Abstract: In conventional audio and video conferencing, connecting the devices of participants in the same room to the conference can degrade the audio quality for every conference participant. Different speakers emit the same audio signals at different times, even in the same room, making echo cancellation difficult or impossible. Routing signals among devices in the same consumes bandwidth and introduces variable latency. The inventive conferencing technology eliminates these problems with more intelligent routing and mixing. An inventive conference bridge organize colocated clients into groups, picks one Elected Speaker per group, and sends signals to only the Elected Speakers. The Elected Speakers mix audio from other groups, share it within their groups using low-latency local connections, and play the audio after a delay.