An all-hands or town hall room needs one or more PTZ cameras that can zoom in on presenters from 30-60 ft away, dedicated microphones for the stage (wireless handhelds or lavaliers) plus audience mics for Q&A, large displays or projection, and a way to send the program into Teams, Zoom or a live stream. Video bars built for conference tables cannot cover a space this size on their own.
What a town hall room has to handle
| Task | What it takes |
|---|---|
| Presenter on stage | PTZ camera with long optical zoom, presets or presenter tracking |
| Audience Q&A | Ceiling mic arrays, aisle mics or pass-around wireless mics |
| Remote attendees seeing slides | Content from a presenter laptop sent as a share |
| Remote attendees asking questions | Far-end audio through room speakers, remote faces on a display |
| Recording and streaming | Camera outputs (USB, HDMI, SDI or NDI) into a meeting PC or encoder |
Typical room sizes
All-hands spaces range from a large training room (30 x 40 ft, 9 x 12 m) to cafeterias, auditoriums and open-plan areas cleared for the event. Camera distance to the stage is typically 30-80 ft (9-24 m). At those distances, digital zoom on a video bar won't produce a usable close-up. Optical zoom does.
Cameras
Mount the main camera at the back of the room at or slightly above head height of a standing presenter, so audience heads don't block it.
- AVer PTZ330UV2: 4K60, 30x optical zoom for halls and large rooms, NDI|HX3.
- AVer PTZ310UV2: 4K60 with 12x optical, USB/HDMI/SDI/IP outputs, for mid-size rooms or as a second angle.
- Logitech Rally AI Camera Pro: dual-camera PTZ with 15x hybrid zoom and RightSight 2 Presenter View.
- Yealink SmartVision 80: quad-lens 4K PTZ with 20x optical zoom.
A second camera on the audience lets remote viewers see who's asking a question. See multi-camera conference rooms and PTZ camera control.
Audio
Audio decides whether a town hall works for remote staff. Plan for three sources:
- Presenters: wireless handheld or lavalier mics into a DSP or mixer.
- Audience: ceiling arrays such as the Yealink CM20 or a runner with a handheld mic.
- Far end: remote questions played through the room PA, with echo cancellation applied in the DSP.
Room speakers should be the building's PA or install speakers, not a video bar's built-in drivers. See how to improve audio in a large conference room and best large room microphones.
Displays
Use a projector and screen or a large LED wall for the in-room audience, plus a confidence monitor at the front of the stage so presenters can see slides and remote questions without turning around. See projector screen size and conference room TV vs projector.
Platform: meeting vs live event
- Interactive all-hands (up to a few hundred remote): run it as a Teams or Zoom meeting from a room PC so remote staff can ask questions live.
- Large broadcast (hundreds to thousands remote): use the platform's webinar or town hall format, or stream through an encoder. The room camera feeds the producer's PC by USB, HDMI capture, SDI or NDI.
For a fixed Teams Rooms installation, kits like the Yealink MVC S90 (two UVC86 cameras plus an AVHub for pro audio) or a Poly Studio 7 Room Compute with your choice of cameras and audio are built for this scale. See how to live stream a meeting from a conference room.
Recommended setups by budget
| Tier | Cameras | Audio | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | 1x AVer PTZ310UV2 over USB to a laptop | Wireless mic into a USB audio interface | Small all-hands, 30-50 people |
| Mid | AVer PTZ330UV2 + audience camera | Ceiling arrays + wireless mics through a DSP | Regular town halls |
| Installed | Yealink MVC S90 or Poly Studio 7 Room Compute based system | Integrated DSP, ceiling mics, PA | Permanent all-hands room |
Larger spaces almost always need a site survey. Share your room plan and attendance numbers and we'll scope cameras, mics and cabling.
Related guides
- University Lecture Hall Video Conferencing: Setup Guide
- Church Hybrid Worship Setup: Cameras, Audio, Streaming
- Council Chamber Hybrid Meetings: Cameras, Audio, Streaming
- City Council Meeting Streaming: Equipment and Setup
- Best Cameras for Church Live Streaming (PTZ and Budget)
- Church Live Stream Audio Setup: Mixes, Mics and Sync
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