Upgrade Your Conference Room TV in 2018

As the years go on, we are continuously finding ways to impress our clients. As humans, we are consistently wanting more. In this instance, we want our communication and presentation skills to shoot sky high, while companies can hold conferences. We’re sure if you think, there are easily five ways you can improve your office’s display. Here are five points we thought about:

  1. Cost may not be your biggest concern, but value might be. Despite both being feature-rich, modern flat-panel displays tend to be more expensive, especially when scaling up. The average 84-inch flat panel display costs approximately six times more than an Epson projector capable of projecting a 100-inch display. If you are considering the return on investment, then cost per inch of screen size is certainly a factor.
  1. Ease of use comes into consideration when you are buying technology with multiple users in mind. Consider the amount of times a meeting starts with half of the participants working out how to get the presentation up onto the screen and the other half searching for the right remote. This not only loses the presenter time, but also their credibility and sense of professionalism. By utilising software such as Network Projection, Multi-PC Projection, or the iProjection App, you can present the content you want to display quickly and easily via a simple user interface.
  1. Think about the overall size and shape of a room. Long boardroom tables with screens placed at one end are fine for those sitting nearest – but what about those at the other end of the table? The advantage of projectors is their scalable display size; this allows creating the optimum viewing experience to meet the varying requirements of rooms of all sizes – key to getting the most from meetings and presentations. While flat-panel display vary in size, the more affordable devices cannot deliver the same level of versatility and the very large and steeply priced models do not justify the investment.
  1. Who is the screen for? Whether it is the automatic adjustment to the ambient light, reduced pixilation or providing clearer text and more detailed images, projectors can be easier on the eye than flat panel displays. Users in financial services, engineering or any industry in which intricate detail is important are likely to see the value in bigger display sizes, but what about other departments? Content legibility for everyone in the room is necessary for all business presentations to connect with audience, create impact or just to deliver a message, so whether your screen is for accountants or creatives, you need to consider the appropriate screen size for a consistent user experience.
  1. It is worth considering the issue of flexibility. In a business environment, you are likely to want to display two different input sources simultaneously, such as video conferencing applications. Majority of large, flat panel displays can only show a single input source at any given time; Sliding split screen feature of our interactive projectors allows you to split you viewing space, displaying two input sources with no border in between at the same time. You can even move the slider to re-size your screen areas as you use the applications.

Contact CCS Mid-Atlantic today if you’re interested in upgrading your conference room’s display.

source article: Epson’s Upgrades ; source image: The Solid Signal Blog

The Importance of Presentation Technology in the Classroom

When it comes to teaching in an educational setting, educators are constantly looking for ways to reach and entice their students. One way to do this is by integrating presentation technology into their classrooms and lesson plans. Presentation technology exists to help teachers bring content to life and presents information in a way that better resonates with students. Some educators take their presentations to the next level, while others prefer more old-fashioned methods. By using presentation technologies in the classroom you can go “beyond the PowerPoint” with your class. This blog outlines the importance of presentation technology in the K12 and higher education settings as well as the benefits it can bring to teachers and students alike.

ClearTouch, InFocus and Epson are three brands that make our lives easier by introducing new, time-saving technology. On the left you’ll see an image of a set of SMART board displays. SMART displays are great learning tools that increase student engagement tremendously. As far as K-12 goes, SMART boards, ClearTouch displays, JTouch displays, and Epson interactive projectors are currently offering multiple ways for new, young students to begin to love to learn.

In 2006, SMART Technologies, Inc. reported that there were more than 250,000 SMART interactive displays installed in classrooms across the globe. Can you even begin to imagine what that number looks like now? JTouch displays are similar to SMART interactive displays, as they both allow for increased student engagement and a higher level of new-student passion for what they’re learning. An interactive display allows for students to learn at their own pace, in an immediate way. As an audiovisual integrator, we are able to help provide K12 classrooms with new technologies that give students new, innovative learning tools to help them connect with and appreciate what they are learning.

In higher education settings, the main focus is communication. With laser projectors by Panasonic, Sony, NEC, Hitachi, Christie & Epson, educators will be properly prepared to present information in a professional, transparent way. High quality displays help with graphics arts majors, and programs like TeamViewer shown on products such as the NEC ThinkHub allow for college undergrads to actively collaborate on projects with their instructors and fellow students. While we obviously think audio visual technologies are great, research has shown that “a campus with new innovative, educational technology allows for >50% increased student innovative reasoning skills, and higher communication skills between students and faculty.”

