Quick Tally’s Expert Support
Whether you’re doing research, having a meeting or seminar, training employees or having a scientific session, working trade show booth or electing officers, producing a game show or an entertainment event, Quick Tally® will help you make it more interesting and productive.
Providing the highest quality, guaranteed, interactive onsite event service is at the very core of our business. This includes event content development, consulting, interactive programs, equipment and highly skilled service personnel to run the sessions. We also offer services to clients who own and run their own ARS equipment.
Pre-session Dialogue
We supply one day of interactive meeting content and design consultation by phone and e-mail at no additional fee. Through the initial conversations with us, we will help you to define how best to use Quick Tally® to help meet your objectives.
Session Planning
This typically takes one conference call with your team. If it’s a meeting, preceding the call, we e-mail the client the QTIS Speakers Guide to use as a reference. This initial content development discussion centers on your culture and overall event objectives, with side-bars for individual presenters. This process jump-starts the development of questionnaires that the client will send to QTIS for our review during the development process. We will show you how to write the interactive questions and save valuable time by empowering your audience to determine their level of knowledge and expectation before you start a session.
The client’s questions while in development are entered into our system. The PowerPoint question slides of their questions will be sent to the client for proofing well in advance of the event. Corrections and changes may also be made on site during rehearsals.
Our technical staff will contact your Audio Visual provider and the venue to arrange and confirm the equipment and logistics.
Developing a Questionnaire
There are an infinite number of ways to design a meeting, research session, TV program, etc. with the Quick Tally® system, and the questions asked depend on the information you want. Together we will develop an appropriate questionnaire to lead your session toward those objectives, usually by phone and by e-mailing the questions and comments back and forth. The resulting questionnaire will be pre-programmed for your session and ready for you to review at a rehearsal onsite. It is very important to have a run through, just as with a show or performance with all of the elements of your event (lights, projection, sound system, etc.) in place.
Exploring an Impromptu Questionnaire
In some situations, there is no prepared questionnaire. These occasions are events in which the session has a clear goal and the moderator is prepared mentally and technically to “go with the flow.” As the session progresses, the moderator creates, or selects questions generated from the meeting attendees and feeds them to the Quick Tally® operator. (We will show you the techniques for collecting the questions from the attendees, from open mikes to index cards.) The operator types in a brief prompt of the full question and presents it on screen quickly to keep from delaying the event. A fuller version of the question may be entered later.
Remember, the best use of ARS is to only ask basic, meaningful questions that break through previously unexamined areas by eliminating assumptions and misconceptions.
On-Site Setup, Rehearsals, Voting Tabulation
A dedicated and highly skilled Quick Tally® on-site Systems Operator will setup the system on the day/night prior to the session. The equipment will include a complete system with a backup of all key elements, plus spare handsets.
The Operator will run on-site rehearsals and provide continued questionnaire refinement prior to the sessions, adjust to changes and add on-demand impromptu questions. Voting tabulation will be displayed on-screen, in real time, with unlimited cross-tabulations, showing responses by the entire audience, or by any subgroup.
During your session, you can add new questions and delete or change existing questions at any time. A seasoned Quick Tally® operator will work with you on the spot at your meeting to ensure that your session runs smoothly. The more interactive your event, the physically closer to you and more visible to the audience our operator should be. We suggest that you introduce the operator to the audience and communicate directly with the operator. In this way, the operator becomes the voting expert and you can concentrate on your presentation. If your presentation will be minimally interactive and not contain impromptu questions, or you will not require any assistance (although we never recommend it) the operator can be placed anywhere. Remember, your questionnaire may be amended at any time by communicating with the Quick Tally® operator and this often is a two-way street.
Post-Session
The session(s) voting results as they appeared on screen with cross-tabulations will be e-mailed to you, or to a specifically designated recipient from our office. This is typically a PowerPoint presentation. This data may also be left with the client at the event.
