The briefing room setup makes it easy to set up, manage, and use a room to deliver training and education sessions to groups of people. Whether the presenter is in the room or calling in from a remote location, participants receive a good and engaging experience.
The briefing room setup has the following predefined room modes that accommodate different scenarios.
-
Local presenter mode:
-
The presenter is in the room. This mode also covers the case when someone in the local audience asks a question (Q&A).
-
If automatic switching is enabled (default), the device switches to this mode when the presenter camera detects a presenter in the room.
-
Sends video from the presenter camera to the far end. In the Q&A case: Sends split-screen video from the presenter camera and the person asking the question (audience camera) to the far end.
-
Both the remote presenter display and the presentation display show the presentation, if any.
-
The remote audience display shows the remote participants that are calling in from different sites.
-
-
Remote presenter mode:
-
The presenter is calling in.
-
If automatic switching is enabled (default), the room device switches to this mode when the presenter camera doesn't detect a presenter in the room.
-
Sends video from the audience camera to the far end.
-
The remote presenter display shows the presenter that is calling in, and other remote sites (you can decide the layout locally).
-
Both the presentation display and the remote audience display show the presentation, if any.
-
-
Discussion mode:
-
For discussions between different sites. A local presenter is in the room.
-
Always use the touch controller to activate this mode.
-
Sends video from the audience camera to the far end.
-
The remote presenter display shows the remote sites that are part of the discussion (you can decide the layout locally).
-
Both the presentation display and the remote audience display show the presentation, if any.
-
The briefing room setup is available as a room type template. When you set up a room using a template, a set of configurations is pushed automatically to the device. It is important that the room is set up correctly, and that the cameras and screens are connected exactly as specified. Otherwise, the configurations will not match the room.
Differences between the presenter and audience, briefing room, and classroom setups
Presenter and audience, briefing room, and classroom are room type templates.
Presenter and audience:
This is the newest room type templates for such scenarios. Later updates and improvements will only be for presenter and audience.
-
Supported products: Room Kit EQ (Codec EQ), Room Kit Plus (Codec Plus), Room Kit Pro (Codec Pro), Room Kit EQX, Room Bar Pro, Room 55 Dual, Room 70, and Room 70 G2.
-
Compared to the older setups, you get easier manual layout selection, improved camera switching based on voice activity detection, and improved diagnostics tools. You can use either two or three screens.
Briefing room:
-
Supported products: Room Kit EQ (Codec EQ), Room Kit Pro (Codec Pro), Room Kit EQX, Room Bar Pro, Room 70 G2, SX80, MX700, MX800, and MX800 Dual.
-
The setup requires three screens, and the layouts on the screens are preconfigured (and fixed) to match that particular scenario.
Classroom:
The classroom setup is more flexible than the briefing room setup regarding the number of screens and how the layout is distributed on the screens.-
Supported products: Room Kit EQ (Codec EQ), Room Kit Plus (Codec Plus), Room Kit Pro (Codec Pro), Room Kit EQX, Room Bar Pro, Room 55 Dual, Room 70, Room 70 G2, SX80, MX700, MX800, and MX800 Dual.
-
You can use any number of screens that the device supports, typically two or three. Use the video monitor settings to configure the distribution of layouts on the screens if the default behavior doesn't fulfill your requirements.
Required equipment
One of the following devices:
-
Room Kit EQ (Codec EQ), Room Kit Pro (Codec Pro), SX80
-
Room Bar Pro
-
Room Kit EQX, Room 70 Single G2, Room 70 Dual G2, MX700, MX800, MX800 Dual
Three screens:
-
Remote presenter display: First screen, placed at the front. For integrated devices with two screens, the left screen is the remote presenter display.
-
Presentation display: Second screen, placed at the front. For integrated devices with two screens, the right screen is the presentation display.
-
Remote audience display: Third screen, placed on the side or at the back, so that a local presenter can see the remote audience.
Two cameras:
-
Audience camera: Use the integrated camera for devices that have that. For other devices, we recommend the Quad Camera or SpeakerTrack 60 camera. We recommend a camera that supports speaker tracking, but it is also possible to use a camera without speaker tracking capabilities.
-
Presenter camera: A PTZ 4K or Precision 60 camera with presenter tracking enabled.
Microphones:
-
We recommend a Cisco Ceiling Microphone for good coverage of the room. You can also set up other microphone solutions.
