Meeting room AV in Dubai: a checklist by room size

Good meeting room AV in Dubai comes down to five things: a display everyone can read, a camera that frames everyone, audio that picks up every voice clearly, a reliable wired network connection and a simple way to start the meeting. Most failed rooms fail on audio and network, not on the screen.

This guide is for office and facilities managers equipping meeting rooms in a new or refreshed Dubai office. It gives a checklist by room size, explains the common audio problems in glass-heavy offices, compares Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms and bring-your-own-device setups, and ends with a test you can run before handover.

Key takeaways

Choose the platform first (Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms or bring your own device), then the hardware certified for it.
Size displays from the furthest seat, using a recognised method such as AVIXA’s display image size standard.
Glass walls and hard floors make rooms echo. Budget for acoustic treatment as well as microphones.
Wire every room system to the network and put AV on its own network segment.
Test every room with a real call, from the far end, before you accept it.

What does a modern meeting room need?

Every video-enabled room needs the same building blocks, scaled to its size:

Display: large enough for the furthest seat to read shared content.
Camera: a field of view that frames everyone at the table, not the ceiling.
Microphones: coverage for every seat, with echo cancellation.
Speakers: clear speech at a comfortable level for everyone.
Compute or room system: certified for your meeting platform.
Control: a touch console or one-touch join so nobody needs IT to start a call.
Network: a wired connection with enough capacity and priority for real-time media.
Booking: calendar integration and, ideally, a panel outside the door.

Checklist by room size

[ ] Huddle room (2 to 4 people): all-in-one video bar with built-in camera, microphones and speakers; one display sized for the far seat; wired network point; a single cable or wireless option for content sharing.
[ ] Small meeting room (4 to 6 people): video bar or camera plus soundbar; one display; touch console for one-touch join; booking panel outside the door.
[ ] Medium meeting room (6 to 12 people): dedicated camera with a wide field of view or speaker tracking; table or ceiling microphones so every seat is covered; one large or two displays; touch console; booking panel; acoustic treatment for glass and hard surfaces.
[ ] Boardroom (12+ people): multiple cameras or intelligent framing; ceiling or distributed microphones; dedicated speakers and DSP for echo cancellation; dual displays or a large display sized for the back of the room; control system; acoustic design reviewed by an AV engineer.
[ ] Every room: wired network connection on the AV segment; power planned at display, table and ceiling positions; cable containment from table to display; a labelled support contact in the room.

Treat these as starting points. Room shape, ceiling height and how the room is actually used (presentations, hybrid workshops or board meetings) change the design.

How big should the display be?

Size the display from the furthest viewer, not from the room’s floor area. AVIXA’s display image size standard for 2D content (DISCAS) gives a repeatable method based on viewing distance and the kind of content people need to read, from slides to detailed spreadsheets. Its online calculators are a useful sanity check before you order. If people at the back can’t read a spreadsheet, the screen is too small or the content too dense.

Why does audio fail in Dubai meeting rooms?

Many Dubai offices use glass partitions, hard flooring and exposed ceilings. They look great and sound terrible, because hard surfaces reflect sound and make rooms echo. Microphones then pick up reverberation and air-conditioning noise as well as voices, and remote participants hear a muddy, hollow sound.

Practical fixes:

add soft surfaces: acoustic panels, ceiling baffles, rugs and fabric;
choose microphones designed for the room size, with good echo cancellation;
place microphones close to people and away from AC vents;
keep speakers and microphones properly separated, or use a system that manages both;
for larger rooms, have an AV engineer measure the room before you choose kit.

Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms or bring your own device?

Option	How it works	Suits	Watch-outs
Microsoft Teams Rooms	Dedicated room system certified by Microsoft, with a touch console	Organisations that run on Microsoft 365	Needs Teams Rooms licensing and certified hardware
Zoom Rooms	Dedicated room system on Zoom-certified hardware	Organisations standardised on Zoom	Needs Zoom Rooms licensing and certified hardware
Bring your own device (BYOD)	Users connect a laptop to the room camera, microphones and display via USB-C or a wireless dongle	Mixed-platform users, client meetings on many platforms	Less consistent; more support calls; depends on each laptop

Many organisations use dedicated Teams or Zoom rooms for their main platform and keep a BYOD option for client calls on other platforms. Microsoft publishes a list of certified Teams Rooms systems and peripherals, and Zoom publishes its own certified hardware list; buy from those lists.

