Posted by

Barry Siskind

UFI’s Community Manager

 It seems like not much time has passed when I was sitting in the audience of a conference I was attending listening to a keynote presenter who was asking their audience’s opinions. I remember that we were handed a small device as we entered the room. There were buttons on the face of the device and we could answer the speaker’s questions with a yes or no. Then in a flash our collective responses were displayed at the front of the room.

 So much has happened in those few short years. The speed and sophistication of audience response systems (ARS) has matched the growth of technology. Now the question many organizers wrestle with is finding the right ARS that will work in their unique situation.

I read an interesting post on TSNN’s “techcorner,” that addressed this issue. The author stated that regardless of the user’s type of mobile phone and the Wi-Fi available in the exhibit hall, there are solutions that will work.  The post is an interesting overview of the current state of ARS options including the ability of incorporating “Real time analytics on the back end.” The post provides organizers with insights into how an audience responds to certain information and speakers that can be used when planning future educational sessions.

 If you are considering adding an ARS to your speaker program, this is an enlightening post.

 http://techcorner.tsnn.com/content/evolution-audience-response-systems-0