Many of us constantly monitor the Kastle Office Occupancy Reports that come out weekly. And, for the last two years, there hasn’t been much to report. But, this past month — and this week — set new records in recent years. In fact, we hit a post-pandemic record for office occupancy in the top 10 metro areas of the U.S. And, as of the end of January, 54.2% of office workers were back in the office. This is a record not seen since March 4, 2020, when the barometer set an in-office index of 100% — those who were historically working in an office were in their offices.

But, before we celebrate too much, remember, this means that about 55% of those of us who used to come to an office on a daily basis are back in the office. Thus, 45% aren’t. It looks like they won’t be going back. So, if you’re in the hybrid working market for supplying products and services for the home-based worker — companies like Logitech, Shure, Jabra, Zoom, Microsoft (Teams) and a host of other top USB-based camera and mic companies, you’re happy. If you are focused on exclusively the in-office worker — like the majority of the ProAV market is — this means that the market potential has been reset.

Back before the pandemic, I would regularly be in meetings with display and collaboration board companies that would talk about the potential of their market growth being huge as figures like “only 20% of the world’s meeting rooms have displays” would be thrown around. I am sure the data was accurate at the time. But now, as only 55% of workers — in the U.S. at least — have decided to return to the office, that means that we could be nearing saturation of such technology. Meaning, those spaces that do have collaboration boards and LCDs hanging on the walls could nearly be filled now. Then, like higher ed and K-12, we would be in a recurring upgrade cycle rather than a continuous expansion mode.

Logitech chased the at-home worker better than any company on earth in 2020 and 2021, growing sales (not just stock value) over $2 billion in that time period (and nearly doubling the size of the company by 2022). Logitech became a much bigger factor than they were before. Heck, in the summer of 2020, some people were paying upwards of $600 for its Brio camera (the one with the $199 price tag) due to supply issues. Logitech rocked-it and caught up quickly and led the at-home USB-camera market. And, Shure did the same with its MV7 mic – a microphone that used to be relegated to podcasters that’s now a regular for many, many people just joining Zoom and Teams – probably the mic I see on calls the most.

So, we’ll need to get creative in ProAV. Yes, there will still be plenty of demand for replacement monitors, projectors and collaboration boards as hundreds of thousands of meeting rooms need refreshing. But selling something new doesn’t have to mean selling LEDs — though, of course, that’s one option. And let’s be honest, LEDs would be awesome!

Why not be more creative?

Why only have ONE display in the room? And, STOP mounting collaboration boards to the wall — that is not how we need to use them. A collaboration board should be on a cart or on wheels and be an addition to any meeting room or space. They made to be flexible and movable as an accessory to the meeting room, not as the primary display. In a perfect world (or getting close to it), this means we’d have access to two displays in the room: more display space, more places to put things like slides, spreadsheets, data, etc.

Why stop there?

Like I said, the scenario above is close to ideal — but to me, perfection means fully surrounding rooms with displays. As video collaboration companies recognize the value of truly integrating the other 45% — the remote workers — they’ll soon launch solutions that bring them into the room at life-size, as separate feeds, making them equal participants alongside those physically present.

Right now, Microsoft’s latest Teams Rooms setup puts remote attendees in the so-called Front Row. It’s good — but it could be great. Why settle for tiny, squeezed-in video feeds shoved beneath the content? Let’s make it magical!

Instead, why not have remote participants virtually sitting around the room on displays mounted on the side and back walls — like a “second-row” rather than on a front row. And, with spatial audio in Teams, your head and eyes will naturally turn towards them in and around the room no matter where they are sitting.

This is my vision for the future of conference and meeting rooms — one where everyone is truly equally represented. Right now, remote participants actually have a better experience than those in the room, which is ironic, considering these spaces are designed for in-person collaboration.

As we develop AI-driven camera technology that enables seamless remote participation with auto-switching and cinematic-like meetings — like Cisco’s approach, Logitech’s Seamless Switching and Huddly’s Crew feature — we’re unintentionally encouraging people to stay home.

These features are perfected for the remote participant. In a home office, I feel like I’m not missing anything as I see everyone, their facial expressions and the nuances of the meeting.

But, ironically, if I am in the room, I don’t see that in reverse. We don’t put the remote participants in the meeting as equals. Depending on your view of MS Front Row in Teams, you either see them as a lot of tiny heads in boxes in the way of the content or as leading the meeting because they are positioned at the natural head of the room where the primary display is.

Let’s change this.

Let’s rethink the room layout — distributing seating as if everyone were physically present together. Instead of cramming remote participants into a single screen, let’s position them at life-sized proportions relative to their in-room counterparts, using multiple smaller displays placed throughout the space. That’s how we achieve true meeting equity.

And, it’s a win-win. The clients will love this and it means we’re selling more technology to solve simply solve the uptime meeting equity issue. This is what were are all about. Engineering creative solutions to problems. Not just more of the same …

It’s Meeting Equity Magic.