Audience response systems allow people to express their opinions about a certain event or subject. The people who are involved in the response could be company employees, members of a physical audience group or a collection of users on an internet forum or social media page.

Tracking audience response has become much easier since the advent of the internet and smartphones. This means that large numbers of people will be able to give their feedback. The larger the cross-section of feedback is, the more reliable the data that is produced. The data that is produced after the feedback session can then be used by an individual or a company to take positive steps in the right direction.

BARB numbers are extremely important to commercial television stations. The trading model that is used by television companies and advertising agencies depends on the number of people watching the shows, and the commercial attractiveness of those people. The advertising agency will pay the television station a certain amount of money based on the number of people watching a show. The BARB numbers are used to work this out. Higher BARB numbers usually mean more advertising revenue for the television station. This leads to some interesting situations on the smaller channels. Since there are many television stations, and many hours in the day, there can be situations where BARB will record zero viewers for certain program.

Poor-quality response systems will frustrate the users, and these systems may have glitches which can make the experience extremely frustrating for the user. For example, the person may be halfway through completing a survey when a bug in the system causes everything to crash and the user has to start again from the beginning.

Alternatively, you can choose a system which has a lot of positive reviews online.

The purpose of the audience response system can vary wildly, but there are a few fundamental principles which underline a quality audience response system. What are these fundamental principles and why are they so important?

Speed

The first sign of a quality audience response system is that it responds quickly in a touch-screen format. People do not want to have to wait a long time in order to input information or wait for the next screen to load. High-speed systems encourage people to stick with the process right until the end, rather than getting frustrated and logging out halfway through.

Simplicity

An audience response system will not be effective if it is too complicated for users to follow. Users should be able to fill in information and send it within a couple of clicks. They should not need to be taken through multiple screens in order to navigate their way to the end of the survey or Q&A session.

The more complicated a system is, the less likely it is that people will engage. Instead, they will not bother to input information.

Anonymity

People want to be anonymous when they are providing this kind of feedback, so the system should allow them to input information without needing to give a name or an email address.

Accuracy

Accuracy is important, and any bugs within the system need to be iron out. This is especially important for polls, where people are clicking on a pre-determined answer. There will be confusion if the system logs their choices incorrectly.

Transparency

The overall data needs to be clear and accessible for the people who need to use it.

A quality audience response system allows people to submit their questions and opinions easily.

Author Bio:

Simon Hopes is a renowned author and social media enthusiast. You should only choose a no hardware audience response system which has been highly recommended by people that you know.