Ok folks. I've gotta give a presentation in 2 weeks, and half of my audience will be in person, while the other half will be logged in via MS Lync.

I will be walking around in front of the group, so the built in mic on the laptop probably wont cut it. I'm thinking a bluetooth Lavalier/lapel mic setup of some sort would be the hot ticket.

Anyone have any experience with this type of thing? Is there a better solution? (I suppose I could also just use a bluetooth headset and dial into the meeting with my cell phone...but I've sworn to never be that douche walking around with the blue-light-flashing-bluetooth-headset. You know you hate them too.)

So far from what I've seen from google/youtube reviews, some people are having good experience plugging a lapel mic into a Zoom H1 (voice recorder) and plugging a bluetooth transmitter into the output of the H1.


[Edited on July 12, 2012 at 11:19 AM. Reason : .]

7/12/2012 11:12:26 AM

The guy in starbucks seemingly yelling at no one when wearing one of those isn't giving a broadcast presentation so i wouldnt worry about that issue. Tha range on some of the bluetooth txers we used a while back sucked even around 20ish ft with direct line of site and kept cutting out, even tho they were supposedly class 2. If you went that route I'd look for class 1 if available. We switched to a radio frequency based getup that keeps a great connection even in the can 50 ft out from the rx and thru walls. Rx has a simple 3.5mm audio jack as the mic input to our phone system for conf calls so no echoes. Only downside other than initial cost is it drains batteries within a few hours so everyone always forgets to replace them.

7/12/2012 1:12:35 PM

I use a headset at work, have never had luck with teh bluetooth ones.

http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/cs500

7/24/2012 7:14:42 AM

^^ lol

7/24/2012 9:03:34 AM

Ok, I might be able to help you out on this one. Part of my job duties include handling classroom lecture captures and doing video/web conferencing. We use Lync as well and have really been ramping up on its use this year, and as part of this have been testing out different systems for use in classrooms/conference rooms. The two suggestions I can give you are this:

1) Jabra SPEAK 410 USB Speakerphone

http://www.jabra.com/Products/PC_Headsets/Jabra_SPEAK__410_Series/Jabra_SPEAK_410

These worked very well for what we wanted to do. Basically set it on the podium or at the front of the conference table and you can use it to pick up all the audio in the rooms. We ran head-to-head testing in our various sizes of classrooms and found that it picked up very well all audio from near and far. We were focused on this due to the presenter moving around and for Q&A from the live audience being understandable by the far sites.

2) Revolabs xTag USB/BT

http://www.revolabs.com/Products/Product-Line/XTAG-USB.aspx

http://www.revolabs.com/Products/Product-Line/XTAG-BT.aspx

Another school near us has one of the xTag USB setups and likes it. We have not personally tested it, yet. Advantage is obviously that you can carry it with you, so it will always pick up your voice. Don't know about audio quality for picking up any questions or comments from the audience. The Bluetooth option might work with your laptop, but it may have a shorter range than the USB version (65 feet for USB).

Anyways, hope that helps. These options might be too expensive, but we spent a good deal of time testing products and can say that out of all of them the Jabra Speak 410 performed exceptionally well for our parameters.

7/24/2012 9:19:34 AM