Engaging audiences through technology

In the University of Wyoming’s new $25.4 million Energy Innovation Center, millions beyond the bricks-and-mortar price tag went into technology to bring it up to speed with industry. The building is a showcase of newer technologies for delivering digital presentations.

For instance, in the BP Collaboration Center – a large room that can be partitioned with smart glass to create up to three rooms – huge screens adorn the walls. One of these is a six-paneled, $50,000 wide screen covering most of one wall that allows for ultra high-resolution display. The room also boasts two 70-inch high-definition touch screens – known as interactive boards – that can be used for any type of media presentation, including old-fashioned whiteboard presentations with an included digital pen and eraser. The result allows for unprecedented interaction for a presenter on screen without having to interface with a computer. The touch screens retail at upward of $5,000.

A classroom features an array of cameras to enhance remote learning opportunities while boasting similar technology on the walls. School of Energy Resources Director Mark Northam boasted that the combined effect of the technology is to enable presenters to do any kind of presentation they want.

Some have accused UW of “gilding the edges” of the Energy Innovation Center too much to get such technology with large industry and state contributions. Director Mark Northam shrugs off such accusations.

“We didn’t just get this [technology] because we wanted it, we got it because this is what they (students) will encounter in the real world,” he said, indicating that most of the technology the school sought for the building they saw first in corporate boardrooms and research departments. “Industry has it and wants us to have it.”

Presenting on a smaller budget

Few are able to budget $50,000 for a high-definition screen that blankets a wall or $5,000 for a digital touch screen whiteboard, but technology-driven options are growing to boost the ease, interactivity and availability of digital presentations. Many of these options stem through what many people already carry with them in their pocket or purse – a cell phone.

Any speaker knows an engaged audience is critical. If people are nodding off, they are likely to think of the event as boring or unsuccessful. With technology becoming standard fare in conference attendees’ pockets, engagement is becoming an easier proposition. Audience polls, for instance, no longer have to include a show of hands that could be embarrassing or contribute to non-participation.

Many companies have released text-in polling solutions. Imagine the scenario: a speaker wants to ask an audience about something touchy. Maybe this could be asking the weight of audience members. If a speaker asked for a show of hands, the results will be scattered, imperfect and likely fraught with lies. By allowing audience members to text in their answers, anonymity encourages honesty while hopefully increasing participation.

The result is a slide that shows real, useful data from the audience as it is collected. The recent Can Kicks Back event at UW used this method to poll the audience, asking them to use their phones to text responses to several questions using a designated phone number. As the audience texted in their responses, a graph gets populated as users watch. This can be useful in multiple ways, including to the presenter, who could have some immediate, valuable market research from their attendees.

Some presenters use this technology to ask for instant feedback on how a conference went after an event is over. Again, the instantaneousness and anonymity tends to encourage participation from people that might otherwise decline. Plus, some people just like an excuse to use their shiny new smartphones in validated ways.

Making smartphone use smart

“Let’s face it: your attendees aren’t going to put their mobile devices down,” said Daniel Metz, marketing specialist at the Professional Convention Management Association in a recent blog post. “Eighty percent of conference attendees have smartphones, and no matter how outstanding your meeting is, today’s business professionals have grown accustomed to keeping their eyes on their tablets and smartphones throughout the day.”

If a presenter really wants to open up audience cell phone, laptop or tablet use – which some caution could invite more of a distraction than an interaction aid – some companies offer more fully fledged solutions.

NiceMeeting, a California-based company, offers a second-screen solution for presenters. This allows audience connectivity like never before. The primary drive of the program is to place a presentation on each attendee’s smartphone, tablet or laptop over local Wi-Fi. This allows them to see information that might not be visible to all users in a large room on their own screen. It also allows them to take notes and file share without having to ask for a copy of a slideshow after the meeting is over.

Think of it as digital handouts. Both speakers and participants can upload files to a space accessible to all attendees or even just a sliver of attendees.

Beyond that, if users have a question for a presenter, they can simply text it in, no need to worry about waiting for a perfect gap in the flow of a presentation to raise a hand and hope to get called. It also offers its own live polling solution that is less complicated than texting poll systems, though perhaps less inclusive since non-smartphones cannot participate.

Others may be most excited about the technology’s digital networking aids. The app allows users to post a brief profile with a picture available to other conference users. These users can chat with one another via the app to set up a meeting afterward. Many people attend conferences without faces attached to names. The technology could enable users to find those people they wanted to connect with at an event more easily.

“A participant tends to connect only with others who are in close physical proximity,” the company’s website says. “But what about those on the other side of the room, and how can an attendee reach them?”

The company also said that ads can be sold to sponsors that are displayed on people’s personal screens, allowing perhaps an even better way to attract event sponsors. One user was pleased with the technology’s results.

“We definitely achieved our goals and everyone was very impressed,” said James Kishel, director of industrial operations for Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest privately-held commercial real estate services firm in a blog post. “A real indicator of the buzz this created was hearing people say they wanted to use this at their next event. It’s great to have people experience something at your meeting that they want to steal for their own. That doesn’t happen very often.”

Presenting from a smartphone

A handful of smartphones now are trying especially hard to make it to boardrooms by incorporating projectors right into the phone. This allows presenters to project photos, videos or digital slideshows a la PowerPoint right onto a screen or blank wall. Professional reviews say some of the models work surprisingly well, but are not yet perfect. But for some, the ability to host an impromptu PowerPoint with nothing but a smartphone and a blank wall could be a powerful draw.

Smartphones can also be used as remotes for slideshows. An array of apps offer coupling to a laptop or computer so slideshows can be controlled using gestures on the presenter’s smartphone. Alternately, the smartphone could be the laptop if it comes with a suitable video-out connection. This is something PCWorld recommends a presenter fully troubleshoot before getting into a scenario where they find only video can be output through their device rather than everything showing on their screen.

Myriad options exist for sprinkling technology into a presentation, even if it is a simple timer on a smartphone to keep a speaker on task. Many find these techniques engaging and immersive, opening up new avenues of audience communication that are far more organized than tried-and-true methods. Speakers and event organizers should examine options, measure benefits and drawbacks, look at costs and decide what works best for their event.    

Wyoming Business Report eDaily Editor Mark Wilcox doesn’t own a smartphone, but knows way too much about them anyway.

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