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After deciding to use ARS at a meeting one of the most common questions we receive from clients is, “How many questions should I use in my presentation?” I wish that there was straight forward answer to give them, but in practice, the answer is not always simple. There is no magic number of questions to pose to you audience. I can, however, give them and you some things to consider when planning you questions out.

How much time will it take to ask a question and get feedback?

A meeting that gets off schedule can be an ugly thing. So, when planning out your agenda you will need to account for the time that it takes to poll the audience. You can estimate the time required per question by timing how long it takes to read the question and the answer choices aloud. Add 5 – 10 seconds for the attendees to finalize their votes and another 15 – 60 seconds for the presenter to interpret and speak to responses received. Conservatively, you can expect audience response questions to take from a minute to a minute and a half each. Aggressive presenters will be able to reduce that time to around a minute.

When I talk to first time audience response users about these times, there are often concerns that that 5 – 10 seconds won’t be enough time to cast a vote. In my experience, this is not the case. Keep in mind that meeting participants can read the question and answer choices much faster that a presenter can speak them. Also, they are able to submit their votes any time the interactive questions is on-screen.

Ask the most important questions first

Even the most thoroughly and thoughtfully planned meetings can end up running long. Perhaps a question and answer session stimulated a lively debate or lunch lasted longer than expected. The meeting end time isn’t always flexible. The result could be that some important questions are skipped to keep the meeting on schedule. For each topic that will be covered, ask your questions in a descending order of importance so you will ensure that you get feedback on the most important issues.

Hopefully you will find this helpful and it will help guide your next audience response session. For more tips on how to get the most out your ARS be sure to take a look at our list of audience response system best practices.

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• How To Use A Turning Technologies ResponseCard
• How To Use ARS Clickers Effectively
• Track Meeting Attendees with a TurningPoint Participant List