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- Written by: Per
- Category: Design
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Sone good advice for salespeople meeting clients
It is not alway about price, cheap equipment cost more on support and frustrated users
Meeting a client is very important to make a good impression, here are some key points that sound obvious but it is my experience that not all salespeople follow them, and they give you a good start with your client.
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Arrive on time
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be prepared
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make notes (measure the room, take pictures, ask many questions)
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Keep a good dialog during the process
Let me explain the reason behind this few points:
Arriving on time, or maybe before time gives you time to get a sense of the place, imagine that your client is a big university, and you are called in to give a bid of a classroom or a auditorium, you have time to find one or more of the rooms, on campus and have a look on how they are designed, maybe they use a specific brand of loudspeakers or projectors, this is something you can ask about, when you meet the client, and it shows that you are prepared.
When you meet with the client, ask to visit the room or rooms, and make notes, make a drawing of the room, measure the length, width and height, the distance to the front row, and backrow, also note which type of ceiling it is (is it concrete or a hanging ceiling or something else) try to find out the distance below the hanging ceiling, and also if there are raceways for the cables, and if there is room for your AV cables.
It is a very good idea to take plenty of photos of the room, maybe you overlooked a detail when visiting the room or rooms, and then it is very handy to have the pictures, you also have the opportunity to ask a colleague or a technician about advice, also for the technician who is going to do the installation, it is very handy to have photos together with the description of the work he is going to do.
During the whole project it is a key to success to keep dialog with your client, specially when you run into problems, it is better to involve your client if there are any change in the project, specially with big projects it is almost impossible to avoid problems or delay, it can be AV equipment that got damaged in transport, time schedules that was not followed by other craftsman, etc.
Ask the client what the purpose of the room will be, will it be distance learning, normal classroom, meeting room, if they want a projector ask what they will show on the project/screen.
Explain to the client that it is a good idea to look at the total cost of the system, if they buy cheap components they might fail often and they might have to cancel important meeting, use time in supporting the systems, cheap components may not last for many years, so a good advice is to spend a bit more in quality components and the user design of the system to lower the support time and frustration from the users.
One example is a board room with videoconference, imagine that each time they need to use the system they have to book a technician to start up the system, and maybe spend time to get it to work, a good designed system can be used without a technician.
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- Written by: Per
- Category: Design
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Chase study - Design a classroom
In this chase study we will look into what is needed and how is the process, when you are designing a classroom, for a client.
The first thing you need is to make a needs analysis, to make sure you know what it is that the client wants. ask the client what will be the purpose of the room, or what it is they need to use the room for, don’t talk about specific equipment at this time, Examine/ask if they just need to show powerpoint, or will they need to analyse pictures, do they want wireless connection for their laptops, maybe from more than one laptop at the time.
When you are meeting with the client, you need to visit the classroom and measure it, you can use this ponts for inspiration , it is important that you know the following:
Classroom inspection points
-Which type of wall will the screen be mounted on
If you are going to mount a heavy screen, you need to know that the bracket and screws will hold the screen, also you need to know if the wall can withstand the weight, maybe you need to support the wall in some way.
-Is there power for the screen or projector
Av equipment needs power, and you might need an electrician to install power outlets, to avoid visible cables
-Is there network for the screen, or projector
If there will be videoconference it is a good idea to provide cabled network for stability, in bigger institutions they might monitor the use of the AV equipment, so network behind the screen is many times a good idea
-Distance from farthest seat, to the screen (from the back row to the screen)
You want to make sure that people can see what is going on at the screen, therefore you need to know to distance to the farthest viewer, for calculating the screen size
-Distance from front row to screen
This is to know if the closest viewer can see the screen
-Ceiling height
If you are installing a projector in the ceiling you want to know the height, if you are installing speakers you need this to calculate the spacing between the loudspeakers, if installing ceiling microphones you also need the height, it is also important for the technician installing to know if he needs a special ladder for working
-If ceiling is submerged, distance submerged ceiling to ceiling, and ceiling type
This is important if there will be ceiling speakers, or if you are ceiling mounting a projector, also remember to measure the distance from submerged ceiling to ceiling
-Measure of the room (length, width and height)
This might be the most important measure you get, when you are designing AV for a room, this information you need to decide on screen size, loudspeaker placement, placement of furnitures etc.
