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| The Various Technologies For Audience
Response Systems |
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| Wired
Systems |
| If you are looking
to buy a system and are considering a wired one, you need to know one thing.
Wired is dead. The technology is old, there's no one
writing new software for it, it's labor intensive to set up, and with all
the RJ11 connections needed, it's just not very reliable. |
| As guys who all worked with wired systems
years ago our motto is,
"if your choice is wired or nothing, take nothing." |
| If you're thinking
about renting a wired system for a specific meeting, forget it. Even
if the price is less than wireless, you'll have to pay at least one extra
day for the hotel meeting room to set the system up. And, forget about
moving tables around once a system is wired-in. Our advice for rentals
is "wireless only". |
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| Radio Based
Wireless Systems |
| This is the technology of choice for the
industry as a whole. We estimate that there are roughly 100 - 200
companies worldwide that sell and rent Audience Response systems. The
vast majority are using wireless RF equipment that is manufactured by either
Fleetwood, IML, Braehler, OneTouch, or a number of other small
manufacturers. |
| The basic reason is that radio can cover very
large areas, and is therefore capable of servicing meetings of not only
hundreds of people, but thousands. And, there are plenty of
meetings in huge Ballrooms and in Convention centers where an audience of
5000, 6000, and even 7000 people must be serviced. In cases like this,
Radio Frequency technology is by far the best choice. |
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| Infrared
Based Wireless Systems |
| In general, infrared technology has come a long
way in the last 4 years, or so. And one of the areas in which it has
been most successful is in Audience Response systems. Today, infrared
is clearly a viable alternative for small audiences. |
| By small, we mean something less than about
fifty people. Now, you'll hear claims that infrared can be used by
groups as large as 100 - 200 people. While there is truth to that
statement, we at the Audience Response Place feel strongly that RF is the
better choice for larger audiences. |
| However, in small audience applications, today's
infrared technology is quite reliable. And, because it is less
expensive to manufacture infrared devices than radio devices, it is often
the technology of choice in low budget applications such as the public
school marketplace. One of the ones we like best in the USA is the
ResponseCard®
system (keypads are about the size of a credit card)
with
TurningPoint®
software. |
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| Other Wireless Systems |
| There are a host of
other wireless systems based on cell phone technology and PDA networking.
It is our opinion that this is the direction in which the industry is
ultimately headed. |
| In this area, there
are really just two companies that we feel comfortable recommending.
Our network partner
audience-response-rentals.com offers cellular voting by Mobile Feedback
Inc. The system allows you to send one way messages or two-way
questions to thousands of cell phones simultaneously. It's really
quite amazing. |
| And, our friends at
Turning Technologies offer
LAN and PDA voting, a great tool for corporate use. |
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