REMOTE GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

Local government organizations have kept their communities up and running throughout the challenging COVID-19 pandemic. Essential public services have been maintained, even with many employees working from home during the crisis. 

In some instances, the business of local government has been made possible with the help of remote voice and video collaboration solutions. Council and committee meetings are vital to the democratic process of local government, so guidelines, policies, and new procedures were issued for the running of remote meetings. In April 2020, local authorities in England were given new powers to hold public meetings virtually by using video or audio conferencing technology and similar laws have been passed around the world. 

So, what is next for local government? With staff now used to working in new ways, is there scope to maintain a level of home-based working, while resuming normal operations? 

At Shure, we believe that remote working is likely  to remain a feature of the modern workplace for the foreseeable future. But this must be managed carefully to address three key areas of concern: 

• Security: Secure connections are crucial. Local government organizations need to make sure their network has the right security controls in place and use encrypted audio solutions. 
• Legal requirements: There are a range of legislative and constitutional requirements that all meetings must conform with, such as those covering agendas and speech time limits, equal party participation, and recording of voting results. Participants and administrators working remotely across numerous locations need to be confident that their meetings are compliant. 
• Audio quality: Does the sound quality enable natural communication, on par with being in the same room? The rapid adoption of conferencing software like Teams and Zoom has been of huge value during the lockdown. But these solutions have suffered due to inconsistent sound quality from cheap earbuds and the built-in laptop mics and speakers used in home offices. To make continued remote working more effective going forward, these limitations will have to be addressed. 

Government Remote Collaboration 

Professional audio and video conferencing solutions offer local government organizations a way forward. In addition to supporting continued remote collaboration in the short term, they offer the basis for new workstyles. For example, Shure software solutions (include link: https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/software/sw6000) support the unique workflows and requirements of local government and enable the necessary agendas, delegate management and voting rights. That’s not all.  

The speed at which people suddenly moved to working from home left little time to learn the nuances of remote collaboration. We’ve all become familiar with group video calls, either for work or socially, where one person starts to talk over another thinking they’ve finished. But the use of appropriate meeting controls in your conferencing solution will ensure a smooth and successful meeting in which speech limits, both for individuals and groups, are adhered to and legislative guidelines met.  

Remote working looks set to remain a fact of life. Local government has an opportunity to change ways of working, collaborating and meeting for good. The benefits are already being seen by many government bodies, including business continuity, flexibility and savings on costs, time and logistics. 

Find out more about Shure’s collaboration and conferencing solutions for Local government organizations.