By Christina Henderson

Live video technologies have become a standard means of communication, whether we’re on FaceTime with family or in a WebEx meeting with co-workers. But the shifting needs of a hybrid remote-and-in-person future have left many organizations asking how they can level up their technology in classrooms, community meetings, and virtual presentations.

“The Arena,” a new solution offered by Missoula-based information technology company Alter Enterprise, uses broadcast-quality equipment to allow speakers to simultaneously engage audiences in-person and virtually. The Arena combines the advanced sound and video capabilities of live productions with the accessibility of web conferencing.

Online participants access The Arena through a web browser, but the system also integrates with other platforms like Zoom or WebEx. The presenter sees their virtual audience on an LED wall behind those seated in the room. Multiple eye-level cameras between the screens deliver the presentation in high-resolution video.

Audience members can choose their seats within the virtual classroom and adjust camera angles to engage eye-to-eye with the instructor. Participants enter a session muted and raise their hand to speak. When the presenter calls on someone, a green box appears around the speaker.

Speakers can write on a digital whiteboard that shares through to the audience. Confidence monitors on the floor in front of the presenter show what the audience is seeing, and display results from built-in functions like live polling.

The old-school way of managing broadcast productions would require multiple people running equipment behind the scenes. With The Arena, an experienced presenter can easily use a touchpad to manage the technology themselves.

“[The Arena] is kind of the culmination of a lot of things that I’ve been working on through my career,” said Ryan Alter, Founder and CEO of Alter Enterprise. “I was trying to build out the classroom of the future…That’s 24 years of working on video conferencing distance education.”

Alter believes The Arena could be applied to a variety of contexts, from government town halls, courtrooms, and college classrooms to training facilities and corporate boardrooms. In some cases, Alter Enterprise can reconfigure existing technology like displays or microphones into an installation of The Arena.

The Arena is manufactured and supported by a company in South Carolina, and Alter Enterprise is the exclusive dealer in Montana.

For more information, contact sales@alterenterprise.com.

About the Publisher:

Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit association of highly-engaged high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.

About the Author:

Christina Quick Henderson is founding executive director of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance and an instructor in the College of Business at the University of Montana.