Introduction
Rooted in Scottish tradition, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an iconic event celebrating military and cultural acts from across the world. Performed to a live audience of 220,000 each year, it takes place on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle.
It sets out to deliver world-class entertainment, and year on year exceeds the expectations of its audience and partners. In doing so, the Tattoo is proud to support many military and art charities, contributing greatly to its charitable purposes and the connection of people and culture.
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Cinos helped design and implement the solution from start to finish. The new system took a day to install, and the team were very efficient, friendly and helpful, giving clear and detailed descriptions of what was being installed and kept us up to date on the progress throughout the day. |
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| Ewan Hunter
IT Manager, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
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The Requirement
Ahead of the show’s return in 2022, the organisation revealed a refreshed vision. One that demonstrated its commitment to delivering immersive experiences and an investment in digital. Part of the new approach included improving the audio-visual experience of the boardroom located in the Tattoo office.
Used by the organisation’s members of staff and rented out to external parties, the Tattoo needed a boardroom AV solution that was flexible, user-friendly and would allow any user to configure the room to best meet their needs.
Ewan Hunter, IT Manager at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, said: “Our previous solution was outdated, had reached the end of its life and we knew when we returned to the office, there would be an element of hybrid working. We needed an updated system that would integrate with the technologies that we use as a business but also something that was flexible enough to work with other solutions for video conferencing technologies, if needed.”
Having identified the key issues, the IT department approached Cinos and explained that the existing Skype for Business solution was no longer fit for purpose. The static system didn’t allow them to rearrange the room, as one of the screens resided in the centre of the space and the microphones were hardwired onto the tables. A lack of interoperability meant that remote or external participants struggled to join virtual meetings and workarounds were created to bridge the gap.
The positioning of the microphones also caused an issue when large numbers of attendees gathered in the boardroom for meetings. The setup of the room meant that not everybody would always be able to fit around a table, especially during all staff meetings where there were typically only one or two people working remotely. For anybody sitting away from a microphone or at the back of the room, it wasn’t always possible to hear them clearly.
The Solution
After discussing the requirements, it was clear that the solution needed to be flexible. Facilitating meetings across a variety of conferencing platforms and enabling users to rearrange the room as needed was key. Replacing the existing all-in-one video conferencing system, Cinos designed and installed a solution tailored to the Tattoo boardroom.
A large 86” iiyama interactive 4k display was installed to support presentations, high-resolution videos and other types of content. This provided good visibility for in-room meetings and face-to-face presentations.
Ideal for large meeting rooms, Cinos installed a Barco ClickShare CX-50 wireless conference system. Designed to facilitate collaboration, it allows participants to use their preferred conferencing platform and easily start a meeting from their own device. A Logitech Rally camera complemented this, ensuring that every person in the room is captured in Ultra-HD for clarity and accuracy.
The audio for the space is captured by a Nureva Dual-HD300 smart speakerphone. The Dual HDL300 system is comprised of two integrated microphone and speaker bars that provide true full-room microphone coverage and rich, clear playback in the large space.
“Cinos helped design and implement the solution from start to finish. The new system took a day to install, and the team were very efficient, friendly and helpful, giving clear and detailed descriptions of what was being installed and kept us up to date on the progress throughout the day”, explains Ewan.
The Benefits
The boardroom is easy to use and intuitive, giving the Tattoo’s staff, guests and visitors a seamless experience. With straightforward connectivity and high-quality audio-visuals, meetings and presentations can be delivered without the hassle caused by cables or inflexible systems.
A wireless and user-friendly experience
The Barco ClickShare CX-50 gives the Tattoo the flexibility they required for the boardroom. The wireless video conferencing system is easy to use and automatically connects the presenter’s laptop or device to the Logitech camera and Nureva speakerphone. With just one click, users can start a video meeting, share their screen and use their preferred video conferencing platform.
With cast members from all around the world, the new boardroom will enhance meetings and is also expected to reduce the need to travel. For external parties renting the boardroom, it makes it possible to ‘bring their own meeting’ and decide the way they want to collaborate.
True full-room microphone coverage
To ensure that the audio in the room remains optimised, a Nureva Dual HDL300 system was installed. The Microphone Mist technology fills the Tattoo boardroom with thousands of virtual microphones to ensure there is equal coverage throughout the space. Each virtual microphone is processed simultaneously, so that everybody can be heard, and conversations sound natural even if two people are speaking at the same time.
Ewan concludes: “The new system is much more flexible. There is nothing that needs to be altered in the room, regardless of the meeting type – which means there is less administrative effort involved in getting the room ready. The system is flexible for any video conferencing platform, whether it be Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Cisco Webex, and it integrates better with our business systems for a single approach to video conferencing calls.
“Cinos has been very professional and helpful throughout the entire process and updated the solutions to fit any changes we’ve had.”
Barco ClickShare
ClickShare Conference is revolutionizing the meeting room experience by bringing wireless conferencing and wireless collaboration to any size space. It enables you to work with the conferencing tools you prefer, from your laptop, whilst automatically connecting to the meeting room cameras, soundbar and other USB peripherals for a better and more immersive conferencing and collaboration experience.
