About 10 years ago, when I was a freshly graduated sports coach, I had a change to lecture for a local adult athlete association. As I arrived their premises, I was a bit terrified, especially when I saw the instructions on how to use the presentation system that were simply: “use the plug”.
And it would have been that simple if only “the plug” would have fitted to my laptop. So, without any further information, I started calling for help from different places less than 5 minutes before I was supposed to start the lecture. It was frustrating to realize that all the necessary devices were there, but there was no way for me to start using them. Sadly, no one answered my calls. As additional plugs were nowhere to be found and the audience was starting to look a bit unease, I started to feel even more terrified.
Fortunately, that time I was able to dig up my inner keynote speaker (along with some bad jokes), so I managed to give a great lecture without the safety of the Powerpoint. Saved!
The subject of the lecture was “the nutrition for runner”, which I can blurry remember now, years after the occasion. The mind can surely close out unpleasant things from your memory. But what I do remember clearly, is that the arrival of visiting lecturer caused headache to both parties -and it sadly still does. The visitor is anxious about him/her using the devices not familiar to him/her while the host is worried of the laptop of the visitor working together with the existing presentation solution. And when the audience see people running around looking for a cable or something, the situation is ready to go from bad to worse.
Could we do better than this? Yes, we could.
Flexible solution for schools
Everybody -including myself- hates when something is unnecessarily difficult. Things should be easy and adaptable, and that’s why these presentations for visitors should be as simple as few adapters with a one post-it -note saying, “Just connect with one of these and you’re all set”. That would really cut the unnecessary difficulties to the minimum.
But let’s get to the origins of how the presentation solutions in different spaces are being planned. Let’s take a moment to think about a massive new school project that requires the latest technological solutions for the changing needs for the next decades.
One starts to feel a bit terrified again. In this kind of project, the competitive procurement is executed at the very beginning, so this means that the purchase orders for the different devices could be decided years before they are being used for actual learning. But is the world of technology still the same after the time has passed? What if the layout of the classroom needs to be changed for pedagogical reasons? Will all the planned solutions with wires, cables and different connectors still be valid? Or should we consider some extra cabling to every wall and place more white screens to the spaces just in case? And what about the maintenance, should we make sure that the floors can handle heavy lifters to be able to fix and adjust the projectors that are mounted to the ceilings?
Could we do better than this? Yes, we could.
I consider myself being a very down-to earth dude. I value easiness and effortlessness in everything, as we all do. This is why I can honestly say, that choosing installation free and movable Artome solution will not leave you terrified at any stage. Artome is a movable all-in-one smart furniture that combines projector, sound system and videoconferencing feature. All user needs to do to start a presentation is to connect one cable to his/her laptop (or use it wirelessly with Apple TV/Chrome Cast etc.) and the show is ready to start. That’s it.
Besides the easiness of use, also the ability to stay on time and budget are crucial in construction projects. I highly recommend doing it “the Artome style”, where you can benefit all the way from the time savings in the planning phase to the actual cabling and wiring and still be able to change the layout later if needed. All you need to decide is where you need the presentation technology and how big the screen needs to scale up. After that it’s all about making sure that you have enough white reflection surfaces (read: walls) in the spaces and the Artome products can be delivered to the spaces at the same day the building is ready for use. No need to push the purchase button years before and to get terrified if the decision will be accurate after a long period of time.
And if we want to go a little crazy, let’s tell the construction guys to spend some extra on painting a few more walls white to be used as a reflection surface and add a couple power sockets next to them. You know, just to cover the ”just in case” -needs.