Meeting room technology which does not work seamlessly is a huge hindrance for productivity, with 86 percent experiencing serious “meeting stress” when grappling with it during meetings, according to new research from Vanson Bourne and Barco. Among the biggest challenges for UK employees were sharing content and screens, and finding the right cables to connect to in-room devices. In trying to deal with tech problems, staff are wasting significant amounts of their valuable time: 60 percent try to fix problems themselves, 49 percent call IT/tech support, 30 percent end up giving up with the tech and going to their plan B. 15 percent even postpone meetings until technology problems can be fixed. The vast majority (90 percent) actually pre-prepare for technology failures: preparing handouts as alternatives to tech, coordinating with IT in advance, and 44 percent even do a tech rehearsal. As a result of struggling with technology in meeting rooms, a quarter of UK office workers have missed important deadlines, and some have even missed out on personal opportunities like promotions (7 percent).
9 in 10 UK office workers stressed by meeting room technology