Established in 1963, the Natural History Museum of Utah cares for over 1.2 million objects and offers innovative exhibitions and educational programs to thousands of residents and visitors each year, including traveling and permanent exhibits, special events, and other programs. The Museum also offers a variety of outreach programs to communities and schools throughout Utah, reaching every school district in the state annually. The Museum has an active research program with more than 30 scientists and 10 field expeditions each year.
The museum selected a Wireless Digital Conferencing System from Listen Technologies Corporation, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of assistive listening products for over 16 years, for its Swaner Forum – a multi-use space used for board meetings, presentations and other events. Located at the Rio Tinto Center in Salt Lake City, the museum faced several challenges when selecting a conference system for the space:
- The room is approximately 2,000 square feet in area, so a wireless system was preferred
- The space is frequently used for multiple purposes, and a system had to be easy to quickly set up and take down
- Board members often travel, and with everybody spread out in a larger room, a centralized speaker would not provide the necessary clarity if somebody participated via telephone
To meet these challenges, the museum installed a multi-unit Televic conference system that could be distributed throughout the room and support localized conversation. The system components include one WCAP-C1 wireless digital conference access point and power supply, one WC-CD-C wireless digital conferencing chairman unit with microphone and battery pack, 11 WC-DD-C wireless digital conferencing delegate units, each with microphone and battery pack, and two WC-CHT charging trays for six battery packs each.
“The Swaner Forum is a large space with beautiful views,” says Chris Eisenberg, the Museum’s Director of Philanthropy. “We did the research, and it seemed like this Televic system from Listen was the best solution. Sometimes our board members are out of town but need to be part of the meeting, so we’ll patch a conference call into the system. The person on the conference call can hear everybody talking in the room, and everybody in the room can hear the person on the conference call. It’s a much more elegant solution than just putting a speaker phone in the middle of the room — and the wireless aspect allows us to easily move units where they’re most needed.”
Listen also provided solutions for the Museum’s annual fundraiser, held in its soaring grand lobby The Canyon. Working closely with Listen and other partners, the Museum’s team combined video mapping on the Canyon walls, a closed-captioning service performing live transcriptions during the event, traditional powered speakers along the edge of the space, and wireless conference units from Listen at many of the tables.
“From our use of the Listen system, it occurred to us that they can be helpful with sound reinforcement during our annual fundraising gala,” says Eisenberg. “The resulting system provided attendees with an enhanced audio experience. Everyone was very happy with the results.”
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