Houston, Texas
Woodside Energy Group, a global leader in the energy sector, recognized the need to refresh its aging audiovisual infrastructure. Ford AV had installed the original systems, so much of the original team returned to lead the refresh in Houston, Texas.
More than 130 meeting spaces were upgraded, including small huddle rooms, conference rooms, executive boardrooms, and a Town Hall space. In total, the refresh encompassed 22 unique system types and over 170 individual rooms. Even the fitness center and employee spaces were modernized, with pendant speakers, two-way ceiling and surface-mount speakers, and digital signage systems installed to create a unified AV experience throughout the building.
Hybrid Collaboration: One-Touch-to-Join Systems
A requirement for Woodside was simplicity. Employees wanted to walk into any meeting space and start a video call without technical hurdles. Ford AV delivered by designing one-touch-to-join systems across nearly every room. Historically, Woodside relied on Cisco Webex as their video conferencing standard. After the pandemic, Microsoft Teams surged across the workforce.
“The customer decided they wanted their rooms to be simple, one-touch-to-join systems. Using Cisco’s line of Webex Room system hardware, that are enabled for Microsoft Teams, was the solution they were looking for.”
— Ryan Jasmon, Ford AV
Each room included a 10” wired touch panel on the conference table for system control, along with room scheduling panels mounted outside the door. This provided a consistent user experience across all spaces.
Town Hall AV Integration: Multi-Room, Hybrid-Ready
One of the most impressive parts of the refresh was the Town Hall, a four-way combinable space arranged in a 2×2 configuration. Each of the four rooms can be used independently or combined into a single large venue for company-wide events.
The Town Hall’s audio system includes 36 flush-mounted 6.5” two-way ceiling speakers. They are supported by quad-channel wireless receivers connected to a fleet of Shure microphones: 8 handheld, 8 belt packs, 8 lavaliers, and 4 lectern-mounted gooseneck mics. A portable mic rack also provides an additional 24 wireless gooseneck mics for high-capacity meetings.
For visuals, Ford AV installed two 161” diagonal motorized projection screens, four 133” screens, and two 110” fixed projection screens from Draper. These displays are powered by 8,500-lumen and 7,000-lumen WUXGA laser projectors mounted on motorized lifts, creating bright and flexible visuals for any event size. To support hybrid collaboration, the Town Hall integrates Cisco Webex conferencing.
Control is available through 10” wall-mounted touch panels and a 40-port managed network switch, enabling system on/off, projector lift control, source selection, volume, room combine/uncombine, and lighting integration.
Tailored Design for the Client
For more than a year, Ford AV held weekly internal meetings and weekly meetings with Woodside to review progress, troubleshoot challenges, and align on next steps.
The refresh was a negotiated contract without a third-party consultant which allowed Ford AV to collaborate directly with Woodside on the design.
“It was very rewarding to tailor our systems to give the client the best possible experience. I worked directly with the client to develop system functionality, user experience, and find opportunities for improvement on their legacy systems.”
— Colin Adams, Ford AV
A Future-Proof Collaboration Environment
The result is an AV ecosystem supporting hybrid collaboration and scaling across hundreds of spaces. Employees can connect easily, whether they are in a small huddle room, presenting in the Town Hall, or joining a hybrid meeting.
If your organization is ready to modernize its meeting spaces with user-friendly, future-proof AV solutions, Ford AV can help. Reach out today, and let’s bring the same success to your project.
