A meeting room display is a screen, mounted outside a meeting room or in a central location (such as a hallway or lobby), showing the room's schedule and current status. It lets people book the room, end or extend meetings, and check in, directly from the display.
This article covers what a meeting room display is, its benefits, and how it differs from traditional digital signage.
What they show
Meeting room displays show information relating to both the current status of a meeting room, and its schedule. From a distance this is done with color (usually red for 'booked' and green for 'free'). Up close, you can see more detail. For example, the main Dash room display is divided into two sections:
- A larger status section on the left, which shows the meeting room's name and current status, plus details of the current meeting if the room is booked
- A smaller schedule section on the right, which shows the room's full schedule in a calendar or list view. By default, the schedule is colored based on the room's status, but you can choose to show the color in a border around the whole screen instead.
Other meeting room displays may lay things out differently. For example, they may not include a schedule section, or you may need to press a button to view it.
Some displays are also designed to be placed in different locations, and emphasize different things accordingly. For example, Dash has different modes for outside the room (emphasizing the schedule and status from a distance), and inside the room (emphasizing ending/extending, check-in, and how much time is left in your meeting).
Meeting room displays often have the ability to hide sensitive information such as meeting titles and attendees, and some can also show extra information about a room, such as its capacity, available equipment, and accessibility.
What they do
Many meeting room displays add functions to let people make changes to the room without needing to go back to their desk. This can include:
- Booking the room - Create an instant booking lasting for a chosen length of time (e.g. 15 minutes or 1 hour). Some displays such as Dash also allow you to book a later time.
- Extending or ending the current meeting - If the meeting is running over and there is free space in the schedule, extend it from the display. If it finishes early, end it and make the room available for someone else.
- Check in - Some displays can require attendees to confirm they're actually using the room. If nobody checks in within a set period of time, the room is released automatically. Some meeting room displays, such as Dash, can also release a room from recurring series if a set number of check-ins are missed in a row.
- Find another room - If the room is occupied, some displays can find free rooms nearby, and let you book one on the spot.
How they connect
A meeting room display connects to your organization's existing calendar system (most commonly Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or an on-premise Exchange server). Meeting rooms are most commonly set up as resources or room mailboxes in that system, which people can add to a meeting from their computers by setting the room as a location for their booking.
The display reads that room's calendar and shows what's on it. When someone books the room from the display, it writes a booking back to the same calendar, making it visible to everyone. Nothing changes about how people book meetings from their desk; the meeting room display acts as another view of the room's calendar.
There are two ways that a meeting room display can connect to your office calendar system:
- Direct connection - Each display device talks to your calendar service directly, and no meeting data passes through the vendor's servers. This means the vendor never sees your meeting titles or attendees.
- Cloud server - Each display device talks to the vendor's servers, which then talk to your calendar service. This means that all of your meeting information passes through a third party.
If your meeting data is important, you will want to check this before deciding on a solution. Dash is designed to use a direct connection, so we never see your meeting titles and attendees.
Benefits
Meeting room displays solve a number of common problems, for example:
- Stolen rooms - Have you ever booked a room, only to turn up and find someone already there? With a meeting room display, you can point to the panel and prove that it's yours.
- Ghost meetings - Someone books a room, then plans change and nobody shows up. The room sits empty wasting space, but it can't be booked from the calendar. With room check-in, the room will automatically become bookable again.
- Room hunting - Without displays, finding a free room means walking the floor and opening doors. With a room display, just glance down the hallway and look for a green light.
- No visibility into usage - Most organizations have no data on which rooms are used, how often, or how they are booked. Some displays (such as Dash Enterprise) feed this back as analytics, which is useful in helping you plan how your spaces are used.
Types of displays
There are three broad options.
- Tablets - An iPad or Android tablet running a room display app, in a wall mount or enclosure. If you already have some spare devices, this is a great way to start.
- Purpose-built panels - Dedicated room scheduling devices, often powered over Ethernet (PoE), most often Android-based. Many panels have a color-changing LED status light to help you see the room's status quickly from a distance.