In the UAE, Microsoft Teams and Zoom are on TDRA’s approved list of VoIP applications. Our business phone system UAE guide explains what changes when those platforms also handle external phone calls.

What does the network need?

Room systems are real-time video devices and are only as good as the network under them.

Wired connections: Microsoft strongly recommends connecting Teams Rooms devices to a wired network. Use Wi-Fi only where wiring is impossible.
Bandwidth: enough for the highest-quality video your rooms use, at the same time as every other room and desk.
Quality of service: settings that prioritise meeting traffic over downloads and backups.
Firewall rules: the URLs and ports your meeting platform needs must be open; check them during installation, not on the day of a board meeting.
Segmentation: room systems, displays and booking panels on their own AV network segment.
PoE: booking panels, some cameras and microphones are powered over the network, so plan switch power budgets.

If you are still at fit-out stage, our guide to office Wi-Fi and cabling in Dubai shows how to plan data points and containment for each room.

How to test a room before handover

Run this test in every room before you accept the installation:

Book the room from a calendar and check the panel and console show the booking.
Start the meeting with one touch.
Join from outside the office, on a laptop in another room or at home.
Have someone speak from every seat. Check the far end hears each person clearly.
Check the camera frames everyone and adjusts when people move.
Share content from a laptop, both wired and wireless.
Run the call with the air conditioning at full power.
Leave a call running for 30 minutes and watch for drops or quality warnings.
Confirm the room shows healthy in the management portal, and that someone receives alerts.
Leave a quick-start card and a support contact in the room.

What drives the cost?

The main drivers are room size and count, the platform and its licences, dedicated room systems versus BYOD, microphones and acoustic treatment for larger rooms, containment and power works, control systems, and the support arrangement after handover. Standardising room designs across the office usually reduces both cost and support calls.

Common mistakes

Choosing the screen first and the microphones last.
Running room systems on guest Wi-Fi.
Skipping acoustic treatment in glass rooms.
Buying hardware that isn’t certified for your meeting platform.
No test from the far end before handover.

How Softworx Services helps

Softworx Services provides audio-visual solutions for meeting rooms of every size, and our Networks team makes sure the network underneath can carry real-time video. We take a vendor-agnostic approach, and our Dubai office is at Saaha Offices, Downtown Dubai.

Frequently asked questions

What equipment does a video meeting room need?

A display, a camera, microphones and speakers with echo cancellation, a room system or compute certified for your platform, a touch console, a wired network connection and calendar booking.

How big should a meeting room screen be?

Size it from the furthest seat and the detail people need to read. AVIXA’s DISCAS standard and calculators give a repeatable method.

Should meeting rooms use Wi-Fi or a wired connection?

Wired. Microsoft strongly recommends wired connections for Teams Rooms devices, and the same applies to other platforms.

Why do remote participants say our meeting room echoes?

Hard surfaces such as glass and tiled floors reflect sound. Add acoustic treatment and microphones suited to the room size.

Can one room support both Teams and Zoom?

A dedicated room system is built around one platform, but many can join other platforms’ meetings, and a BYOD option covers the rest. Check each system’s interoperability features.

Talk to Softworx Services in Dubai

Fitting out meeting rooms? Talk to the Softworx Services team about room designs that work for your platform and your space.

Sources

AVIXA, Display Image Size for 2D Content (DISCAS): https://www.avixa.org/resources/standards/display-image-size-for-2d-content
Microsoft Learn, Teams Rooms certified systems and peripherals: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/rooms/certified-hardware
Microsoft Learn, Prepare your environment for Teams Rooms: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/rooms/rooms-prep
Microsoft Learn, Quality of service on Teams devices: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/devices/qos-on-teams-devices
Zoom Support, Zoom Rooms system requirements: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0060469
TDRA FAQs, VoIP section: https://tdra.gov.ae/en/faqs
TDRA statement on approved apps including Microsoft Teams and Zoom (Arabic), 30 March 2020: https://tdra.gov.ae/ar/media/tdra-statements/additional-apps-for-distance-learning