Touchpads — otherwise known as: keypads,
clickers, zappers, remotes, CLiKAPADs, computouchs, wireless hand-held polling devices,
audience response pads, etc.
Whatever you call them, these are hand-held devices that each participant uses to
enter responses. The responses are picked up by a base station (otherwise known
as: transceiver, receiver, driver, etc.) and sent to the computer running the polling software. CompuTouch offers a variety of touchpads for different meeting
environments. Which touchpad style is best for your meeting? That will depend upon:
- Meeting size. Radio frequency touchpads are robust and have a long
history of reliability. They can be used for any style of meeting. Infrared keypads
need "line of sight" to the base station and are typically only effective in
meetings with up to 75 participants or so (depending upon seating
arrangements).
- Meeting requirements - Will multi-digit input be required? How many
response options (keys) will be needed? Do participants need to keep the
same keypad all day or for multiple days?
- Touchpad size. Should the touchpad be part of the participants badge?
- The particular audience response software being used.
About touchpads:
- Participants answer questions by pushing a button. No
technological skills are required, so these products can be used by anyone –
executives, floor workers, the general public, children.
- Keypads are non-intrusive. They take up very little space and can
be easily set aside in those parts of the meeting when not in use.
- Responses can be collected anonymously, greatly influencing the
candour and comfort of the participants in bringing problems to light. These
issues can then be worked on in the non-anonymous portion of the session.
Anonymity is used to reveal the problem for further discussion rather than
avoid facing the problem.
- They can be used with groups of 5 to thousands.
- Results are immediately calculated and can be projected in a
graphic format as instant feedback and as a basis for discussion or action.
Printed reports and export files of the data and summary results are also
available.
We offer touchpads from two separate suppliers:
- Option
Technologies Interactive, LLC
- CLiKAPAD - The smallest
(credit-card sized) radio frequency voting keypad in the world!.
If you are interested in purchasing a keypad polling system, Joanne Wolf (joannewolf@computouch.ca) would be
pleased to recommend an appropriate keypad system for your situation. If your interest is in renting
a system, we primarily work with two keypads:
OptionFinder SR - radio frequency touchpad
–
OptionFinder SR is a radio frequency keypad
suitable for small or large meetings. CompuTouch has been using this keypad in
rental meetings for more than a decade, and it has proven to be a very
robust and reliable device. Up to 250 touchpads can be used with a single base
station, and eight separate channels are available allowing for up to 2,000
participants. This keypad has been the industry standard for more than a decade.
CLiKAPAD - credit card sized radio
frequency touchpad -
The CLiKAPAD is the smallest lightest radio frequency touchpads in the world. Credit-card-sized
keypads have the same performance characteristics as the larger keypads. Small
keypads offer several unique advantages including:
◙ They can be handed out as part of a delegate's kit so that the name
badge and touchpad are both worn on a lanyard for the duration of the
meeting.
◙ Shipping costs are minimized.
Although a very large
number of keypads can be used with each base station, we typically use a maximum
of 500.
|
