Harnessing the Hottest Tools for your Training Rooms
In most companies, the conference room is a technology-free island. Most conference rooms consist of a table, a few chairs, overhead lights, and perhaps a whiteboard. But meeting rooms are changing as Video Conferencing technology evolves… and no area of business will be left behind.
After a digital projector, the next step in board room technology is the electronic whiteboard. The conventional dry erase board has been a board room standard for years. But it has limitations which really are seen when compared to some of the Video Conferencing technology available today. For one, everything written on a white board is temporary, and must be erased if you want to leave room to write more. This means that, if the meeting notes will have to be referred to later, one person will have to be assigned to take notes from the board. But this old-fashioned system is a thing of the past. Electronic whiteboards eradicate the need to take notes by hand, as all that is put on their surface can be printed (as with Copyboards), stored as digital information (as with Peripheral boards), or even be arranged, grouped, and interacted with (Interactive Whiteboards).
A new edition of the electronic white board is the PDP, or Plasma Display Panel. A plasma display panel is essentially a huge, but much slimmer, flat-screen IP TV or computer monitor. PDPs are normally 42″ to 50″, and have a very clear, intense screen, making them great for video conferencing. Due to the fact that PDPs are a relatively new addition to the Video Conferencing market, they’re also very expensive, ranging from about $8,000 to $20,000. For around $4,000 more, companies can invest in an interactive overlay for the PDP. This is a somewhat small investment when compared to the price of the PDP and when considering the many practical uses of a PDP with an interactive overlay. An interactive overlay will put in touch sensibility and annotation abilities, permitting you to use your PDP just like an interactive whiteboard.
