Depending on your vocation, you may have very likely noticed that there is a lot more “going on” at the CNYRIC campus over the past couple of years. As we welcome more district and regional representatives back into our building(s), it felt like a good time to highlight some of the work that’s been done to our infrastructure in order to better facilitate this return to face-to-face interactions. Whether welcoming guests for informational product presentations, user groups, or simply for good old fashioned collaboration, the CNYRIC has never been busier. It's all part of the organization's push to become a regional "Knowledge Nexus" for visitors to our campus.
“Facilities improvements are always an ongoing commitment of our organization,” according to CNYRIC Assistant Director Kevin Clapp. “We also believe our organizational core value of ‘teamwork’ places a greater value on having conducive meeting spaces.”
So what does that kind of commitment look like, in practice? And is that push driven internally, or externally?
“Renovations to the meeting room spaces, in particular, were initiated due to staff feedback regarding inconsistent meeting room configurations, according to Clapp. “Staff needed to know what each room had that was unique to that space, and how to operate the equipment, which wasn’t always the most efficient approach. So, most of our conference rooms have been re-designed to have the same technology across the organization for a consistent user experience. For example: Touch displays for the smaller spaces means that staff will spend less time with meeting room setup, because they know they will have a consistent, quality experience with that technology.”
This user experience translates for visitors as well, as guests can expect a relatively seamless experience when in-room, regardless of the reason for their visit. This consistent “user experience” takes into account the “new normal” ways in which we routinely collaborate, as well.
“Two of our larger conference rooms - Superior and Ontario - also serve as locations that require some unique capabilities to address the large sound and viewing challenges not posed by smaller spaces,” said Clapp. “We expected to have the ability to virtually join these two spaces to accommodate even larger groups. We had also wanted to integrate better and more consistent cameras and sound systems, particularly due to the still-commonplace instances of the virtual meetings.”
“For the larger spaces, we’ve integrated ceiling speakers and microphones, multiple cameras, and podium controls,” added Clapp. “Touch screen displays were not really a viable option for spaces that large, so we upgraded our cameras and screens to have a more vibrant display as an alternative.”
The impact of these changes was immediate. CNYRIC Systems Consultant Judy Corgliano quickly realized the benefits of upgraded technology.
“I recently ran a hybrid* meeting and was surprised by how much better the sound and acoustics were during the meeting,” said Corigliano. “We used to utilize the devices that would ‘follow us’ around the room and the audio could sometimes be uneven. But with the new renovations the new system works much better; I liked that I could point the video toward the group, and not necessarily toward myself, without a loss in fidelity. I tend to move around a lot and talk with my hands!”
Circling back, Clapp again mentions CNYRIC core values as another driving force in the decision-making that went into these renovations.
“Four of our core values are communication, dependability, innovation, and teamwork. To have an environment that makes modern-day communication seamless in terms of collaboration amongst ourselves, our partners, or our clients is an ongoing goal for the CNYRIC, and one that should be expected from us as a technology organization,” said Clapp. “It helps us to ‘set the bar high’ for anybody who enters this building to collaborate and learn. We expect that the improvements we’ve made will continue to represent the commitment of the organization to our core values.”
*Some guests attended in-person, others virtually
“Facilities improvements are always an ongoing commitment of our organization,” according to CNYRIC Assistant Director Kevin Clapp. “We also believe our organizational core value of ‘teamwork’ places a greater value on having conducive meeting spaces.”
So what does that kind of commitment look like, in practice? And is that push driven internally, or externally?
“Renovations to the meeting room spaces, in particular, were initiated due to staff feedback regarding inconsistent meeting room configurations, according to Clapp. “Staff needed to know what each room had that was unique to that space, and how to operate the equipment, which wasn’t always the most efficient approach. So, most of our conference rooms have been re-designed to have the same technology across the organization for a consistent user experience. For example: Touch displays for the smaller spaces means that staff will spend less time with meeting room setup, because they know they will have a consistent, quality experience with that technology.”
This user experience translates for visitors as well, as guests can expect a relatively seamless experience when in-room, regardless of the reason for their visit. This consistent “user experience” takes into account the “new normal” ways in which we routinely collaborate, as well.
“Two of our larger conference rooms - Superior and Ontario - also serve as locations that require some unique capabilities to address the large sound and viewing challenges not posed by smaller spaces,” said Clapp. “We expected to have the ability to virtually join these two spaces to accommodate even larger groups. We had also wanted to integrate better and more consistent cameras and sound systems, particularly due to the still-commonplace instances of the virtual meetings.”
“For the larger spaces, we’ve integrated ceiling speakers and microphones, multiple cameras, and podium controls,” added Clapp. “Touch screen displays were not really a viable option for spaces that large, so we upgraded our cameras and screens to have a more vibrant display as an alternative.”
The impact of these changes was immediate. CNYRIC Systems Consultant Judy Corgliano quickly realized the benefits of upgraded technology.
“I recently ran a hybrid* meeting and was surprised by how much better the sound and acoustics were during the meeting,” said Corigliano. “We used to utilize the devices that would ‘follow us’ around the room and the audio could sometimes be uneven. But with the new renovations the new system works much better; I liked that I could point the video toward the group, and not necessarily toward myself, without a loss in fidelity. I tend to move around a lot and talk with my hands!”
Circling back, Clapp again mentions CNYRIC core values as another driving force in the decision-making that went into these renovations.
“Four of our core values are communication, dependability, innovation, and teamwork. To have an environment that makes modern-day communication seamless in terms of collaboration amongst ourselves, our partners, or our clients is an ongoing goal for the CNYRIC, and one that should be expected from us as a technology organization,” said Clapp. “It helps us to ‘set the bar high’ for anybody who enters this building to collaborate and learn. We expect that the improvements we’ve made will continue to represent the commitment of the organization to our core values.”
*Some guests attended in-person, others virtually
