Resources

Exciting New Features Enhance IML ViewPoint Premium

hannahwidell — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:20:00 +1900

IML ViewPoint Premium now includes functionality to perform advanced analysis on voting results during or after your meeting. There are three different analysis types: demographic split, compare and recall. These new features allow you to revisit results and gain valuable perspective from your meeting.

Here’s how these analysis types work:

Demographic split: Split voting results into a variety of demographics like gender, region, age or any other characteristic of interest to determine data trends.

Compare: See an instant comparison between voting results from the same, or similar, questions. Use this analysis type as a before and after tool to easily gauge progress or to compare priorities.

Recall: Revisit any poll within your presentation to emphasize prior voting results or to change how the results are displayed.

These new features of IML ViewPoint Premium allow you to further analyze and gain insight from your results, ensuring that not only are the right questions asked and answered, but that there are valuable takeaways from your meeting. Learn more about IML ViewPoint Premium here.

ASTD 2012 International Conference & Expo

hannahwidell — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:50:00 +1900

IML is very excited to be exhibiting as ASTD's International Conference and Exposition again this year! We'll be in booth #747, so stop by to see how IML's technology can benefit your training sessions!

About the event:
Held each spring, this premier event for workplace learning and development professionals welcomes 8,000 attendees from more than 70 countries. These professionals manage all aspects of learning in their organizations. From CEO to specialist, from dean to student, ASTD 2012 welcomes people from across the globe.

Learning is a key driver in companies big and small. At ASTD’s International Conference & Exposition, we typically bring Fortune 500 companies like Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Bank of America, and AT&T together to share what they are doing in learning to help grow businesses of all sizes.

Details:
May 6 -9, 2012
Colorado Convention Center
700 14th Street
Denver, CO 80202

Click here for more information.

Technology in Learning and Development

hannahwidell — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:43:00 +1900

According to the ASTD 2011 State of the Industry Report: Increased Commitment to Workplace Learning, “Many organizations are investing in technology-based delivery systems and methods, and the growing use of technology to deliver content will continue to shape the future of the learning field.” And, “ASTD’s research demonstrates that leading-edge L&D departments incorporate more technology components and processes than their lesser performing counterparts. As the economy and the employment situation stabilize, we expect a return to the growing use of technology to design, deliver, and manage L&D.”

Chart showing use of technology methods during formal learning hours over time.

Technology based methods are expected to return to their growth pattern as the economy stabilizes.

As shown by this report, incorporating technology into your learning and development program can help your department perform better and allows you to more easily ‘design, deliver and manage’ your employees’ training. How exactly does technology help you do all these things? If you choose the right tool it gives you a consistent, easy-to-use system with reporting built-in. That means that every training, learning or development session can be easily put together by you beforehand (directly in PowerPoint with IML ViewPoint software), delivered to your team via presentation with interactive polling and quiz questions, and all results and outcomes are saved automatically. So afterward, you can assess the data in the Excel report on an individual, partial or whole group basis; who knew what, what was learned or what wasn’t quite grasped yet. This will make your sessions more effective, you’ll no longer be guessing or assuming how it went, you’ll have accurate responses and data to confirm results.

Clearly, using technology to deliver your L&D content is easier and more prevalent than ever before – want to learn more about how it all works? See it in three easy steps. Or ask us about our ‘Lend-a-Click’ program by filling out this formwhere you can try out the system for free!

Your next meeting...Own it!

neilagass — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:33:00 +1900

Simpler technology and affordable pricing mean owning an Audience Response System is now a viable and valuable tool for organisations across all industries that want to deliver valuable meetings and events that engage with staff or clients.

Jason Smith of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy uses free intuitive IML Viewpoint software and ‘plug and play’ IML Click handsets to create debate, gather feedback and get to the heart of how people really feel…

IML Click user snap shot:

Jason Smith is a quality assurance manager for Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES)

‘The Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES) is a 100% managed national, non-for-profit recruitment company. Being wholly Indigenous gives us the know how to match the right career seekers to the right opportunities, to achieve great retention rates.

No other recruitment organisation offers this kind of expertise, commitment and value.’

Goal: To gather honest feedback from AES Customers at locations all around Australia

Key requirements of system:

Lightweight/portable
Easy enough for user to run the system AND present/facilitate
Software compatible with PowerPoint 2007 and able to run from Jason’s own laptop
Quick and easy to set up
Display ‘Live’ poll results on screen instantly
Anonymous responses

System Chosen:

25 IML Click handsets plus USB receiver in a soft carry case – Pic?
Free IML Viewpoint Express software

Training:

Jason used the online tutorials and experimented with the system and found that he picked it up very quickly.

The system is installed on multiple laptops

Results:

The nationwide tour was a great success

Customers were engaged and for the first time AES received honest feedback from their customers – both employers and employees

The anonymous nature of polling combined with the instant display of those results created debate and saw participants to be considerably more open with their feedback in speaking about the issues they face

For example- the option ‘Not satisfied’ was included on feedback questions and when this option was chosen, the group was asked to elaborate

What next?

Jason is planning to use the system at this year’s AES staff convention, he’ll also use the free IML Christmas quiz for a bit of office fun in December.

To learn more about AES and the great work they do click here

Facilitate Innovation – Identify New Business Opportunities

meriontrask — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:05:00 +1900

Some of the most respected and successful businesses in the world allow their employees an allotted amount of time each day to do whatever they’d like. The theory behind this thought is that some of the ideas they generate during this time may very well be the next big idea for the company. While great in theory, this idea may not be practical for every company. The company may prefer more structure or simply doesn’t have the time or budget to allow their employees this much ‘free’ time. An alternative method to finding these next big ideas could be to hold brainstorming or innovation sessions.

