This blog post has been re-purposed from a “Listen User Profile” of actual Listen customers detailing their experience with Listen Solutions.

The McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the Detroit campus of Wayne State University has long been a magnificent pinnacle of architecture for the educational institution. Designed by World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki, this versatile edifice serves as the university’s main hospitality and meeting center. It is also the long-time home to the university’s Board of Directors meetings.
 
Because Board meetings are open to the public, the conference center has an expertly designed space in which the Board members surround a horseshoe shaped table. Facing the board are two conference tables occupied by cabinet members. Behind the cabinet is theater-style seating for the public.
 
“Over the last few years the conferencing equipment has been wearing out,” said Associate Vice President of Business Operations Nabelah Ghareeb. With some of the pieces boasting a 30-year life span, the equipment has served them very well. However, it was time to not only get functioning equipment, but also to update the meeting space with audiovisual capabilities to carry those years into the future.
 
With in-depth technical research and product demonstrations, Wayne State University selected a Digital Conferencing System from Listen Technologies because of its superior sound quality and versatility. “We conducted a pilot of the Listen system during a session,” Ghareeb explained. “It was superb! The sound was clear and precise.”
 
The system’s versatility speaks for itself. Like a number of other educational and training institutions, Wayne State University has integrated their conferencing system with recording equipment to record and archive meeting proceedings. In addition to the Digital Conferencing System, they also added plasma screens adding visual capabilities to their meetings.
 
The heart of the university’s system is the Central Control Unit (CU). This single unit provides power and control for their 24 microphone units (23 delegate units and 1 chairman unit). The CU has the capacity to support over 100 such units. The Digital Conferencing System also includes voting capabilities.
 
The Digital Conferencing delegate and chairman units – placed around the board and cabinet tables of the university’s Board Room – feature push-to-talk activation which enables the user to speak. A lighted ring around the mouthpiece of the pluggable microphone glows red when a microphone is active and the delegate has requested to speak. Participants may also use the units to register a response request, listen to the speaker, and to vote.
 
One of the most impressive capabilities of the system is that it is immune to mobile phone interference. The flat panel loudspeaker design offers superior acoustics with minimal feedback, which maximizes intelligibility. The chairman unit also includes voting administration and microphone override capabilities.
 
Wayne State University’s system also includes a convenient and durable storage case.
 
In addition to the satisfaction of the Board of Directors, Ghareeb’s comment summarizes just how glad Wayne State University is with their system; “We are pleased we made the investment.”