Audience Response Company, Audience Response Systems by Vistacomusa.com

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How many answer choices can I have for a question?

A: For the Stadia and Worldwide keypad systems you can have up to 10 multiple-choice answers for a question. Answer choices can be Yes/No, True/False, 1-10, or A-E. Please note that if you want to use letters as answer choices (e.g., A-E), then you are limited to five answer choices.

2. Can I have multiple responses for a question?

A: For the Stadia and Worldwide keypad systems questions must be phrased in such a way that the audience member is to select only one answer for a question. For example, “What is the most important …?” You cannot have a question that asks the audience to select, for example, “Which one(s) are important in determining …?”

However, Vistacom offers up to 10 answer choices for a question. Most questions do not require 10 answer choices, so you can use the remaining unused answer choices to create a multiple response. For example, you may have the question, “What criteria are important in purchasing a car?” Your answer choices may be:

1. Cost
2. Manufacturer Reputation
3. Safety
4. Word-of-mouth
5. Resale value
6. Answer 1 and 3
7. Answer 1 and 4
8. Answer 1 and 5
9. Answer 2 and 4
10. All of the above

Additionally, Vistacom’s audience response system provides a Rank Order feature. With the rank order feature, you can prioritize a list of items through rounds of voting.

First Priority: Using our car purchasing example above, you can ask the audience to vote on their most important selection criteria. Everybody votes and the answers are tabulated:

Second Priority: Then you ask the audience to select their second most important selection criteria. This is a new round of voting, but these responses are tabulated alongside their previous response to create a weighted average score:

You can continue for all five rounds of voting from their most important selection criteria to their least important or you can stop the voting at any point in between (i.e., just get their first and second most important criteria). The results screen creates the weighted-average score and sorts the answer choices in rank order from most important to least important:

3. Can I change my mind and enter a different response from my original response?

A: Yes. Simply press the button that corresponds to your new answer choice before the polling time has elapsed and your new selection will override your previous selection.

4. Are there any limitations as to when I can ask questions vis-à-vis my presentation?

A: The audience response questions can be asked at any time during your meeting. Questions can be interspersed throughout a presentation, asked all at the beginning, or all at the end. Furthermore, you can ask a question and show the responses later or not at all. You may also skip over some of your questions and go to others, and you can even ask impromptu questions based on any subsequent discussion during your presentation.

5. Can I make changes to my questions?

A: Yes. With Vistacom’s flexible software and our VistaCare service, we are here for you every step of the way. Prior to the meeting we are available to offer guidance on question development and will incorporate any revisions that you would like to make. Once on site, and even during the meeting, our System Specialists can accommodate any question changes you may wish to make.

6. How do we coordinate the use of Vistacom's audience response system with my PowerPoint presentation?

A: This is more of a technical, audio-visual solution. A VGA switcher is used to toggle the video signal between one computer (i.e., the speaker’s computer using a PowerPoint presentation) and another computer (i.e., the Vistacom System Specialist's computer to ask the audience response question). So as you are moving through your PowerPoint presentation and get to the point at which you would like to ask a Vistacom question, the video signal is switched to provide a seamless transition. These switchers, combined with Vistacom's ability to incorporate the same graphic background and font characteristics as your PowerPoint presentation, create a seamless flow to your presentation.

7. When you say that Vistacom's system can display results instantly, is it really instantly?

A: Yes. Once the votes are in and the countdown clock has expired/moderator has asked for the results, you are a keystroke away from witnessing the results. The only time lag is for the audience members to mull over the selection of an answer and to enter their choice on the keypads. Experience has shown that approximately 10 seconds is an adequate amount of time for the entire audience to enter their responses.

8. Is there any interference associated with wireless keypads?

A: The Vistacom system incorporates digital wireless, radio-frequency (RF) keypads. These keypads are mandated by the FCC at a frequency range that does not interfere with other wireless instruments in your meeting room, such as wireless microphones, lavalieres, cell phones, etc.