-Measure ambient light on the monitor
Ambient light from windows or lamps might interfere with quality of the picture, you might get reflection on a screen, og to little light when using a projector, sometimes it can be adjusted by turning off some light or using curtains
-Measure ambient noise level, is there noise from corridor or street
This is specially important if you are designing a meeting room for video conference, the microphone will pick up any noise and amplify it to the people participating, it might also disturb meetings if there is to much noise, sometimes it is better to find a another location for the room, or work on some acoustics in the room
-Take photos of the room (they are handy when designing the room)
This is one of the best tools you have when you are designing the room, sometimes we tend to over see things when we are in a room, or you can use the photos to draw placing of AV for the technician
-Which type of furniture will there be (can you mount something to or on the table)
When designing a meeting room, you might want to place a control panel on the table, and have the cables coming up through a cable hole, or you might want the cable to come the same way, ask the client if that is possible, and decide where you may cut holes in the table.
When you have gathered all the information it is time to calculate and describe the room, where is the screen going to be mounted, how high will it be mounted, how the cable are going to be wired, where are loudspeakers and the rest of the AV equipment going to be installed, and most important you need to write a report (program report) to the client on what the system will do, you also need to make the technical drawing for the technician, so they know were the AV equipment has to be installed, how they configure the system, and a budget for the client so they can decide if they want the system.
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- Written by: Per
- Category: Design
- Hits: 1096
Steps for designing a meeting room
In this chase study we will look into what is needed and how is the process, when you are designing a meeting room, for a client.
The first thing you need is to make a needs analysis, to make sure you know what it is that the client wants. ask the client what will be the purpose of the room, or what it is they need to use the room for, don’t talk about specific equipment at this time, Examine if they just need to show powerpoint, or do they also need videoconference, do they want wireless connection for their laptops, maybe from more than one laptop at the time.
When you are meeting with the client, you need to visit the room and measure it, you can use this ponts for inspiration , it is important that you know the following:
Meeting room inspection points
-Which type of wall will the screen be mounted on
If you are going to mount a heavy screen, you need to know that the bracket and screws will hold the screen, also you need to know if the wall can withstand the weight, maybe you need to support the wall in some way.
-Is there power for the screen
Av equipment needs power, and you might need an electrician to install power outlets, to avoid visible cables
-Is there network for the screen, or videoconference
If there will be videoconference it is a good idea to provide cabled network for stability, in bigger institutions they might monitor the use of the AV equipment, so network behind the screen is many times a good idea
-If needed, is there tube for cables from screen to table or above ceiling
If installing videoconference you might need a ceiling microphone or a touch panel on the table for controlling the system, you might want to have cable tubes for hidding the cables
-Distance from farthest seat, to the screen (from the back row to the screen)
You want to make sure that people can see what is going on at the screen, therefore you need to know to distance to the farthest viewer, for calculating the screen size
-Distance from front row to monitor
This is to know if the closest viewer can see the screen
-Ceiling height
If you are installing something in the ceiling you want to know the height, if you are installing speakers you need this to calculate the spacing between the loudspeakers, if installing ceiling microphones you also need the height, it is also important for the technician installing to know if he needs a special ladder for working
-If ceiling is submerged, distance submerged ceiling to ceiling, and ceiling type
This is important if there will be ceiling speakers, or if you are ceiling mounting a projector, also remember to measure the distance from submerged ceiling to ceiling
-Measure of the room (length, width and height)
This might be the most important measure you get, when you are designing AV for a room, this information you need to decide on screen size, loudspeaker placement, placement of furnitures etc.
-Measure ambient light on the monitor
Ambient light from windows or lamps might interfere with quality of the picture, you might get reflection on a screen, og to little light when using a projector, sometimes it can be adjusted by turning off some light or using curtains
-Measure ambient noise level, is there noise from corridor or street
This is specially important if you are designing a meeting room for video conference, the microphone will pick up any noise and amplify it to the people participating, it might also disturb meetings if there is to much noise, sometimes it is better to find a another location for the room, or work on some acoustics in the room
-Take photos of the room (they are handy when designing the room)
This is one of the best tools you have when you are designing the room, sometimes we tend to over see things when we are in a room, or you can use the photos to draw placing of AV for the technician
-Which type of furniture will there be (can you mount something to or on the table)
When designing a meeting room, you might want to place a control panel on the table, and have the cables coming up through a cable hole, or you might want the cable to come the same way, ask the client if that is possible, and decide where you may cut holes in the table.
When you have gathered all the information it is time to calculate and describe the room, where is the screen going to be mounted, how high will it be mounted, how the cable are going to be wired, where are loudspeakers and the rest of the AV equipment going to be installed, and most important you need to write a report to the client on what the system will do, you also need to make the technical drawing for the technician, so they know were the AV equipment has to be installed, how they configure the system, and a budget for the client so they can decide if they want the system.