Successful Meetings - August 2008 - (Page 64)

Meetings Technology > New & Improved Bean Counting Keypad Systems Offering attendees the ability to reply directly to session leaders’ polling or voting questions via keypad devices is not new; using their capabilities to pin down the ROI of meetings is. iDNA’s OptionFinder iDNA INFORMATION SYSTEMS Based in New York City, iDNA Information Systems offers a wireless keypad system that can provide real-time data for meetings of up to 1,500 attendees. Further, it has also affiliated itself with Phillips’ ROI Institute, to add bottom-line measurement of meeting results. The company’s product uses interactive response technology for people in meeting rooms, “to measure their thinking, collaborate, participate, and leverage the power of their collective wisdom,” according to iDNA Senior Strategist Mark Fite. While keypad systems have been doing something similar for quite some time in single sessions, the capabilities are growing. Fite posits the example of physicians in a specialty discipline— say, cardiology—assembled in 25 different cities. Combined with broadcast capabilities where attendees can witness presentations, they can also ask benchmarking and case-study questions, and tap into the experience of peers. Meanwhile an audit trail of attendance can be tracked via the keypad process, Fite notes, which has become increasingly important with the advent of more rigorous business accountability. Beyond tracking, iDNA offers what it calls an ROI Toolkit, developed with the ROI Institute and its five levels of measurement. Via surveys delivered sometimes months after a meeting, Fite says, the iDNA system can address the first three of Phillips’ ROI levels directly. And by incorporating surveys that ask for projections, he says, the product can actually get to Level Five, return on investment. Importantly, says Fite, using the ROI Institute methodology, you can use technology to go back and attach changes that are attributable to a particular meeting. Live polling with Extreme Process EXTREME PROCESS The Extreme Group, in Tampa, FL, offers Extreme Process, another keypad-oriented technology that measures audience response. Its goal, says President John Collins, is “to work with clients to make their meeting a success, and where they can have verifiable data to say, ‘My message got through.’ ” Extreme Process, he says, entails working with the meeting planner to understand a meeting’s goals and objectives, and figuring out questions to ask attendees that will measure to what extent those goals were attained. Essentially an automated delivery system for surveys, the process can establish benchmarks with pre- meeting questionnaires, and follow up after sessions with surveys that measure learning change. “We can instantly evaluate what people thought of the meeting,” Collins says. “We can also look at sales down the road, or quality control measures.” Extreme Group provides pre- and post-meeting reports, and provides post-meeting consultations. A strength of this system, says Collins, is the ability to measure the effectiveness of a meeting’s content. “That’s maybe the most important part of the meeting,” he says. “If the attendees don’t get the message, who cares what the food was like?” mimegasite.com AUGUST 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS 64 http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - August 2008

Successful Meetings - August 2008 Contents Editor's Note Industry Trends Industry Events On the Record Technology Calendar Websites of the Month Personal Success Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Tools of the Trade Pre-Event Crude Awakening Oil’s Well Betting on Development The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of No Spa, No Dice New & Improved Bean Counting Places & Spaces Cleveland Palm Springs, Desert Resorts Midwest Meetings San Antonio Yucatan Peninsula Gurus

Successful Meetings - August 2008

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