The technology exists to transform office-based meeting rooms. But for now, enterprises are still struggling with basic issues like optimizing utilization and achieving real interoperability among different room systems.
That was my takeaway from an Enterprise Connect 2026 discussion featuring analyst and AV veteran David Danto of TalkingPointz, Rich Bayes of Cisco, and videoconferencing consultant Andy Howard of Howard Associates. The three engaged topics ranging from room equipment standardization to a future where AI enables ubiquitous camera and microphone placement, to create a truly immersive environment.
More companies are evolving toward a cookie-cutter environment, standardizing their meeting room builds, Howard said. (This was also the topic of a separate session delivered by Peter Kolak, an enterprise user who offered specific details.) “The hardware is less of a consideration now,” Howard said. Instead of dwelling on camera and microphone choices, IT/AV pros are focusing more on which platforms are being used in rooms, and whether to enable BYOD for end user ease of use. There’s also the continuing need to make sure the underlying network can support enterprise-grade audio and video performance in the rooms.
Bayes pointed to a development I subsequently heard about in additional sessions and in conversations at EC2026: Enterprises are still working through the need to right-size conference rooms for the ways employees use them. There are still many examples where 1 or 2 people will be in a conference room sized for 8 – either because the rest of the office doesn’t have enough small private spaces, or lacks more modestly-sized video-enabled spaces. AI can help with this problem, as long as it’s used appropriately, as systems can use AI to track how many people attend each meeting in a room, and thus report on utilization.
But it’s possible to get more ambitious with AI technology, Danto suggested that as hardware gets further commoditized, eventually microphones and cameras can be embedded in elements of room décor such as picture frames and ceiling tiles. AI-driven systems can then combine all these devices’ input to produce the best possible audio and video. In theory, this could reduce if not eliminate the need to do audio engineering for a meeting room.
For that matter, flooding the room with cameras and microphones in this way, then mixing it all on the back end with AI, could eliminate the “bowling alley” effect of having one camera view at the end of the room, or even tabletop devices shooting close-ups of the active speaker. As Bayes put it, “What is the front of the room anymore?”
The benefits aren’t just aesthetic, according to Bayes. Giving more natural, immersive views of a meeting room, with directional audio, can make the experience of remote work less taxing than it may be today, as AI helps cut down on, “micro-fatigue elements that add up over the course of the day,” he said.
Of course AI was a huge part of most discussions at Enterprise Connect 2026, not just video and meeting rooms. Starting with next week’s newsletter, we’ll drill down on some of the key insights we saw at the show in this critical area.
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