InfoComm 2026 was full of AI, but the bigger theme was that the industry is trying to make meeting room technology less visible. For years, meeting rooms were sold on capability: better audio, video, control and sharing. Buyers now care whether the room starts quickly, whether remote participants can follow the conversation, and whether the audio works without a call to IT.

Shure showed how this is changing audio. Its microphones can now be pointed exactly where you need them, with each pickup zone sent as a separate audio feed. That matters for AI transcription accuracy as much as for the people in the room.

For AV integrators, the message is that AV still needs specialist knowledge of space, acoustics and human interaction, while the systems themselves are increasingly managed as IT. Source: AVIXA

The biggest AV story of the season is Cisco’s RoomOS 26, co-developed with NVIDIA. It moves AI from the cloud to the edge, meaning into the room itself.

The system runs four autonomous agents natively on the device: Notetaker, Director, Audio Zones, and Workspace Advisor. The result is a more resilient, responsive meeting experience that does not depend on constant connectivity.

For AV and IT teams, this shifts meeting rooms from fixed installations toward intelligent systems that manage audio, framing, and notes on their own.

Source: Cisco

Cisco has updated its Webex suite with new collaboration and security features for hybrid work, a partnership with Microsoft, and a brand-new whiteboarding app.

The whiteboard app lets in-office and remote workers sketch together spontaneously. Anyone can start or join a whiteboard from a browser, the Webex App, or a Cisco device.

Webex Calling also now integrates with Microsoft Teams, so users can make enterprise-grade Webex Calls directly inside the Teams interface. For organisations running both platforms, that means a more flexible workflow.

Source: Webex

At InfoComm 2026, Zoom unveiled a new generation of Zoom Spaces innovations, aimed at intelligence that adapts to how teams work and greater choice across the workplace ecosystem.

The update that matters most to AV professionals is Custom AV for Zoom Rooms. It gives control over gallery sizes, overlays, and content, and works on both Windows and macOS. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink Duo 2 and Quad 2 are certified in the new Custom AV category, giving multiple high-quality video outputs.

Zoom Rooms also gained a Voice Recorder with AI Companion, and Appspace integration shows digital signage when a room isn’t in use.

Source: Zoom

Microsoft has released a set of Teams updates this fall. Microsoft Teams has 12 Fall 2026 features covering meetings, webinars, the Events app, Planner, and Recap. The Copilot-powered features, such as Video Recap, which builds short highlight reels from recorded meetings, require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

Teams also added a Notes tab in group chats and meetings, and a countdown timer to keep meetings on schedule. For AV and collaboration teams, these updates make meetings easier to start, follow, and recap.

Source: Microsoft Teams

A great corporate event and a stressful one usually come down to the same thing: how well the AV was planned. Whether you’re running a town hall, a product launch, or an all-day conference in Boston, here’s the checklist that separates a smooth show from a scramble.

Start the AV Conversation Early

Eventbrite’s corporate event planning checklist and Bizzabo’s guide to enterprise event planning both agree on this: the biggest planning mistakes happen when AV gets looped in late. For larger corporate events, production partners are typically booked four to six months out, and AV planning specifically should start at least 12 weeks before the event — well before invitations go out, not after.

Budget for AV as Its Own Line Item

As a rule of thumb, AV and technology typically account for 10 to 15% of a total event budget, with catering usually taking the largest share and 15 to 20% held back as contingency. Treating AV as an afterthought squeezed into whatever’s left over is one of the fastest ways to end up with underpowered sound, unreliable Wi-Fi, or a streaming setup that can’t handle the room.

Rehearse Everything, Test Every Laptop

The single highest-leverage step in event planning is also the most skipped: a full AV rehearsal at the actual venue, with every presentation collected and tested in advance rather than relying on speakers to plug in their own laptops live. Pre-event audio and technical planning is credited with preventing the vast majority of common technical failures during corporate events — the fixes are rarely dramatic, they just have to happen before doors open, not during the keynote.

Staff for the Size of the Room, Not Just the Headcount

A simple staffing benchmark: roughly one AV technician per 50 to 100 attendees for a straightforward event, and closer to one per 25 to 50 for anything with multiple breakout rooms or a more complex production. Building in 15 to 20% more staffing than the bare minimum gives you a buffer for the inevitable last-minute equipment swap or schedule change.

Bring In a Boston AV Partner Who’s Done This Before

None of this has to be figured out from scratch. ZenjMedia provides full corporate event AV support across the Boston area, along with audio-visual installation for organizations that want permanent, reliable AV in their own space rather than renting for every event.

Planning a corporate event in the Boston area? Request a free AV quote and we’ll help you build a production plan built around your venue, your budget, and your timeline.

