business and the needs of each employee. Most of the time, the features of these rooms are separated into two areas: hardware and software. From a hardware perspective, most huddle rooms include:

  • Small furniture: A small desk and a couple of chairs might be all necessary for a basic huddle room. There’s no need for any large board tables.
  • A monitor: Monitors provide insights into video feeds from other remote and hybrid workers while providing convenient access to helpful information and features from collaborative tools like Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
  • Cameras: Most huddle rooms will already be enabled with a camera capable of capturing the entire space as efficiently as possible. In some cases, companies provide users with video bars that combine camera and audio functionality in a single plug-and-play device. Cameras can also include unique framing and AI features.
  • Audio tools: If not built into the camera systems, audio devices such as microphones, headsets, and speakers may need to be included separately. These solutions often come with noise and echo-canceling features to reduce disruption.
  • A computer, tablet, or control panel: Huddle rooms will also have a laptop, tablet, or control panel that users can access to adjust settings within the meeting. Some solutions allow users to control the meeting using a phone.

From a software perspective, a huddle room may feature the following:

  • HD Video and voice: Enhanced voice and video settings to improve the quality of the conversations between different members of staff and their contacts.
  • Meeting tools: Meeting tools and team collaboration software like Microsoft Teams allow for screen sharing, whiteboarding, chat messaging, scheduling, and even real-time translation and transcription in meetings.
  • AI enhancements: AI enhancements such as live call transcription tools, translation features, recording, and analytics features can enhance the quality of the meeting. They also improve the productivity of team members in a meeting room.
  • Security: Most huddle room solutions have software designed to protect and encrypt the information shared in a meeting. Software solutions may also include password protection for meetings, advanced host controls, and waiting rooms.

The Benefits

Huddle rooms offer companies a powerful and cost-effective way to connect employees in various environments through the internet. These solutions are ideal for businesses with limited space and those in the hybrid and remote working world.

Some of the biggest benefits of huddle rooms in the modern meeting age include the following:

  • Simple setup: Most huddle rooms come with plug-and-play hardware and direct connectivity to team collaboration software. This ensures anyone in the business can arrange, schedule, and manage a meeting without waiting for experts to be available.
  • Space savings: Beyond hiring large spaces for board rooms and huge meetings, companies can minimize their real estate costs with huddle rooms. Virtually any small space can be transformed into a huddle room with the right combination of software and hardware. This makes it easy to keep costs as low as possible.
  • Collaboration: Huddle rooms provide an easy way for hybrid and remote workers to stay connected with in-office team members. It’s easy to start a quick chat or conversation at the touch of a button without waiting weeks for a room to be available.
  • Productivity: Most software will work seamlessly with the collaboration tools and software business users are already accessing. For instance, it’s possible to buy huddle room technology which works with Microsoft Teams, so users can access productivity features such as screen sharing and transcription when in meetings.
  • Time-saving: people don’t necessarily need to reserve them before their use. Employees don’t have to stop what they’re doing and schedule meetings days in advance. This makes it easier to launch conversations when staff members need to connect and quickly collaborate on various topics.

Are they a Good Idea?

As the workplace environment continues to evolve rapidly, fewer companies find themselves needing to use expensive  environments for meetings. Huddle rooms provide business leaders with access to a relatively cheap solution. They boost collaboration and communication between team members and customers.

Easy-to-use and setup, they are ideal for companies from all industries and backgrounds. As the demand for hybrid and remote work continues, they will continue gaining popularity.

 

 

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