Since 1906, Municipalities of Saskatchewan has represented the interests of urban municipalities, advocating on their behalf at the federal and provincial levels of government on program matters and policies. Also known as the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), the organization strives to lead efforts to improve local government and foster thriving, sustainable communities.
The SFM team sat down with Jarrod Hillman, President of Hillman AV, a leading commercial integrator based in Saskatchewan to discuss the benefits of having the new Shure DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System installed in the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA)’s boardroom.
With a large board of directors, it was challenging for them to gather in the same place at the same time. For this reason, Municipalities of Saskatchewan needed to improve the quality of its meetings and communication by integrating new collaboration technology into the organization. The board of directors hosted its quarterly meetings at a local hotel because their workplace wasn’t outfitted with technology that could facilitate modern collaboration. They couldn’t host online meetings — think of Zoom or Teams calls — and members often ran into speaking and hearing issues.
SUMA’s addition of the Shure DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System for their board meetings allowed audio control to every individual in the room, with speech reinforcement and localized audio distribution, making it possible for all attendee’s voices to be heard. Jarrod Hillman, CTS, President, Hillman AV explains, “With 18 members on the board, having a microphone in front of each in-person participant allowed everyone to adopt an etiquette that enables intentional and engaging communication. The Shure DDS 5900 Digital Discussion units’ built-in speakers enabled the board members to hear the voices of their peers clearly.”
With the Shure DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System retrofitting seamlessly into the newly renovated spaces, no alterations were needed. “Having in-ceiling speakers was not an option for the Municipalities of Saskatchewan boardroom as we were integrating audio into a finished space and it wouldn’t have been architecturally sound to put a hole in a newly finished ceiling,” added Hillman.
The Shure DDS solution addressed the challenges often experienced by in-person participants while being simple enough to deploy and operate with professional results.
For more information about Shure products for local government, contact your SFM sales representative.