As a whole, technology greatly changes the way information is presented, taught and experienced in both colleges and K-12 settings. Text that was once only available in a hard copy book is now readily available via ebook on a tablet device. At local Charter schools all around the United States, children are now prompted to BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device. Technology is constantly changing and advancing as each year passes. CCS Presentation Systems stays at the forefront of these changes to provide you with the knowledge and guidance to integrate it into your daily lessons. As a company, we have witnessed the everlasting effect that immediate access to technology at an early age, in an education setting, can have on up and coming scholars. Contact us today and revitalize your classroom with affordable, innovative education technology! Your students will thank you, trust us!

Contact CCS New England today and get your classroom motivated to learn through Presentation Technology!

photo credit: Chicago Policy Review

How To Choose The Right Audio Visual Furniture?

Businesses take their conference room designs serious and for all the right reasons. It is in these spaces that they present ideas to investors and complete critical collaborations. For these reasons, they need to design these areas to accommodate large groups comfortably. The following is an assessment of what applies when Choosing the right Audio Visual Furniture.

Review the Overall Design for the AV System

The overall design must fit within the space appropriately. It must provide comfortable seating for all visitors to prevent a negative experience. It must also provide clear walkways for these visitors to reduce common liabilities. The design cannot present cluttered spaces or ineffective communications. The visitors should be close together without feeling crowded. The designer will take these factors into account when customizing the space.

Ensuring Visibility for All Participants

The seats must be positions in a manner that heightens visibility. The visitors must have a clear view of the AV screens at all times. The furniture chosen for the space must place all visitors in an ideal position to accommodate these requirements. The seating you choose for the space must also prevent possible hindrances associated with the presenter’s actions. It cannot limit visibility at any time as it is urgent that all participants know what is going on in the area at all times for a better understanding of the

Evaluating Sound Capabilities

You need to assess the needs of the room and the needs of the attendings along with the intended purpose of the space. In extended spaces, speakers are beneficial as they provide more sound to fill the room. In some instances, you might even want to provide individual participants with the ability to adjust their own speaker volume. This prevents them from becoming overwhelmed with sound while also making sure that they hear everything occurring in the conference area.

Comfort and Style

The purpose of the furniture is to complement the space. However, seating must be comfortable without presenting conditions that could lead to too high of a relaxation level. The designer will review the space and compare it to the business owner’s individual style. A collaborative conference table also adds style and class to the room.

Your conference room design and furniture is an extension of your brand. Utilize this space to awe and inspire your visitors with a great first impression. The style chosen will define how these visitors feel about the business and its owner.

AV Carts

An AV cart can be a vital piece of furniture for your space. It enables you to move items around the room more efficiently. They also provide convenience for the presenter and prevent interruptions or the flow of the meeting. This could provide the business owner with more efficient business operations as well.

Collaborate with Us!

Traditional workspaces are out — collaborative ones are in! At CCS we offer a full range of audiovisual systems that are perfect for transitioning your business environment into a collaborative workspace for 2018!

What is a collaborative workspace?

Maybe you already think of your business as having a collaborative workspace. Until recently, the definition pretty much meant to schedule meetings with several people in conference rooms or other formal meeting spaces.

Today, the collaboration process is much more informal thanks to technology. Now, meetings can be held at times and ways that are convenient for all participants. At CCS, we’re making that possible through the AV equipment we integrate and install at your company.

Bottom line, many businesses are rethinking the way their workspace is laid out and are looking for ways to take advantage of new technologies and ideas. The traditional conference room may soon become a thing of the past.

Collaborative workspace today!

Technology has allowed employees to be mobile. Fortune 1000 companies around the world are discussing how to maximize these new work trends.

Why waste money on desks that are seldom used? Instead, create an environment equipped with layouts, technologies, and services designed to improve the overall performance!

For example, Google’s new campus was designed to maximize chance encounters between employees. These encounters can be powerful but are often unrecognized.

For this to happen, workplaces need a technology infrastructure that supports mobile workers. For example, some companies have a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) to work policy.

Other companies, like Facebook, are adopting “hot-desking.” It’s a concept in which there are no assigned offices or cubicles. These spaces can also be easily transformed for different tasks.

Another new concept is the “huddle room,” designed to accommodate up to five people. Instead of table and chairs, the room features armchairs and other casual furniture, Wi-Fi access, audio, video and display technologies.

