IML’s innovative enotes program has helped a leading organisation to drive forward a campaign to raise industry awareness on improving accessibility for disabled delegates at events.

 

Background

 

The client aimed to educate event organisers on preventing the exclusion of disabled people at their exhibitions and conferences.

 

Challenge

The client needed an audience response system that would encourage participation and could be used by all delegates:

"We wanted to promote best practice, so that everyone, no matter who they are, could contribute at events and experience being involved. The technology we used had to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve full delegate participation. Furthermore, the technology had to deliver rapid results, as it was to be used in a live question and answer session at the end of the conference."

 

The IML solution

 

IML recommended enotes - a laptop based messaging system designed for use in group response situations. Each table had a laptop and delegates simply typed in their concerns or questions and clicked on the 'send' button.

 

Within seconds, messages from each table were displayed scrolling on screen in front of delegates. This allowed the presenter to quickly identify the most common concerns and put them to the live panel. Other questions, concerning just one or two delegates were dealt with post-event and the answers were made available online.

 

"enotes was the perfect solution for us. We were able to capture everyone’s questions and contributions and everybody had the opportunity to have their say. The immediacy of enotes sped-up our question and answer session, as the presenter could easily identify the most pressing issues for immediate answer.

 

"More importantly, we were running a best practice event, demonstrating how to be more inclusive at events. We needed the technology we were using to reflect this. enotes technology is very inclusive, as only one person need enter the data. One delegate on the table could express their opinion and another could type in their thoughts and feelings for them. It is not up to an individual to use the technology. It is a team activity that ensures everyone is involved."

 

Other benefits

 

• Delegates can remain unidentified and have their say without having to speak aloud. This ensures that those who are less confident still feel able to contribute.
• The technology can also be flexible with the interface; Type can be changed, making it bigger and bolder for delegates with poorer eyesight.
• Not every message has to be displayed. When delegates hit the send button, messages are sent to an operator, where they can be previewed and selected for discussion. Incoming notes can be sorted by priority, content or in chronological order.  
  

 

Client testimonial 

 

"This was an event organised by an event management agency for event managers. It was absolutely crucial that the technology we used was slick and efficient. Everything had to run smoothly. Having used enotes before, we had total confidence in and completely trusted the technology."

Client Services Manager.