Clever Yet Easy Ways of Using Apple TV for Your Business
No longer just a “hobby” for one of Silicon Valley’s most gigantic tech companies.
The new generation of Apple TV is finally making this particular line of products at last seem like something that we should all be taking seriously.
No longer just a “hobby” for one of Silicon Valley’s most gigantic tech companies, the new generation of Apple TV is finally making this particular line of products at last seem like something that we should all be taking seriously.
Indeed, not only has Apple managed to at last build some consumer-enticing new features into its streaming set-top device – including a much-coveted app store, which for the first time will enable third-party developers to build apps for the platform – the Apple TV is also now finding its way, perhaps unexpectedly, into the workplace.
How? Well, when it comes to business meetings and presentations, it seems that we are all just about fed up with tripping over cables, waiting for projectors to ‘warm up’, casting our displays against walls, fudging around with USBs and generally feeling as if we are stuck with a technology that felt dated even when we first started using it somewhere back in the 20th century.
But, what business people around the globe are slowly discovering is that they have to put up with these olde-worlde constraints no longer, for with Apple TV set up in the conference room, some of the glorious peaks of 21st century convenience and modernity can once again be achieved.
How You Can Use Apple TV In The Workplace
For Business Meetings
Instead of relying on age-old projectors and projector screens, set up a television in your conference room instead. Hook it up to an Apple TV 2, 3 or 4 (when it comes out). Now, anybody with an AirPlay enabled iPhone or iPad can wirelessly project their presentations to the big screen.
If you’re leading the presentation or meeting, then you’re good to go, everything that you see on an iPad in front of you will be blown up on the television screen in the conference room. Found an interesting YouTube presentation from another company? Great – you can have it ready to play in a separate tab. You can be sat anywhere in the room, and can hand off to a colleague whenever you like.
Indeed, this is perhaps one of the coolest uses of the technology. If another team member needs to share their screen on their laptop, smartphone or tablet, it takes no time at all to transfer control. Your business meetings have never been more slick and productive.
“I can just pop into a conference room and share the data from the palm of my hand,” says Dan Kerzner, senior vice president of MicroStrategy’s mobile division and advocate of the Apple TV approach. “You don’t have to do the normal VGA-cable shuffle.”
Meetings With Clients
Impressing clients on the first meeting is pretty much guaranteed with this setup – the wireless wow factor never fails to disappoint. But, what is more, you can invite the client to share his/her screen with the room as well. If it’s a new application that your client is having built, then he/she will most likely have some mock-ups drawn up on their tablet, and may well even have some presentation notes of their own that they will want to share.
The IT World blog also has the following tip for the client meeting scenario:
[We] always keep a laptop in the conference room that can be used by a client so we don't have to worry about their device being configured. If they come in with a compatible device, they enjoy the ability to present themselves on their own equipment.
Resource Library – Content Galore
Any past presentations, videos, demonstrations or just plain and simple text files can be stored on the Apple TV, which can then be used communally as a quick resource library for all team members.
The ability to leverage meeting and conference room displays via the use of tablets, laptops and smartphones, your business can also feature content from Flickr, Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo and a whole lot more besides. That’s an awful lot of video, audio and presentation power jam-packed into one neat little box, that won’t burst the budget strings.
Give it a try!
Apple TV is a simple solution that shouldn’t be underestimated in the business world. No longer do you have to wait for the inevitable failing of either the audio, visual or cabling elements. How about experimenting with its use in the conference room? Tell us about your impressions in the comments!