“Brainstorming spaces” are also becoming popular. The goal is to ignite creative thinking with collaborative technologies such as portable seats, tables, easels, virtual whiteboards, video conferencing systems, adjustable lighting and widescreen displays.

What CCS Projects can do for your business

CCS is a leading, full-service audio visual integration company. Services include design, engineering, integration, installation, service and professional training for hundreds of state-of-the-art products.

CCS works with an extensive list of manufacturers to outfit your space with the correct products to meet your needs. Products such as digital whiteboards, video and audio conferencing equipment, collaborative boards, furniture, digital signage, video walls, projectors, and screens are just a few of the solutions CCS can provide.

These are all solutions that enhance daily meetings, regardless if it’s a meeting to share information, a decision-making one or a brainstorming session. No matter the size or complexity of the install, CCS has you covered.

Contact us today and let us help your business flourish!

Audio/Video over IP for Businesses

Audio and video are an important part of businesses these days. Most restaurants use digital signage to catch the interest of customers and show off their latest promotions in style. The displays in the lobby could be showing the local news or other tailored content that’s appropriate for everyone present. Advertisements from competing businesses can be eliminated by showing only the content the business owner pays for. All of this is possible with Audio/Video Over IP. Unlike using older standards such as local television services, business owners can pay for a packaged deal from their AV over IP service provider for their own content.

New Technology Means New Solutions

Not long ago, business owners would have to pay for an entire package from their local cable provider to show the latest games and shows. The average business owner was paying thousands of dollars in fees thanks to licensed content and hidden fees. Content streaming is a much more cost effective way to handle entertainment in a business. By using networked AV, business owners can replace all the cables behind their displays with a wireless node or appliance. Digital video content can be streamed over the network either from a computer or from a larger appliance that holds the video content. With the right appliances, 4K sixty frames per second video content can be shared instantly to any screen on the network.

Manufacturer’s such as Kramer Electronics offer incredibly powerful appliances that allow video and audio sharing from anywhere in the world. Content can be uploaded to the cloud and instantly shared with any display or appliance on the network. Appliances are getting smaller yet more powerful. Instant compression and streaming even make it possible to share high-resolution video over wireless networks with limited bandwidth.

Flexibility and Power All in One

Service providers such as CCS Presentation Systems are happy to help business owners enrich their locations with multimedia and advanced AV networking. There are no limits to how these videos can be used. Employees can be trained and shown exactly how to perform their job. Customers can watch their favorite meal come together in style on a digital display menu. Entertainment can be played at each table either from a streaming service or from a list on videos stored on site. There are numerous ways to create a multimedia rich location.

Flexibility is what makes AV over the network such a great option. Business owners don’t need to invest in expensive server boxes, having a new network installed, or even replace any of their displays or TV sets. Switching every display in the location is just a matter of installing a video node or video appliance. These devices come together easily, work great in high-resolution, and they also work wirelessly. All those messy cables that cluttered up the store can be removed. Business owners can talk to their local CCS Presentation Systems office for help or to schedule a consultation to find out just what kind of amazing AV applications are available now.

Does Your Classroom Have Cubelets?

Inspire a love of learning through play. Cubelets® robot blocks make it fast and easy to engage children as young as four in learning by building robots. There’s no wrong way to build with Cubelets, so it is remarkably easy to transform these blocks into brilliant bundles of robotic curiosity.

Cubelets Blockly is the perfect platform to learn to program your own robots!

This simple and powerful visual programming tool gives you full control over your Cubelets® robot blocks. Create countless new robots and behaviors with the power of code. Cubelets Blockly is a FREE coding environment for your Cubelets® robot blocks. Blockly, a visual programming language originally developed by Google, forms the backbone of this powerful learning tool available for macOS and Windows.

Supported by new curriculum:

http://www.modrobotics.com/education/#lessonplans

Contact CCS Presentation Systems for more information on Cubelets and more!

Julie Solomon, [email protected]

The Small Conference Room/Huddle Space and Digital Signage Event

CCS Presentation Systems is excited to bring you the Small Conference Roome/Huddle Space & Digital Signage Event we’ll be hosting in November! CCS Mid-Atlantic will be hosting the event at the Sheraton Reston Hotel, in Virginia.We’re excited to see the following manufacturers involved in the event: Crestron, InFocus, Vaddio, Da-Lite, Chief, Spectrum Industries, NEC, Shure, QSC, Almo and Cambridge Sound. CCS Mid-Atlantic will be hosting the event starting at 10am, November 8th, and will cease hosting it at 2pm that day. So come on down AV consultants, audiovisual industry leaders, and techies alike! We do ask one thing from you… If you plan on going to the event, please RSVP on our Facebook event, which you’ll be linked to below.

