Hybrid meeting rooms: The office of the future
Get the best of both worlds, combining in-person and remote gatherings in one of ICTS's modern facilities.
By now, we’re all used to virtual meetings using technologies like Microsoft Teams. Some of us love being able to connect and collaborate from the comfort of our homes or other locations. Others prefer the warmth and human touch that in-person interaction brings.
With the technology available to us, we can bring the best of both worlds together – giving people a chance to meet in ways that work most effectively for them, while maximising productivity.
With this in mind, UCT is exploring the concept of ‘the office of the future’ – modern working environments and models that allow flexibility while also maintaining presence for co-workers. This sort of model allows colleagues to work together whether they are in the same physical room or not.
As we proceed on this journey into a new kind of work environment, ICTS has set up modern spaces where colleagues on campus can work together in a physical meeting room, while those working from home can join in remotely.
What's on offer?
ICTS offers three rooms that any UCT department can book and use for meetings and other collaborative activities.
These rooms are located in the ICTS on Main building, at 7 Main Road, Mowbray.
You can use these rooms for:
- Hybrid meetings via Teams
- In-person only meetings
- Presentations (with or without your own laptop)
- Drawing from scratch or on existing images or documents, via an electronic whiteboard (with the ability to save your drawings)
The rooms include the following:
| ICTS COLLABORATION ROOM 304 | ICTS BOARDROOM 315 |
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ICTS Collab Space 121 | |
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What are the benefits?
- Experience the solution at no cost: While many of us would like a fully loaded modern meeting room in our building, the reality is that this kind of setup is costly. With this pilot, any UCT department has the opportunity to experience the technology. Later on, more of these rooms may be rolled out to various buildings around campus – either for departments’ exclusive use, or shared usage.
- Optimal audio: While many spaces on campus might not have good acoustics, these meeting rooms have great audio setups – with sophisticated microphones which capture the voices of team members seated around the table.
- Flexibility to suit your circumstances: Let’s face it: When you need to host a meeting with a large group, it can be a real mission trying to get a venue on campus. Lecture theatres are usually booked out for academic activities, and other spaces are often not big enough to accommodate your entire audience. A modern meeting room helps to alleviate these venue constraints, because you can fit in a generous number of people in the physical room, and many more can join in virtually. Meeting attendees may also have constraints that make it difficult for them to attend in-person meetings. Plus, travelling to campus for a meeting takes up valuable working time; not to mention petrol.
- Fully operational during loadshedding: The equipment in the rooms run on backup power, so even if loadshedding strikes, you can continue your meeting uninterrupted.
How to book
To book one of the ICTS modern meeting rooms:
Note: Please do NOT book the meeting directly from the meeting room equipment or calendar. This will help you to avoid issues when recording, as the rooms are restricted for recording and files saved on the machines are auto deleted. Instead, please follow the procedure below.
- In your Outlook calendar, click New Meeting.
- Set up your meeting by adding a title, the attendees, date and time, and any other details in the main window.
- In the Location field, leave the Microsoft Teams Meeting entry as is (to allow remote attendance), then add the relevant room as one of the attendees:
- ICTS Collaboration Room 304; or
- ICTS Boardroom Room 315; or
- ICTS Collab Space 121
- If you will be running a video conference using the room’s screen (i.e. you will NOT use your own laptop), add the relevant room as a meeting participant:
- For a Teams meeting: In the Required attendees field, enter: ICTS COLLABORATION ROOM 304 (ICTS-Collaboration-Room@uctcloud.onmicrosoft.com) or ICTS BOARDROOM 315 (ICTS-Boardroom-Roomuctcloud.onmicrosoft.com) or ICTS Collab Space (ICTS-Collab-Space@uctcloud.onmicrosoft.com).
- Click Send.
What happens next?
Once your meeting is accepted, an email will be sent to you with instructions on what to do when you arrive at the ICTS building, how to set up and use the video conferencing equipment, and support details.
Refreshments
You must arrange your own catering, but ICTS can provide coffee, tea, or water for your meeting at a fee. The fee (venue hire plus beverages) is R55 per person. To book these refreshments, please send a request to ICTS Business Services (icts-businessservices@uct.ac.za). Please provide the following information:
- Department
- Contact name and contact information
- Fund and cost centre
- Meeting date
- Start and end times
- Number of people
- Serving times
ICTS will then send you a proforma invoice. Once received, please:
- Pay via journal (FM014): CREDIT Fund: 004860 | Cost Centre: ITS1000 | GL: 680
Send a copy of the signed form to ICTS Business Services (icts-businessservices@uct.ac.za)
See it in action
For a closer look at the modern meeting rooms, check out our promotional video below:
Remote video URL
