Background

This was one of a number of an induction events held for new employees joining the Isle of Wight Council. It's aim was to provide information to new employees. All levels of new staff attend these events from car park attendants to Managing Directors.

The Council changed their whole process for this type of event. They had previously run paper quizzes to test people and sent them on fact finding tours around County Hall but wanted to improve on the delivery of information.

Challenge

It was important to check on an ongoing basis that information is being communicated well and taken on board by new employees. Time is precious and it was crucial that the meeting had an environment where two way communication could take place and where the Council could get messages across to attendees from very disparate backgrounds.

Solution

IML Communicator keypads and Message Manager.

The Communicator keypad guarantees anonymity for the delegates and removes any reticence about expressing views in front of other delegates. Votes taken before and after presentations provide means of gauging opinion before and after the delivery of presentations and a method of ensuring that a message is successfully communicated.

Message manager is used as an extension of the voting system. The anonymity provided means that delegates are able to send individual text responses and express genuine opinions. The results of the feedback can be used to generate discussion topics for a closing Q & A session and provide a means of following up all delegate queries and suggestions not covered at the event. There are no time constraints on the number of questions or points that delegates can raise throughout the meeting.

Case Study

The Isle of Wight Council recently held a corporate induction event catering for new employees joining at all levels of the organisation, from Car Park Attendants to Managing Directors.

The new employees were asked some warm up questions using the IML keypads. These consisted of some general questions about the island just to get people used to the voting with the technology.

The keypads were then used to gauge what the new recruits had learned from the presentations given to them about their directorates.

After each of the presentations they were asked questions about the content and presenters could instantly how much the delegates were picking up. It also worked as an incentive for delegates to listen to subsequent presentations. Once they knew that questions were going to be asked they were more inclined to listen to the content.

The Council has changed its whole process for this type of event. They had previously run paper quizzes to test people and sent new employees on fact finding tours around County Hall but wanted to update the whole process.

The Council have also used the IML keypads at their Modern Council Conference and had some really positive feedback.

The facility allowing delegates to enter free text into their voting keypads meant that they had the opportunity to gather truly open and honest comments and gather questions.

Rosie Barnard from the Isle of Wight council said, "It was amazing how different the day felt when we use the keypads. You really get a sense that the audience feel included in the process and the two way feedback really adds to the quality of the event. It made a big difference."

Client testimonials

"It was amazing how different the day felt when we use the keypads. You really get a sense that the audience feel included in the process and the two way feedback really adds to the quality of the event."

Rosie Barnard, Isle of Wight Council

“Our own in-house communications team and conference organisers were really impressed with the professionalism and the knowledge of the IML technician.”

Rosie Barnard, Isle of Wight Council

“The professionalism of the IML technician on the day meant that everything ran like clockwork. I know that they were working late into the evening to implement changes to the content of the meeting and arrived prompt and ready for action early the next day.”

Rosie Barnard, Isle of Wight Council

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