Divide and Conquer

The Audience Response System knows how every handset has responded to each question (as well as how quickly). This allows you see how different sections of your audience have answered to particular questions. These breakdowns can be generated and shown live during the presentation, so if a particular question has unexpected results you can easily ask for them to be split by any of the demographic filter questions you have asked initially.

For example, you can quickly discover which sex watch most television. Or which age group is the most environmentally friendly. Or whether length of employment is a factor in employee satisfaction. The list is endless, but each result has the potential to identify an extremely valuable message.

Terminology

Several different terms are used for this feature of an Audience Response System.

All keypads are identified individually by the voting system. This means there is a full audit trail of what each handset has voted in each question. This is extremely useful not only for post-event analysis, but also for drilling down during the event itself.

This allows us to split the responses of one question with those of another, using what is often termed as demographic data. Sometimes referred to as masking or filters, they can often clarify a result in ways that cannot be seen without them.

Imagine a question where you have asked the audience to vote for their favourite car. If equal numbers of your audience choose different manufacturers, the result does not clarify much at all. However, if you then apply an age demographic on the result, you might suddenly see how younger members of your audience prefer a different brand to the more mature ones. This can give a completely different perspective on certain results.

Since all data is stored in a database, these splits are often requested post-event. Not only can we provide these results in a spreadsheet, but also as a PowerPoint presentation with charts.

Sample Client Testimonial

“The first thing I want to say is how very helpful and charming the operator was.

Despite the fact that I kept on changing things and putting things in at the last moment he was always obliging and helpful - you should give him a raise!

We were very happy with the event. The final question of the event was about people's attitude to the system and they felt that they wanted to use this type of technology regularly. All the organising committee were happy about the way it worked and the delegates appeared motivated.

The conference secretary is also very happy because the usual conference evaluation takes her many hours to analyse but of course is already done. We have learned about how to use the system effectively as we have gone along and will are very likely to use it again in the future (although I certainly will want a rest before I organise another event!) I will be writing a paper for a suitable journal about the experience.”