I had my first experience with an audience response system (ARS) when I was 8 years old–my parents took me to a nationally-televised skating competition in Green Bay, Wis. Some of the greatest figure skaters in the world participated, including Scott Hamilton and Nancy Kerrigan.
The kicker? Each seat had a little keypad attached to the armrest, which the audience used to rank the skating performances on a scale of 1 to 10, and determine the winner.
I could not have been more elated – my opinion mattered! I considered myself on-par with an Olympic judge.
Today, ARS is a fixture at corporate meetings and training seminars, and its features stretch far beyond rating a triple lutz.
ARS works through keypad receivers that are tied to a USB drive at a control receiver. Once keypad users enter their response, the results are transmitted to the control receiver, and can be instantly displayed in graph format, or saved for future evaluation.
As of late, audience response systems have become increasingly popular in university classrooms around the country, where instructors can ensure their students are paying attention by the click of a button.
Aside from its basic evaluation functions, ARS can be used to creatively engage the audience through quizzes, team challenges and game show-esque activities.
Since keypads can be directly tied to a specific meeting attendee, ARS is an effective and affordable way to verify session attendance and complete any necessary testing or training.
Also, ARS has recently integrated with short message service (SMS). No need for keypads–meeting attendees can provide feedback directly from their cell phones, making the process even more convenient for users.
However you choose to use ARS at your next meeting, the increased participation, audience interaction and insightful feedback will generate useful results for your company and let meeting attendees know that their input matters.
Laura Kalinowski refined her knowledge of ARS Systems preparing for the Stryker Biotech National Sales Meeting where it was used to support the Survivor theme and determine the winning tribe.
