USGIF Innovates to Provide Confidential Privacy for Intelligence Community in Exhibit Hall Setting

Situation

• 28 Portable room partitions in 276,000 sq.ft. conference hall with up to 47-foot high ceilings
• Confidential intelligence industry meetings requiring highest levels of acoustic privacy

Geospatial intelligence is comprised of multiple mathematical, scientific, acquisition, and intelligence disciplines which have been converging for several years now as the functional center of U.S. national and homeland security. The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) was formed to enable its members to work together with a mutual goal of improving U.S. homeland security. USGIF hosted its 2010 GEOINT Symposium at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center located in New Orleans, LA.  The GEOINT Symposium is the premiere annual event supporting the defense, intelligence and homeland security communities.

Jeff Ley, USGIF Director of  Business Development, Membership and Exhibitions, described the challenges he faced to provide private meeting rooms in the cavernous conference hall. “When it became clear that private meeting rooms would not be available, [USGIF] decided to build our own temporary ‘rooms.’ The trick was that the organizations using these spaces needed truly confidential privacy. We had to get creative to ensure that conversations taking place in these meeting spaces would not be overheard.”

Ley’s team constructed 28 open-topped rooms in a portion of the the 276,000 square foot convention hall, which also housed the trade show.  However, because many of the meetings would take place when the trade show was not in session, there would be little of the usual trade show ambient noise to help cover the speech. So Ley and his team added low-level background noise called “sound masking.”  Historically, sound masking systems have been developed as complex systems of speakers above 8 or 10 foot tiled ceilings. Such systems weren’t flexible enough to meet USGIF’s needs.  Lay needed a system with the flexibility to meet these convention hall constraints, and a vendor with a proven track record with intelligence organizations.

The Solution

In spite of ceiling heights ranging from 25 feet to 47 feet in a 276,000 square foot hall, with little ambient noise to cover private discussions, confidentiality was maintained in privately-held meetings with sound masking installed on temporary partitions. USGIF contracted with Plano,Texas-based Speech Privacy Systems, an innovator in the sound masking industry with a history of providing high levels of confidentiality to the military and to government agencies, as well as Fortune 500 businesses.  “The VoiceArrest system did just what we needed it to do,” said Ley.  “We tested it ourselves after it was installed, and their system truly did offer the flexibility and confidentiality our vendors required. We didn’t get a single complaint about a lack of privacy from any of our attendees.  We’re very happy with the results.”

The Results

• Consistent, 24-hr speech privacy coverage which achieved confidential privacy levels.
• Competing vendors felt confident in holding sensitive meetings.
• USGIF was able to secure innovative, effective sound masking technology at reasonable cost, which was consistently and uniformly effective, and had little noticeable presence.

Find out more about USGIF or contact Speech Privacy Systems today to learn how better sound masking can benefit your office environment!