Schedule a time for different groups of approximately 20 employees to take part in a brainstorming session. Make sure to include people from different departments and at varying career levels, this way you’ll have a larger scope of opinions and ideas. Encourage the group to brainstorm any and all ideas – none are bad – the key is to generate enough ideas to bring the best ones to light. The goal should be to generate the greatest volume of ideas possible. Once you have a large list of new and innovative ideas, have the group vote on the best ones. Electronic keypads can help you democratically narrow down the list and ensure that the ideas with the most votes get pursued. After you’ve held several of these sessions with different employee groups, reporting features can help you display and aggregate the ideas from all the sessions on one concise spreadsheet.

This method of holding brainstorming sessions can be used to generate ideas for any number of reasons, from identifying new business strategies to coming up with your next advertising campaign. The process of interacting with others’ ideas and voting on them often leads to other ideas and further innovation – leading your company to develop and launch great new ideas, all while fostering an environment of employee contribution and empowerment.

Get Interaction in Your Sessions with Wireless Response Systems

hannahwidell — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:16:00 +1900

Wireless response systems are an educational assessment tool, designed to build an attractive and engaging learning environment for both presenters and audience members.

Before the introduction of classroom response systems, a presenter could only hope that information had been fully received and understood. Now, using classroom clickers, it is possible to track the progress and understanding of students individually or en masse. IML software allows presenters to ask students questions in a variety of ways, including multiple choice or numeric value formats. Audience voting systems allow participants to respond anonymously or, using student ID coding, in such a way that the presenter can identify a particular respondent.

Not only do wireless response systems give the presenter a clear idea as to who thinks what, but it also makes the whole process more engaging for the audience. In being asked to vote on the information they have received, students must consider the data to make their assessment. Not only does this create a greater understanding of the topics covered, but classroom response systems can also help students retain knowledge for longer.

IML’s audience voting systems open a channel of communication between the presenter and the audience that can make any presentation truly interactive.

'Pro' or 'Anti' Meeting?

hannahwidell — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:08:00 +1900

Do you consider yourself ‘pro-meeting’ or ‘anti-meeting’? Here at IML, we see the value in meetings nearly every day. Between putting our technology to use at our clients’ meetings and holding our own, we see first-hand how much meetings can help us accomplish.

We also understand that when meetings aren't run as effectively as they can be, it can be frustrating to attendees. They might feel like they're a waste of time and be tempted to write off meetings altogether as boring and unproductive. We think meetings deserve a second look though. And it turns out we're not alone! There's a movement called 'Keep America Meeting' that has set out to prove the crucial role that meetings play. For more on this movemnet, check out our article "Keep America Meeting: The Petition to Save Meetings."

Focus Groups – Delivering Instant Results

simonbryan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 08:58:00 +1900

If it’s part (or all) of your job to conduct focus groups, monitor participant responses and analyze their results, you know how time consuming they can be. Sometimes it can seem like you're not getting enough or the right information. And even if you manage to collect all of the information you want; distilling the responses to find the true meaning can be a challenge. Say you need feedback from your employees or a group of HR managers on the pros and cons of the company's current healthcare provider. Wouldn't it be great to have a system that delivered instant results and helped direct the next questions you ask in the right direction? With electronic voting keypads, you can ask the questions and get instant results displayed in front of you. What if the responses to one question lead to an idea for another that you hadn't originally expected to ask? No problem, with IML's free ViewPoint Express software it literally takes only seconds to create a new follow up question, and again receive instant responses.

While electronic keypads might not be the entire solution for generating the qualitative data you need to collect, they can help start dialogue as well as show you a quantitative breakdown of general thoughts and opinions. Combining these two approaches can help your focus group run more efficiently and ensure you receive all of the feedback you need.

Another bonus to conducting your focus group electronically is being able to break down the responses and data after the focus group has ended. Every single answer is recorded and stored within the software, waiting for you to display it in any combination you choose and in a variety of charts and tables.

If you want to use electronic keypads to enrich your focus group sessions, we recommend the IML Click and IML ViewPoint system. Learn more here

Social Media and Your Meeting

hannahwidell — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:04:00 +1900

Do you ever wonder if you're using social media in the appropriate context for your event? How do you make the most of it without it being a distraction to attendees? How do you ensure it has a positive, rather than a negative impact on your event as a whole? With so many social media platforms to choose from and all of the different communication options, sometimes it can feel overwhelming to make the 'right' choice. If you seem to have more questions than answers, I recommend you check out our article "Social Media: The Parentheses of an Event?"

Conference voting devices - helping you engage with your audience

hannahwidell — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 08:41:00 +1900

IML’s voting device allows your audience to share their thoughts with you, while you share yours with them.

While conference voting used to be a show of hands or a verbal free for all, this lightweight voting device turns thoughts into hard, analyzable data. Using our keypad voting system, your conference, presentation or training session becomes less about you, the presenter, and more about the audience. PowerPoint voting gives you the chance to find out what they really think about what you have to say.

The IML Click is convenient to carry and compatible with systems you are already familiar with. This method of keypad voting has been designed utilizing our two decades’ worth of experience and expertise in delivering seminars and conferences to some of the biggest companies in the world. The challenge was to design conference voting devices and software that was simple, stylish and allows you to hear each individual’s thoughts all at the same time.

In addition, we’ve taken steps to ensure that all your data remains safe. The PowerPoint voting software is built on secure and reliable RF network, leaving you secure in the knowledge that the only people receiving your data are the people who are meant to.