We’re excited to see the following manufacturers involved in the event: Crestron, InFocus, Vaddio, Da-Lite, Chief, Spectrum Industries, NEC, Shure, QSC, Almo and Cambridge Sound

The address for the hotel is:

11810 Sunrise Valley Dr.,

Reston, Virginia 20191

Small Conference Room

Small conference rooms and regular sized conference rooms are key to business development. Businesses need forms of technology within their conference rooms, in order to optimize the time they spend collaborating.

Huddle Space

Huddle spaces are great because of their ability to make any conversation more intimate. Businessmen and women who form small groups can achieve much more, than being at a long rectangular table where they’ve got to wait to speak. There’s a huddle space perfect for every office and business. CCS Mid-Atlantic has a design team that absolutely loves designing new huddle spaces for business owners.

Digital Signage

Digital signage is the best way to make use of space. You can turn just about any display into a digital sign, to provide foot traffic for your business with some guidance. Digital signage can also be used to promote certain products, while you utilize other forms of advertisement for more business-centered products.

 

AV Consulting Done Right With CCS Presentation Systems

Audiovisual technology (AV) has the power to make or break a space. How many times have you attended a meeting or conference and the speaker was unintelligible or the call/video was dropped? How many times have you given a presentation and the device to show it on wasn’t working or was too complicated to use? Too many. When it comes time to integrate new technologies into your space you want to work with a company that is qualified and knows what they’re doing. That’s where CCS comes in; We run the AV consulting game.

CCS Presentation Systems, New England’s leading Audio Visual Integrator, has been providing AV consulting, integration, design, engineering, installation, sales and training services to its customers for over 20 years.

We know the AV industry is different than most. There is not a one-fits-all solution for integrating technology. For years we have worked with the Corporate, Government and Education markets and have learned that each market has its own set of needs and requirements.

Corporate clients tend to want to improve productivity, increase collaboration and deliver their messages. Education customers strive for ease of use and increased interaction/collaboration among students. Retail venues want to make shopping more fun so people stay longer, spend more and enjoy their shopping experience.

Technology, when designed correctly and in line with your vision, can accomplish all that. Our AV consultants take pride in providing clients with the correct solution for their needs. We provide clear communications, innovative solutions, and excellent project management to deliver a completed system on time and on budget.

Our consultation process is simple. The first step is to contact us and tell us about your project ideas and plans. We then review the approach, ask questions and make recommendations accordingly. From there, we create a design for the space and work with you for approval. Once approved, we schedule the installation and begin the transformation process.

When your project is complete, we make sure to stay connected to ensure you are satisfied and go over any questions you may have. Training can also be provided upon request. When you work with CCS you are working with a company that stays with you through the entire process and afterwards.

Let us help you transform your space. Not sure where to start? Start with a phone call/email that outlines your upcoming project. Let’s get the conversation started! 978-256-2001 or [email protected].

How Affordable is Luxury Home Automation?

Have You Got The Budget For Luxury Home Automation?

Although home automation is a cool idea, most people have a perception that being able to control your lights, security, shades, music, and temperature by a touch of their mobile devices is a very expensive ordeal. It’s a fact that automating your home has been made extremely affordable due to the technological advancements and the competition between the numerous tech companies out there churning the automation products on a daily basis.
Moreover, you don’t have to be tech savvy to operate these controls. Automating a home is not a preserve of the rich anymore. In addition, you don’t have to undergo some complex training in order to start operating the automating systems in your home after installation.

How automating a home has been made affordable

The systems that the tech companies install in homes nowadays are affordable and scalable. You can start small and change options or add other systems into your home depending on your personal preferences and needs.

Since iPhone’s inception over a decade ago, people wouldn’t imagine that it could transform people’s lifestyles across the world as it has done. Millions of people currently use smartphones to navigate through their daily lives. Besides communicating, there are several functions of a smartphone that are just amazing and using it in your automation systems is just one of them.

When the first smartphone was introduced in 1992, it had a few features but it was very expensive to most people. In other words, as technology keeps advancing, services increase, and new devices emerge but prices keep going down. So, smart homeowners are slowly jumping from smartphones and embracing the technology of smart homes in this era of the Internet of Things (IoT). The automation systems are available everywhere at prices that are affordable to many.

