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When St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School approached The Big Picture Group, they faced a challenge common to many educational institutions: a lecture hall that looked good but underperformed acoustically. The front rows, where senior staff and guests typically sat, had noticeably poor audio quality. Additionally, their video conferencing system had reached end-of-life, leaving staff without the Microsoft Teams integration they needed for hybrid events and remote learning. The solution required more than just equipment upgrades—it called for addressing the space's underlying acoustic issues.

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Diagnosing the Problems

Our assessment uncovered several connected problems. Hard surfaces throughout the lecture hall were causing sound to bounce around, making speech difficult to understand. The speaker system wasn't covering the room evenly, creating dead spots in areas that needed the clearest audio. Feedback issues made live presentations unpredictable and difficult to manage.

The video conferencing setup had also reached end-of-life for support and licensing. Staff had no simple way to start or join Microsoft Teams meetings from the room itself—a basic need for any modern educational facility.

Here's a concise version that keeps the key details:

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The Solution: Strategic Upgrades with Smart Design

We addressed St Aidan's challenges through targeted improvements while preserving functional equipment.

Audio Excellence Ceiling-mounted Tannoy VX 8 speakers, angled at 55 degrees with 90 × 90-degree dispersion, deliver even sound coverage across the entire hall. This design achieves balanced front-to-rear distribution while minimizing back wall reflections. The result: crystal-clear speech intelligibility in every seat, including those previously problematic front rows.

Video Conferencing That Works Dual aVer AF-CAM520PRO3 cameras paired with HP/Poly G9 Microsoft Teams Room solution maintain perfect consistency with the adjacent boardroom. Staff familiar with one space can confidently operate the other using the same USB switching strategy—no retraining required.

Technical Intelligence A dedicated Extron DSP handles routing and processing specifically for the lecture hall, providing independent control over audio routing and superior feedback management. We separated the lecture hall's control programming from the boardroom (previously one shared program), giving greater operational independence while maintaining the familiar custom GUI interface.

Cost-Effective Approach We retained the existing projector, confidence monitor, lectern, microphones, and Extron transmission gear, integrating them seamlessly into the new system. Antenna extensions for the OFE microphones maintained proper coverage. This saved money and reduced installation complexity.

Complete Implementation Installation included comprehensive audio tuning, DSP configuration, and thorough staff training on the new workflow—ensuring the team can use the upgraded space to its full potential.

The Result Professional-grade audio and modern conferencing that simply works, allowing educators and students to focus on learning rather than technology.

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Why This Matters

Educational spaces need to support increasingly complex use cases—in-room presentations, hybrid learning, recorded lectures, live-streamed events. When the technology fails, so does the learning experience. When dead zones exist in prime seating areas, you're sending a message about priorities, whether you intend to or not.

St Aidan's now has a lecture hall that performs at the level their institution deserves. The audio is clear and even. The video conferencing is modern and integrated. Staff can operate the space with confidence. And when senior staff and guests sit in those front rows, they experience the same excellent audio quality as everyone else in the room.

That's what proper AV integration should deliver—technology that elevates the space rather than fights against it.

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We're proud to have partnered with St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School on this transformation, and we're grateful for their trust in The Big Picture Group to deliver a solution that truly elevates their space.

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Is your educational space being held back by outdated or underperforming AV technology? Let's talk about what's possible. Contact The Big Picture to discuss how we can transform your learning environments.

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