Controlling follower device video stream capture for video conferencing

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• identifying multiple cameras located at a physical space and connected to a leader device within the physical space, wherein the leader device is a shared computing device and at least one camera of the multiple cameras is a camera of a personal computing device;
• designating the multiple cameras as follower devices for a video conference to cause a representation of the leader device and each of the follower devices collectively as a single conference participant within a participant list of the video conference and to enable the leader device to control the multiple cameras during the video conference via a connection between the leader device and a server-side multimedia router associated with the video conference;
• causing each camera of the multiple cameras to determine and capture a select video stream depicting one or more conference participants within the physical space;
• and
• using at least some of the select video streams to represent the physical space within the video conference.

A system, comprising:

• a memory subsystem storing instructions;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to execute the instructions to:
• identify multiple cameras located at a physical space and connected to a leader device within the physical space, wherein the leader device is a shared computing device and at least one camera of the multiple cameras is a camera of a personal computing device;
• designate the multiple cameras as follower devices for a video conference to cause a representation of the leader device and each of the follower devices collectively as a single conference participant within a participant list of the video conference and to enable the leader device to control the multiple cameras during the video conference via a connection between the leader device and a server-side multimedia router associated with the video conference;
• cause each camera of the multiple cameras to determine and capture a select video stream depicting one or more conference participants within the physical space;
• and
• use at least some of the select video streams to represent the physical space within the video conference.