Ideal Environment for the Meeting Owl
1. Installed on a level surface at the front of center of the classroom, depending on if you need remote students to look at in-classroom students or the whiteboard
2. Students seated within 18 feet (5.5 meters) of the Meeting Owl Pro
3. Teachers and students facing the Owl when they speak and raise hands so the Owl knows who to focus on
4. Minimal side chatter or movement during classroom presentations or discussions
Speaking and Moving During Class
We know that asking students, particularly younger ones, not to speak or move out of turn during class is a challenge. The Meeting Owl Pro decides who to auto-focus on based on sound and movement, so it will shift focus onto students who are moving around and talking or making other noise during your discussions.
Below are a few of our suggestions for minimizing those distractions while still being mindful of your students’ shorter attention spans:
1. Schedule regular breaks throughout the school day so students have time and space to get their energy out without disrupting the flow of classroom discussions.
2. Use the Camera Lock feature where it makes sense to hide in-classroom distractions from view of your remote students. This feature will force the Meeting Owl Pro to focus on you or another presenter in the classroom and ignore other movement or speaking in the room.
3. Periodically hold less structured discussions using the Meeting Owl Pro, such as Show and Tell or talking about fun topics or personal stories, so younger students can engage and have fun with the Owl outside of your lessons and discussions.
Speaker Tracking
When you first start using your Meeting Owl Pro during classes, you may notice an initial 3-5 second lag before the Meeting Owl begins auto-focusing on a new speaker. The Meeting Owl Pro isn't strictly a motion-tracking camera — it relies on movement and sound in your classroom to intelligently decide where to auto-focus to support collaborative discussion between multiple active speakers.
To help the Meeting Owl Pro auto-focus on you more easily when teaching, stay in the same general area of your classroom while you're lecturing. If you're someone who likes to walk and talk at the same time, make sure you're speaking consistently and not taking too long of pauses so the Meeting Owl Pro can see and hear where you are in the room. If you need to take a pause, that's okay too, but the Meeting Owl Pro will need another 3-5 seconds to catch up to you when you start speaking again.
In-Room Noise Reduction
Many schools have powerful ventilation, heating, and cooling systems that can produce a lot of ambient noise for the Meeting Owl Pro to process during classes, so we have a feature to turn on stronger Noise Suppression within the Meeting Owl app.
To turn on Noise Suppression:
1. Select your Owl from the Nearby Owls list.
2. Select
About your Owl.
3. From within the
About your Owl screen, tap the
Software Serial row 5 to 8 times quickly.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen.
5. Under
Debug, select
Audio Settings.
6. Tap the Enable Noise Suppression switch to turn on noise suppression.

If turning on Noise Suppression in the Meeting Owl app doesn’t resolve the noise issues, there are a few other inexpensive ways you can improve the acoustics of your larger classrooms for optimal Meeting Owl Pro performance:
1. Lay down area rugs and carpeting.
2. Install fabric window curtains.
3. Use upholstered furniture where possible.
4. Install soundproofing foam onto the walls and doors of your classroom, or around the location your Meeting Owl Pro will be most frequently, such as the front of the classroom near the whiteboard.