- Smart TVs and commercial displays - For a lobby or shared area, a larger screen can show several rooms at once. One screen covering eight rooms is often cheaper than eight individual displays, and one can also work well as a supplementary display at reception. Dash has three multi-room display modes designed for central locations. Please note that if your display (such as a smart TV) doesn't support Android apps, then a Dash Enterprise subscription is required to use the web version of Dash.
E-paper displays also exist. They use very little power and can run on batteries for months, however they are often read-only and the displays that do allow room booking are very expensive and offer a poor user experience. Dash supports Android E-paper tablets (such as the Boox range), but these do not offer the same battery life as a dedicated E-paper meeting room display device. Dash doesn't offer proprietary E-paper displays.
If you're choosing hardware for your meeting room displays, we've written a separate article that covers everything in detail.
The difference between a meeting room display and digital signage
There are some overlapping terms, but these are two very different products.
- Digital signage shows content you publish, such as announcements, dashboards, and marketing. The content is chosen in advance by an administrator, and is often rich pictures and video.
- A meeting room display shows the live state of one specific resource, driven by a calendar rather than a content schedule, and it usually accepts input. It's closer to a control panel than a poster.
Some digital signage platforms offer a room-booking module, and some room display products can show media and announcements alongside the schedule. But they're built for different purposes.
If your main need is showing room availability, a room display product will perform better and cost less than a signage platform with a booking add-on. If your main purpose is to show media and prepared content, then a digital signage platform will serve your needs best.
What to look for
These are important points to consider when deciding on the right meeting room display:
- Does it work with your calendar system? Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are widely supported; on-premise Exchange and CalDAV less so.
- What hardware does it need? Some products only run on their own panels. Others run on any tablet.
- Where does your meeting data go? Direct-connection products don't share your meeting titles and attendees with the vendor.
- Can it release no-shows? And can it also release rooms from recurring series after repeated no-shows?
- Does it hide sensitive meeting information? A good meeting room display solution will automatically hide meeting titles and attendees if the meeting is marked as private in Outlook or Google Calendar, and can be configured to hide this information for all meetings. Dash does both.
- What does it cost, per room? Per-room or per-display pricing is common; some products charge per user, which scales differently.
- Can you manage displays centrally? If you have more than a few rooms, you'll want to consider whether you can configure each device by hand, or if you'd prefer to configure them all centrally with a tool like Dash Enterprise.
Dash was designed around these questions. You can see how it answers each of them on our features page.
Common questions
Do I need special hardware for a meeting room display?
No. Many room display products, including Dash, run on ordinary iPads and Android tablets. Purpose-built panels are an option rather than a requirement. Note that some meeting room display software is locked to proprietary panels that the vendor sells, so if you want to use their software, you'll need to purchase their panels as well.
Do meeting room displays work with on-premise Exchange?
Support for on-premise Exchange and CalDAV is less common than Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, so make sure to confirm and test before purchasing. Dash supports on-premise Exchange through the device's built-in calendar, and you can find detailed information in our Exchange setup guide.
What happens if the display loses Wi-Fi?
It depends on the product. A display that caches the schedule locally will keep showing the last known state and resync when the connection returns. One that doesn't will show an error. If your Wi-Fi is unreliable, a Power over Ethernet panel, or an Ethernet to USB adapter, avoids the problem entirely.
How much does a meeting room display cost?
Hardware ranges from free (if you repurpose a tablet you already own), to around $500 for a large commercial screen. Software is usually charged per display per month. Dash's read-only display is free on any number of displays, with full booking features at $3.99 USD per display per month. See pricing for details.
Can one display show more than one room?
Most room displays will show only a single room. Dash has three dashboard modes that show the status of several rooms on one screen. This works well in a lobby or between rooms and means paying for one device instead of several.
Getting started
If you want to try before purchasing, most room display products have a free tier or a trial. Dash's read-only display is free on any number of displays and runs on almost any tablet you already own. Our quick start guide walks you through the setup process, and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
If you need to purchase hardware, our guide to choosing meeting room display hardware covers the options in detail.
If you have any questions about meeting room displays or Dash, please feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to help!