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Learn How To Make Your Meetings and Presentations Interactive by Getting Feedback From The Audience Using An Audience Response System.

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Interactive Meetings - How To Get Started Making Your Meetings and Presentations Interactive with Audience Response Systems

 

 Interactive Meetings, Learn How

 

If you have decided to purchase a system, you'll find that choosing the right system, software, and vendor is no easy task.  Each person's need can be drastically different.  And, the solutions are many.  So, rather than make specific vendor recommendations, we'll do our best to assist in the decision process.

Step 1: Do a needs analysis.
Take fifteen minutes and think about what you might need from a system over the next three years.  How many different people will use the system, and what will they use it for?  Is it likely that multi-digit entry (the ability to choose more than one answer or to enter a number higher than 10) will be a necessity, or will single-digit entry do?  What is the maximum size audience you might have at anytime, over the next three years.  Put these answers on paper, and add your own requirements.
Step 2: Decide on a hardware platform, then on a brand.
If your audience will be no more than 30 or 40 people, and if your budget is very limited then an infrared technology system is a good choice.  Because infrared is limited in terms of room size and because there are fewer software choices, this technology is best for small classrooms, and small focus groups.
If your audience will be anywhere from about 50 to 10,000 people radio technology is a necessity.  You then have to choose between single-digit and multi-digit. In North America, there is really only one major manufacturer, Fleetwood Electronics. Their single-digit system is called Standard Reply®, and their multi-digit is Reply IQ®.  They do not sell direct to end-users.  However their dealer network is vast, and most Audience Response companies resell Fleetwood's product line.
In Europe, the two largest manufacturers are IML and Braehler.  However, Fleetwood Electronics has now become a major force in the EU as well, and should be included in your review of hardware platforms.  With a completed review, decide on hardware.
Step 3:  Choose software titles that are compatible with the selected hardware.
The first point here is that you should not box yourself in trying to find one software application that will do everything that you want it to. These days there are lots of choices for each major hardware platform and there is no reason why you can't own two or three different programs for different types of meetings.
Assuming you will purchase just one software application initially, you'll need to decide on a major 'class' of software.  That is, do you want a PowerPoint® plug-in, or a standalone program.  Plug-ins provide the benefit of quick learning and ease of use because PowerPoint® itself provides the presentation means.  A standalone product needs to have its own authoring and presentation modules, which most often is very different from PowerPoint®.  So, the learning curve can be steep.
The advantage to standalone software is stability and feature richness.  If it is written well, you'll  experience no difficulties whatsoever during a presentation, which is the system's most vulnerable time.  Standalones use dedicated blocks of Windows memory, and therefore, experience fewer memory conflicts.  These conflicts can bring a computer to its knees.  Plug-ins must be written exceptionally well because they run in PowerPoint's space.  The only plug-in we know of that exhibits standalone stability is TurningPoint® from Turning Technologies, which is also the plug-in of choice for professionals.  Professional standalone products to consider are MeetingNet, and ComTec XP Pro.
Step 4:  Research the many resellers and place the order.
Once you've decided on a hardware platform and a software package, shop for a fair price.  We would not do business with any Audience Response company that wont sell software unless we buy their hardware, too.  Neither should you.      
The company you buy from should be one that actually uses the software.  For this reason we like purchasing from rental companies. Our favorite, and a member of the network that we belong to is www.audience-response-rentals.com.  See their 'Buy Stuff' page.