Audience Response Systems - Effie, Lorie, Becky

Submitted by Effie, Lorie, and Becky

Research:

In today’s fast-paced environment, the desire to collect and analyze data instantaneously has become a major part of present day business meetings. Audience response systems are used frequently to capture this data.

Today, the most popular types of audience response systems utilize electronic machines. Audience or participant members select answers to a multiple choice format. Once polling has completed, software then totals the responses from the response cards and instantly displays a graphic summary showing the distribution of sections. These electronic machines can be hooked up to an array of wireless keypads or kiosks – This process makes it easier for a presenter or group of presenters to ask questions and receive a clear response in turn. The design of most systems is built around a keypad (usually labeled alphanumerically). Information from the keypad is then displayed on a large screen for participants to view.

Some audience response systems can provide connectivity between various off-site locations. This is a great solution for companies that wish to train employees that are located in multiple branches or regional locations.

Studies have shown that attendees or participants that participate in audience response systems walk away from a meeting with a better understanding of the information that was presented.

Since the goal or an objective of most meetings is to captivate your audience, hold its attention, and receive immediate feedback, audience response systems will most likely increase in tomorrow’s meetings.

The College Board could possibly use an audience response system during the company-wide Town Hall Meeting so that the president would have immediate feedback from multiple regional offices. It would also be useful in other major conferences such as the National Consultant Training, National Forum, or the Advanced Placement Annual Conference.
Specific Examples:
National Consultant Training
The audience response system would be a great way to incorporate a game in the opening session of Consultant Training. The goal of this session would be to familiarize the attendees with College Board products and services. I was envisioning a game of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" where one person was in the hot seat and could poll the audience for the answers, etc. Could be fun and could replace the group paper quizzes we hand out now to encourage mingling and participation. http://www.interactivemeetings.com/audience_response.html
AP Annual Conference
For the AP Annual Conference, the College Board could get audience feedback on the presenters, agenda, individual sessions and the overall event and create comprehensive report about the event. The reports can be used for improving the event, marketing, attracting sponsors and encourage future participation. In addition this feedback could be used to create testimonials for the APAC website along with video clips of plenary sessions or special events.