Speakers:
-
Use the integrated speakers for devices that have that. For other devices, we recommend good quality stereo speakers placed next to the presentation display and the remote presenter display at the front of the room.
Cisco touch controller
Briefing room setup limitations
The briefing room setup doesn't support this functionality:
-
Directional audio
-
Snap to whiteboard
Briefing room setup
Connect the cameras and screens to the device as shown in the diagrams. Following the diagram ensures that the configurations that are automatically pushed to the device when you select the briefing room room type template, match your actual room setup.
Codec Pro: Connect cables
If the audience camera is a SpeakerTrack 60 camera, connect it both to camera inputs 1 and 2 (HDMI) on the codec.
Room 70 Single G2 and Room 70 Dual G2: Connect cables
Keep all preconnected cables, including the cables for the integrated camera and screens, as delivered from the factory. You only have to connect the external screens and cameras.
External screens and cameras:
-
Remote audience display (for Room 70 Single G2 and Room 70 Dual G2)
-
Presentation display (for Room 70 Single G2)
-
Presenter camera (for Room 70 Single G2 and Room 70 Dual G2)
Codec EQ: Connect cables
Room Kit EQX: Connect cables
Keep all preconnected cables, including the cables for the integrated camera and screens, as delivered from the factory. You only have to connect the external screens and cameras.
External screens and cameras:
-
Remote audience display
-
Presenter camera
Room Bar Pro: Connect cables
The device's integrated camera is the audience camera.
SX80: Connect cables
If the audience camera is a SpeakerTrack 60 camera, connect it both to camera inputs 1 and 2 (HDMI) on the codec.
MX700, MX800, and MX800 Dual: Connect cables
Keep all preconnected cables, including the cables for the integrated camera and screens, as delivered from the factory. You only have to connect the external screens and cameras.
External screens and cameras:
-
Remote audience display (for MX700, MX800, and MX800 Dual)
-
Presentation display (for MX800)
-
Presenter camera (for MX700, MX800, and MX800 Dual)
If your MX device is a single camera device, only camera input 1 is used for the audience camera. If it's a dual camera device, both camera inputs 1 and 2 are used.
Room arrangement examples
These diagrams show examples of how to arrange screens, cameras, and microphones, and where to place people for the best experience.
Configure the device
| 1 |
Use the touch controller to stop sharing the video from the presenter camera. It is important that video from the presenter camera is not displayed on any screen while setting up briefing room. |
| 2 |
From the customer view in https://admin.webex.com, go to the Devices page, and click on your device in the list. Under Support, click Local Device Controls to launch the local device web interface. If you have set up an Admin user locally on the device, you can access the device web interface directly. Just open a web browser and type in http(s)://<device ip or hostname>. |
| 3 |
Go to Settings, open the Configurations tab, and navigate to the section and set the following:
Click Save for the changes to take effect. |
| 4 |
Go to Settings, open the Audio and Video tab, and click Presenter Track. Then, follow the instructions on the web page to set up the PresenterTrack feature. This feature enables the camera to follow a presenter that is moving about on stage. |
| 5 |
Go to Settings, open the Configurations tab, and navigate to . Then, choose whether to enable (default) or disable automatic switching between local presenter and remote presenter modes. Regardless of this setting, the room mode will not change automatically when in discussion mode. Click Save for the changes to take effect. |
| 6 |
Go to Settings and open the Room Types tab. Then, click the Briefing thumbnail to push the corresponding configuration to the device. |
Switching between room modes
Switching between room modes (local presenter, remote presenter, discussion), which implies that camera input sources, and remote and local screen layouts, are changed, can be done in two ways:
-
Manually, using the buttons on the touch controller.
-
Automatically, based on who is speaking and whether a local presenter is present on stage. Automatic switching is only between the local presenter and remote presenter modes. The room mode doesn't change automatically if the current mode is discussion. You can disable all automatic switching by setting Cameras PresenterTrack PresenterDetectedStatus to Disabled.
Automatic switching is supported only when the PresenterTrack feature is enabled (Cameras PresenterTrack Enabled set to True).
Automatic switching implies:
-
The device switches to the local presenter mode when a person is detected in the PresenterTrack trigger zone.
-
The device switches to the remote presenter mode when the local presenter, who is tracked, leaves the stage.
-
If someone in the local audience asks a question when the device is in local presenter mode, the device sends split-screen video showing both the presenter and the person asking the question. This behavior requires a Quad Camera or SpeakerTrack 60 camera as audience camera, and that speaker tracking is switched on.
