• innovative ideas for applying audience response technology
• news and updates about trends in the industry
• useful information about new tools and tips for using them
• real-life examples of how companies have overcome audience measurement challenges

You’ll also learn about the options and challenges in the audience response system rental and service markets

The latest edition contains some interesting articles.  One feature details how an audience response system can help engage young adults.  Another relates how PowerPoint games with interactive response keypads can improve adult learning outcomes and ROI.   Check it out here.

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We have been on the front lines of efforts create more dynamic and effective presentation that avoid what Angela Garber aptly dubbed “Death by PowerPoint®”. Our OptionPower® solutions have introduced important new features for group decision making, adult learning, market research, delegate voting, ROI measurement and multi-site collaboration. We now offer specific versions of OptionPower® that seamlessly integrate with MS PowerPoint 2003®, PowerPoint 2007®, and, soon, PowerPoint 2010®. No other PowerPoint® related audience response software is easier to use or more capable.

With 25 years of ongoing research and development, we have developed tools that make it easy for clients to build questions into their MS PowerPoint® presentations in seconds. After loading OptionPower® software, presenters see an icon on the tool bar of MS PowerPoint®. After clicking the icon, the presenter develops creates their presentation, inserting interactive polling slides as needed. When the audience is queried, they respond with wireless keypads. The tabulated results are immediately displayed on the slide using regular PowerPoint® chart objects. Records are stored in a fully relational SQL database for later analysis and reporting. Our unique database approach provides superior processing speed and scalability. The system generates formatted reports in Microsoft Excel®. Results from multiple sessions can be quickly evaluated and compared to baselines or norms.

Clients find that knowing MS PowerPoint® allows for a minimal learning curve with OTI’s OptionPower® software. If you know PowerPoint® it is easy to create new presentations with polling slides in less than an hour. Presentations run normally without extra steps for the presenter or the audience. This significantly reduces workload for the administering interactive training exercises, assessment activities and surveys.

Using OptionPower® with MS PowerPoint® improves the outcomes from events like; corporate training, continuing education, safety and compliance training, team building programs, sales meetings, and employee surveys. Meeting attendees are active participants. Research shows that when attendees are engaged in this way, they retain more of what is presented and recall it a longer period of time.

One of our most popular applications for adult learning is the Group Competition Module® we have created for OptionPower®. Presenters can increase interactivity and attentiveness by incorporating assessment questions into a game similar to “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire®.” The audience can be divided into groups, and respond with their wireless keypads. The presenter can display a scoreboard, timer, or background music for fun and entertainment while teaching and assessing. With our OptionPower® software, you can downlink up to 32 locations. In multi-site situations, cities or locations may compete against one another, and the results are displayed in MS PowerPoint®.

I invite you will explore this great technology for PowerPoint® and the many ways you can use it to engage your audience and bring improve outcomes to your presentations. See www.OptionTechnologies.com or call 407-872-3333 for more information.

Mark Fite, Option Technologies Interactive

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The Association Forum, American Society of Association Executives, Professional Convention Management Association, meeting Professionals International, Association for Convention Marketing Executives, and other industry groups offer a variety of opportunities to learn how to successfully get started with meetings measurement. Some have dismissed such tools as unnecessary, lacking credibility, or as too difficult to implement. These objections are not unlike the barriers faced by manufacturing executives two decades ago, at the dawn of the quality movement. ISO standards and Six Sigma processes are not easy to implement. But world-class performance now demands such standards and measurement methodologies. The deep scrutiny focused on meetings today underscores the importance of embracing change and using new approaches to measure the value of meetings in the years to come.

For more information, refer to our website by clicking here, or to the article I wrote in Association Forum magazine.

Mark Fite, Option Technologies Interactive

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The majority of meetings are not boondoggles. We come together to make decisions, share information, recognize performance and build relationships. All of these purposes are highly valuable and correlate directly with the purpose of associations. Association leaders must raise their game and become more effective advocates. We need to clearly communicate the purpose and benefits that flow from attendance. That requires clear objectives and creditable data to demonstrate how properly executed meetings drive change and create value. Such data consistently shows that well executed meetings are necessary and, indeed, integral to organizational success.

New tools are now available; including Web survey and assessment technology, learning Management Systems, attendee tracking systems that use RFID chips, smart name badges, live social networking sites, audience polling mechanisms and “pulse” survey tools. When combined with proven measurement methodology like the Phillips’ model (Drs. Jack and Patti Phillips, ROI Institute), this growing array of tools helps make meeting measurement affordable and practical.

For more information, visit our website by clicking here, or see the article I wrote for the October, 2009 issue of Association Forum, “Expert Eye” column.

Mark Fite, President, Option Technologies Interactive

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The heightened level of scrutiny, due to pressures for efficiency, has forced many organizations to eliminate wasteful gatherings with questionable impact. The measurement of meeting value, therefore; has become of the upmost importance.

Many are now moving well beyond simple “smile sheets” to gauge the value of an event. This means using pre-meeting surveys to assess the needs of attendees and strengthen program design. It means having clearly written objectives for every meeting to make sure the program meets demonstrated needs; using technology in real time during the meeting to adjust programs and leverage the collective wisdom of meeting participants; and issuing post-event assessments to capture and assess “what changed” individually and organizationally as a result of the meeting.

Leaders in Continuing Medical Education have recently implemented comprehensive new assessment standards to measure meeting impact and add accountability at all levels. These changes were a response, in part, to the increasing scrutiny focused on events sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. As these standards are implemented, meetings are improving.

A growing number of meeting professionals are focusing on measurement methodologies like Return on Event (ROE) and Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI Institute, established by Drs. Jack and Patti Phillips, has developed and refined one of the best approaches to proving the value of meetings. It is credible and replicable. They have also published many “how-to” books and collections of case studies that document evolving best practices. 

Mark Fite, Option Technologies Interactive

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Even with it’s size it very robust in it’s capabilities. The Micro+ contains 14 buttons for input of single or multi‐digit responses and gives the user the ability to participate in sequence ordering questions and list ranking. Our unique LINK button allows users to  move between meeting rooms at a large conference and join the interactive polling underway in those sessions. This capability supports the attendance tracking requirements of continuing professional education events.

For information on keypad sales and rentals please contact us and we will provide a prompt custom proposal for your needs.

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Welcome to the Option Technologies audience response system blog!

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