Zynga Zoom Room
Zynga, the San Francisco-based mobile game company that created Farmville and Words with Friends, needed a workspace for employees in their Carlsbad, California office to communicate on Zoom with employees in the San Francisco headquarters as well as remote offices across the globe. Zynga’s games are played by hundreds of thousands of people each month and have 31 million mobile users.
Turning a break room into a high-performance conference room
The company decided to convert a large break room with tall ceilings and many windows into a Zoom Room for an easy-to-use and seamless video conferencing experience. The goal of the project was a turnkey finished room without any added costs that allowed Zynga employees to focus on their own business instead of micromanaging the project.
Because the design of the room did not lend itself to effective video conferencing, Zynga partnered with David Carroll Associates to create a Zoom Room that would allow teams to easily collaborate with each other regardless of their location. Zynga decided to work with DCA because of their extensive experience with conference room technology and status as an authorized Zoom Room integrator.
To manage the remote project effectively, DCA hired a subcontractor in the Carlsbad area and also visited the site to collect dimensions and photographs. The room already contained a wall-mounted television, simple camera, microphone, and speakers that did not provide enough amplification for the size of the room.
Completing the project quickly using the right equipment for the space
Zynga needed the room completed quickly and with as minimal disruption to their space as possible. DCA worked with Zynga’s schedule and spent three days on-site installing and testing the equipment. Because of the dimensions of the room, DCA decided to use ceiling speakers instead of the typical box speakers, which would provide uneven sound throughout the room. The six ceiling speakers evenly distributed the sound throughout the appropriate locations in space.
While on-site, DCA installed a QSC DSPS equipment rack, which is more powerful and faster than the base DSP model. After testing the system in the space, DCA decided to use an out-port DSP product with nine suspended microphones feeding into the console instead of a built-in application program. Because the room had no sound life for sound reinforcement, DCA configured the DSP and the microphones with power amps. Zynga employees use an iPad to control the Zoom Room console, connected by a USB interface to an Apple computer.
After the installation, Zynga was able to immediately begin using their new Zoom Room. Employees are able to more easily collaborate with each other using the high-performing conference room. And instead of adjusting audio equipment, troubleshooting technical issues or struggling to hear each other, employees can get right down to business — developing games that keep people connected with each other.