Hybrid work is no longer a temporary arrangement — it’s how most Boston offices operate day to day. That permanence is reshaping what companies expect from their conference rooms, and 2026 is bringing a clear shift in the technology behind Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms deployments.

Meeting Equity Is the New Baseline

According to UC Today’s 2026 hybrid meeting room technology guide, the leading Tier 1 meeting room ecosystems remain Microsoft Teams Rooms for organizations built around the Microsoft stack, and Zoom Rooms for businesses that prioritize simplicity and a strong room experience. Both platforms now ship with auto-framing cameras that track whoever is speaking, so remote participants get a genuinely equitable view of the room instead of a static wide shot of an empty table.

That “meeting equity” goal — making sure remote attendees aren’t a second-class audience — is the organizing idea behind most of this year’s conference room upgrades.

AI Assistance Is Now Expected, Not Optional

Automatic recaps, live transcription, and AI-assisted camera framing have moved from premium add-ons to baseline expectations. Cisco’s Webex guide to conference room technology outlines how modern room systems now lean on AI to handle the administrative overhead of a meeting — framing, transcribing, summarizing — so attendees can focus on the conversation instead of managing the tech.

Smaller Rooms, Smarter Deployments

One of the more practical shifts for 2026: since most meetings only involve one or two people in the physical room, many organizations are converting oversized conference rooms into several smaller, well-equipped focus rooms and huddle spaces instead. It’s a more efficient use of real estate, and it usually costs less per room to outfit than a single large conference room built for a crowd that rarely shows up.

The flip side is technical difficulty: a poorly configured room costs real time. Industry surveys consistently point to lost meeting time as one of the top frustrations hybrid workers report, which is exactly why standardized, professionally installed room systems matter more as companies scale up their number of rooms.

What This Means for Your Boston Office

Whether you’re outfitting one boardroom or standardizing rooms across multiple floors, the fundamentals for 2026 are the same: pick a platform that matches how your team actually works, install cameras and audio that give remote attendees a fair seat at the table, and get it configured by people who do this daily. ZenjMedia installs and supports both Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms across the Boston area, backed by ongoing AV managed services so your rooms keep working long after installation day.

Ready to modernize your conference rooms? Request a free quote and we’ll help you pick the right setup for how your team meets.

Hybrid events have moved from pandemic-era workaround to permanent fixture on the corporate calendar. Boston companies planning conferences, town halls, and product launches in 2026 are no longer asking whether to offer a hybrid option — they’re asking how to do it well. Here’s what’s shaping hybrid event AV this year, and what it means for your next event.

Hybrid Budgets Keep Growing

The virtual and hybrid events market has continued its rapid climb, with hybrid formats now growing faster than fully virtual ones. Industry research from Verbit’s 2026 event technology trends report found that a large majority of enterprise event planners plan to keep offering hybrid options for their major conferences and internal events through 2026, with roughly a third of overall event budgets now going toward the virtual and hybrid components of an event rather than treating them as an afterthought.

That shift matters for planning: AV, streaming, and remote-engagement tools are no longer a bolt-on to the in-room experience. They need their own line item, their own rehearsal time, and their own dedicated crew.

AI-Powered Production and Managed AV Services

According to Cadmium’s event technology trends analysis, the biggest shifts in event AV this year include AI-assisted production workflows, a growing reliance on managed AV services rather than one-off equipment rentals, and cloud-based AV management that lets teams monitor and adjust a show remotely. For Boston organizations without an in-house AV department, that trend toward managed services is good news: it means professional-grade production is more accessible than ever, without the overhead of owning and maintaining the gear yourself.

Attendees Still Want the Room to Feel Like a Room

Even as hybrid tools mature, attendees haven’t lost their appetite for genuine in-person moments. Surveys cited in the same research show that the large majority of attendees want a balance between technology and in-person experience — not a fully digital substitute for it. On the streaming side, well-produced multi-camera streams hold attention for 20 to 35 minutes on average, compared to just a few minutes for a static, single-camera feed. Production quality isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s the difference between a remote audience that stays engaged and one that tunes out.

What This Means for Your Next Boston Event

For event planners in and around Boston, the practical takeaway is straightforward: budget for hybrid as its own discipline, lean on experienced AV partners rather than piecing together consumer-grade gear, and invest in production quality for anyone joining remotely. That’s exactly where ZenjMedia comes in — from full hybrid event production to dedicated live streaming services and broader event AV support across the Boston area.

Planning a hybrid event for 2026? Request a free AV quote and we’ll help you build a production plan that keeps both your in-room and remote audiences engaged.

The questions that separate a vendor who will carry your event from one who drops equipment at the door and leaves.