A well-planned meeting room makes hybrid meetings effortless. A poorly planned one wastes the first ten minutes of every call. This guide walks through how to set up a meeting room or conference room for video, and ends with an AV checklist you can use on your own project.
1. Define how the room will be used
Start with people, not products. How many will sit in the room? Is it mostly internal video calls, client presentations, training or board meetings? Do guests need to present from their own laptops? Which platform do you use: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or both? The answers decide everything else.
2. Choose the display
Size the screen for the furthest seat. As a rule of thumb, the furthest viewer should be no more than about four to six screen-heights away. Use commercial displays rated for business use, and consider dual displays in larger rooms so remote participants and shared content can be shown side by side.
3. Get the audio right first
Remote participants forgive a soft image but not poor audio. In small rooms a video bar with beamforming microphones works well. In larger rooms, add table or ceiling microphones and a DSP to cancel echo. Treat very reflective rooms (glass, hard floors, bare walls) with acoustic panels.
4. Position the camera
Mount the camera centrally above or below the main display at seated eye level. Choose auto-framing or speaker-tracking cameras so remote attendees see whoever is talking. Wide rooms may need a wider field of view or a second camera.
5. Decide how people will join meetings
A certified Microsoft Teams Room or Zoom Room gives one-touch join from a table controller and is the most reliable option for regular use. A bring-your-own-meeting (BYOM) USB setup lets people join from their laptop on any platform. It’s flexible and cheaper, but less consistent. Our Teams Room kit guide covers the options by room size.
6. Make sharing and control simple
Add wireless presentation so guests can share without cables, and keep a single cable option as a fallback. In larger rooms a control system can combine displays, audio, lighting and blinds on one panel.
7. Plan infrastructure early
Power and network at the display wall and the table, containment for cabling, and wall strength for mounts all need planning before decorating. Your IT team should be involved, as Teams Rooms need resource accounts, licences and network access.
Meeting room AV checklist
- Room capacity, layout and main uses agreed
- Platform decided (Teams, Zoom, or BYOM)
- Display size calculated for the furthest seat
- Microphone coverage for every seat; acoustics checked
- Camera position centred at eye level; field of view suits the room
- Touch controller or join method chosen
- Wireless sharing plus a wired fallback
- Power, data and cable containment at wall and table
- Resource accounts and licences arranged with IT
- Room booking panel considered (room booking)
- User training and simple instructions in the room
- Support and updates planned (support contracts)
Want this done for you? See our meeting room AV service, or read our Teams Room planning guide.
Want your meeting rooms set up properly?
We’ll survey your rooms and give you a fixed-price design and installation quote. Or call 0330 321 6284.
Meeting room setup: FAQs
What equipment do I need for a video conference room?
At minimum: a display, a camera, microphones and speakers (often combined in a video bar), and a way to join meetings, either a certified Teams or Zoom Rooms system or a USB connection for laptops. Larger rooms add ceiling microphones, a DSP, extra cameras and room control.
Where should the camera go in a meeting room?
Directly above or below the main display, centred, at roughly eye level for seated participants. That way remote attendees see faces rather than the tops of heads, and people naturally look towards the camera.
How big should the meeting room screen be?
A common rule of thumb is that the furthest viewer should sit no more than about four to six times the screen’s height away. In practice most small rooms use 55–65-inch displays, medium rooms 75–86-inch or dual displays, and boardrooms dual large displays or projection.