Clarion – When Communication Is Key

Wednesday Morning Briefings and a Pandemic

Clarion has a strong focus on employee communication and hosts weekly briefings and quarterly round ups, which are followed by employee socials. This communication plays a huge part in the culture the company has created.

Having originally occupied three floors of the building, the first floor became available.  Taking the additional floor provided Clarion with the perfect space for internal briefings being open plan and having the ability to host 2/300 people. Briefings took place on what was termed the employee floor on a weekly and quarterly basis in person.

Then the pandemic hit…..

“We rolled out Zoom and everyone began to get to grips with this which was interesting!” comments Jenny Rennocks, Head of Marketing. “Previously we had worked flexibly but this was never virtual, calls were made via a telephone. How would we capture the culture and inclusiveness for all employees over zoom? In no time at all we were carrying out one way presentations/briefings to all employees on a Wednesday and the employee social even happened via this tool.” she continued.

When returning to the office was a very real prospect, employees were given a choice, no one was made to return and social distancing was adhered to.  It was impossible to host a meeting to all, on the employee’s floor with restrictions in place and many still working from home, research began on what would be possible to present in person, record and stream simultaneously.

Brief – A Move from Flexible to Hybrid

When returning to the office Clarion wanted to be able to communicate to all employees at the same time, those in the office on the briefing floor and those working from home that day, everyone had to receive the same message at the same time. Streaming seemed to be the solution. Universal were approached as internal staff members had previous experience of our installation and event services at multiple venues, they had liked what they had seen, our work ethic and experience.  Initial meetings were held and Clarions brief and outcomes for working were discussed.

The team went away to look at various options and presented Clarion with a solution that would be easy to use. One of the main factors when looking at solutions was it would be used by internal staff so would need to be operated simply by non-AV technicians.

Installation

Project plans were devised and installation of the solution began. With the floor hosting employees only, no restrictions were in place. A small stage would be where the speakers would stand, with a camera directly opposite capturing the presentation. A display was mounted directly above to ensure the speaker was able to have their presentation or content displayed in a manner in which they could see, this could also be sent to all those employees accessing the feed remotely.

Repeater screens were placed around the floor so when the floor was at capacity all employees could see the screen and content.  Initial usage of the solution indicated that a camera change was necessary to ensure that the speaker could be zoomed in on, as soon as this was realized Universal amended the camera option and ensured that the functionality was available.

The solution was presented to Jenny and it provided Clarion with everything it needed. A streaming solution that would allow morning briefings to all employees both in and out of the office in a slick manner.

A Simple System To Use

Jenny commented: “The solution is so simple. Universal AV has devised a solution that enables me to walk into the control booth and at the touch of a button, stream content and video to those at home. Those at home feel included and it has allowed to continue with briefings and events that are so important to the company.”

Feedback from employees has been positive with people enjoying the flexibility to still be at home and either watch the feed live, or visit the recording at a later date. It has allowed Clarion to maintain excellent levels of employee engagement.