Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Collecting Data with New Technologies: ARS, SMS and RFID

Last updated Mar 31, 2006.

Giving presentations is less and less about delivering information and more and more about getting and analyzing data in preparation for conveying a message.

Acquiring data before opening your mouth is often a good technique — presenters have begun to use several significant technologies in this regard.

First of all let's clear up the acronyms:

ARS stands for Audience Response System — which is a way of collecting information from audiences using keypads during presentations.

SMS stands for Short Message Service — which acquires text information using cell phones and text messaging.

RFID is Radio Frequency Identification — it uses bar codes and scanners to bring information into a database.

Audience Response Systems in Presentations

Savvy presenters have long realized that competition energizes an audience and that the collection of instant polling data has at least two powerful benefits:

1. Involving participants, particularly if they are broken up into teams, and giving them a stake in the presentation.
2. Providing the presenter with valuable and significant statistical data with which to plan future events and to grow his or her own user base and business.

That's why there are entire companies dedicated to the task of handling user input during a conference and processing it in a manner that will be most useful to their client, the presenter.

An ARS scenario can be broken down into three main areas:

Hardware—the devices—usually keypads or keypad simulators on a PC or laptop which physically collect the data.

Software—the programs used to display the survey questions along with the application that collects and processes the answers—and displays the results and/or collects the underlying data in a database.

Theatre — which involves getting the audience excited about the process, delivering the questions and rewarding the winning team or otherwise framing and climaxing the event in a way that achieves the objectives of the presenter (and if possible, the audience).

Generally the third aspect, the theatre, is up to the presenter. You need to figure out how an ARS system can add enough value to your presentation or event to justify the cost and time involved in its planning and implementation.

Then you can either attempt to install the hardware and run the software yourself (or with the help of your own staff) or hire an outside service to come in and do it all for you.

The two main hardware components are keypads and a computer or console that acquires their input and process it into a database. Most modern keypads are wireless and run on a radio frequency. Usually the hardware that collects the data connects to a computer that runs the software for processing and a hardware dongle may need to be connected to the computer to allow the software to run.

A presentation program (guess which one) is used to display the questions and multiple choice answers.

In the case of TurningPoint, for example, an Add-In is loaded into PowerPoint and when the program begins, a hardware wizard makes sure that the keypads are set up properly and are wirelessly connected to the computer that will be running the show.

Then, within PowerPoint, the TurningPoint Toolbar allows the user to insert various types of polling slides to construct multiple choice questions, the results of which will be instantly collected by the keypads and transmitted to the control computer.

For effect a good system will have an audio timer with music to allow the participants enough time to answer each question.

Then the answers can be immediately graphed and displayed — or in some cases the presentation may continue until a period when all of the questions and answers are shown, and debriefed.

Some scenarios allow for gifts or prizes awarded with each answer. In some conferences the ARS provider has a video of a horse or car race with special effects and plenty of pizzazz that keeps the audience in suspense as the results are shown as the cars and horses represent the competing teams.

A good presenter who can anticipate some of the results may also be able to use the results and how they differ from the audience's original expectations to make his or her point more dramatically.

And, of course, to the extent that the polling data reflects significant statistical, the database that holds the final data can be extremely valuable in terms of future marketing and business planning. This could include information like how physicians perceive the treatment efficacy for certain pharmaceutical products, or how financial analysts prefer to deal with the different objectives of their clients.

SMS Data Collection

With the proliferation of cell phones it is possible that they will soon replace the keypads in ARS systems and also be used for many other meeting and presentation functions, including the collection of questions from the audience prior or during a meeting.

The Q&A scenario is a huge improvement over the old "step to the microphone" method. A Q&A moderator can sort, select and put the questions in order and context. Issues can be clarified before they are brought in front of the entire group and long rambling questions edited. As questions are answered within the presentation itself, they can be dropped from the queue. Finally, with a real time setup between the database and the projector, the questions can be shown to the entire audience as they are presented, making repetition unnecessary.

Companies like Pangolin (http://www.pangolinsms.com/) are now using SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging in this way to aggregate feedback, gather audience questions, and user responses with telephone messages.

Another benefit is that the system stores phone numbers (which may not be a benefit if the users are later annoyed) and of course the range of the system is not limited to a convention area or even a city but information can be distributed to and gathered from the entire world.

Pangolin offers a Windows-based control center called IMU (Interactive Messaging Control). SMS text messages from cell phones come into the computer via a Multi-Tech MultiModem GPRS or MultiModem CDMA wireless modem allowing interactive viewer participation. Pangolin's IMU lets anyone with a mobile phone send messages that can be displayed over video, including large projection screens, on television, or even on web pages.

At this point the interactive polling is generally done over a more protracted period of time but the results are the same—graphical feedback and database collection. In addition the ability to collect information in real time during a live event or large trade show gives participants a greater sense of involvement.

RFID Data Collection

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is a small object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person. RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver. Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas active tags require a power source.

There are three parts to an RFID implementation:

1. Tag (chip and antenna)
2. Reader
3. Database & software

Each Tag holds unique data—a serial number and/or other unique attributes of the item in applications including:

• Retail & Distribution
• Contactless Payment
• Keyless Entry
• Livestock Tagging
• Pharmaceuticals
• Logistics Assets (containers, trailers)
• Pet Identification

Because database information can be reported using PowerPoint, either by pasting the data or report into a slide or with more sophisticated tools, the latest data acquisition tools become a significant part of the presentation process.

Lots of presentations involve inventory, catalogs or other repositories of information that can be gleaned from emerging technology like RFID. For more information:

• RFID Journal
• RFID Weblog

The bottom line is that the world of presentations is changing due to technology. Whether you need to evaluate data from the field (RFID), prior or during an event (SMS or ARS) or do instant polling (SMS or ARS), the dynamic effect of using the most up to date information makes your message much more effective.