In this app-driven world where you do almost everything using an app on your mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, it’s only reasonable that you automate your home and start getting the benefits of automating the way you live inside your home. Although automating a home might not be a consideration for many whenever they buy a new home, it’s prudent that you consider researching around for credible tech companies that can give you these conveniences that come with automating a home.

Benefits of Automation

Regardless of whether you own a vacation home or luxury home that you intend to rent out, smart home technologies should be your priority upgrade. The upgrade will boost the security and convenience of your home and make it more attractive to renters. In fact, the technologies will give renters increased comfort that they may consider as luxury amenities.

A vacation home can sit on a large portion of land for a long period without being occupied. That predisposes your home to several dangers like insecurity. Thieves target these homes because they’re guaranteed to a lot of time to conduct their burglaries.

A property that is unoccupied is also vulnerable to other problems such as a leak that goes on for an extended period unnoticed, vandalism, and other damages like mold or fire damage. Investing in automation will solve these problems for you.

With the smart security, you can keep the thieves off and it can also alert you immediately in case anything goes wrong on your property. The system motion and environmental sensors will pick up signals if anything problematic is happening on the property. On the other hand, the security cameras will let you check in whenever you want regardless of your location or time by using your mobile devices. Automating your home will also increase the value of your home in case you want to list it in the real estate market, and hence it’s an affordable investment at the end of the day.

Looking to step your home up a few notches by acquiring luxury home automation through CCS Presentation Systems? Head over to our Contact Page, and drop us a line. We’ll be in contact shortly to fully optimize the way you live in your home.

How To Go About The Wireless Presentation

Imagine that you are in a board meeting, and instead of the presenter coming before everyone gathered for the meeting opening a briefcase full of papers that pop out like biscuits from a can when he opens it. He or she begins handing out laminated copies of their vision for the project at hand. You see that they have done their best to make their wireless presentation aesthetically appealing, however all you can think about is that this presentation is only the first of many. “OMG, this is going to be a long one…” you think to yourself as the first presenter tells you to turn to page one of your pamphlet.

Believe it or not, wireless presentation could actually turn those board meetings into a pleasant experience, and not just a necessary evil or cost of doing business. If you’ve fully recovered from the previous scenario given, then take some timeout to visualize a better day, one that has been made possible by IoT and the collaborative spirit of it. Instead of you and your co-workers pouring over endless pamphlets, fishing for the best ideas, imagine a streamlined series of presentations in which everyone can display their work on a digital screen that everyone’s laptop, smartphone, and tablet can communicate with. Now everyone’s engaged instead of have a boardroom full of bored people. The following is a list of companies and their products that are designed to engender collaborative effort in the boardroom, classroom, or conference room.

Mersive Solstice

Mersive definitely has their finger on the pulse of corporate America. They understand the need to streamline the presentation and sharing of info in a meeting, and have created a platform that allows an unlimited number of devices to connect to a Solstice enabled shared display. This hastens the flow of the meeting and decision making by allowing projects to be simultaneously from devices sharing a preexisting wifi or ethernet network.

Crestron AirMedia

Crestron AirMedia has targeted not only the facilitation of collaboration in meetings, but have also put in place stoppages that reduce what they call “presentation chaos”. Their platform allows for interconnectivity of multiple devices to one centralized display, but they also incorporated a feature called moderator mode that allows for an admin to choose who will and won’t be able to present.

AMX EnZo

There isn’t much that AMX missed with their incarnation of a wireless presentation platform. However, the best feature offered by their system is the end of session purge. Any documents or files that are downloaded for your presentation are purged from the network when once your EnZo session is closed out. In a world where intellectual property is under constant threat of piracy, one can never be too careful.

Montage Display Note

While their might not be much that separates montage display from its competitors, they have the numbers posted on their website to show the positive affect that their system could have on your business. Their website boasts quantified improvements in sales, productivity, and even competitive advantage. Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t.

Extron ShareLink

Extron ShareLink is another titan in the wireless presentation field. Their product is designed for efficiency, and ease for the end user. Their platform allows for multiple users to share at once for compare and contrast applications, but also has moderator mode so that an admin can cut down on possible presentation over-inundation.

If you have not brought your boardroom, classroom, or conference room into the 21st century, then you are simply conceding the upper hand to your competition. It is highly likely that those who have already made the change to wireless presentation are getting twice as much accomplished in half the meetings. So, what are you waiting for?

Contact CCS Presentation Systems Mid-Atlantic if you want to drop us a line!