Plenty Zoom Room
Plenty, a San Francisco-based indoor farming company working to solve systemic problems in the food system, recently installed a Zoom Room for use in its Pasture conference room.
Zoom Rooms are conference rooms that are configured with the optimal hardware and software for the meeting type and space so participants encounter no technical issues. However, employees soon found that online meetings were often unproductive because participants had issues hearing each other. Meetings were also frequently interrupted due to technical issues with the audio equipment.
Plenty uses machine learning, the internet of things, big data and climate creation technology, combined with the extraordinary flavor and nutritional profiles of its heirloom seed stock, to reduce water and energy consumption. With its focus on technology, the company needs a conference room that is as forward-thinking as its work in the field. Because Plenty is currently building and scaling its operations to serve people around the world, communications with team members and partners in other locations is crucial to the farm’s mission.
“We deployed a Zoom Room solution in one of our conference rooms, but the results we were experiencing when using it were far less than satisfactory,” said a Plenty spokesperson.
Improving acoustics by upgrading the audio system
After inspecting the room and evaluating the current hardware, sound engineers from David Carroll Associates (DCA) determined that poor acoustics in the room caused the issue. Plenty hired DCA for the improvement project because they specialize in designing, installing and maintaining integrated audio, video and control systems for a wide variety of environments. DCA worked closely with the Plenty team to understand the issues and Plenty employees’ needs when using the room.
DCA recommended updating the audio system equipment to improve the sound quality. After DCA and Plenty worked together to finalize the design, the DCA team began updating the Pasture Conference Zoom Room. Over the course of three days, the DCA team transformed the Zoom Room from a frustrating experience to a state-of-the-art audio and visual experience.
DCA installed six new gooseneck microphones in the table and suspended three pendant speakers from the ceiling to improve audio quality. To manage the audio gain and acoustic echo cancellation, DCA also installed an audio DAP engine. DCA’s QSC-certified audio engineers then calibrated the microphones for optimized performance.
Instead of undertaking expensive core drilling, DCA added a Connectrac on-floor aluminum wireway, which is ADA compliant, between the table and the wall credenza to accommodate the additional wiring. After the installation was complete, the DCA team worked with Plenty on commissioning and training to ensure that employees could easily operate the equipment.
Improved productivity and effectiveness of online meetings with updated Zoom Room
Plenty employees now use the Pasture Zoom Room to hold effective and productive online meetings. The enhancements to the Zoom Room minimized acoustic reflections, and the new audio system resolved any additional audio problems. Plenty can now focus on bringing healthier and fresher produce to everyone while improving the food system instead of troubleshooting its audio equipment.
“DCA was brought in to resolve the issues we were having, and they fully delivered. The new mics, speakers and electronics eliminated the audio problems we were having, and we can now fully use the conference room as we intended,” said a Plenty spokesperson.
