Turning Technologies' Company Profile

Overview

Turning Technologies, LLC develops interactive audience response and polling systems for use by schools, businesses other organizations. The systems, comprised of presentation software, participant response devices, and a wireless receiver that gathers participant feedback, has changed the response industry and made Turning Technologies a global leader in its field.

Founded in 2002, Turning Technologies is headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio. By 2007, the company was ranked as the fastest growing privately-owned software company in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine.

History

Turning Technologies has earned its place atop the audience response category by embracing a culture of innovation. It was founded with three goals in mind: to make response technology more affordable, easier to use, and better documented so that users could easily grasp its benefits.

The company introduced its first software, TurningPoint^®, in June of 2002, and a number of hardware and software breakthroughs have followed. Its most recent innovation, ResponseWare^™, allows audience members to register responses using Internet-ready devices including BlackBerry^® smartphones, Apple^® iPhones^™ and iPod^® touch.

Competitive Advantage

Measured by unit volume, Turning Technologies has become the world’s largest provider of audience response devices. Whether found in K-12 classrooms, college lecture halls, corporate boardrooms, training centers, auditoriums, churches or even arenas, the company’s products have been proven to improve learning, heighten attentiveness, and strengthen presentation effectiveness.

TurningPoint systems are renowned for their quality, value and unique features. For example, Turning Technologies’ TurningPoint software is the only one of its kind to integrate natively into Microsoft^® PowerPoint^®, thereby enabling two-way interactive communications with a class or audience from within the PowerPoint interface. Similarly, ResponseCard^® keypads replace bulky, delicate and expensive response devices with a simple, low cost alternative that is faster and supports more functions.

As the final link in the system, the TurningPoint receiver plugs into a computer like a “thumb drive”, yet can automatically communicate with up to 1,000 ResponseCard devices in less than a second.

Customers

Turning Technologies’ systems are used regularly by many of the world’s most respected corporations, academic institutions, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Over half of all U.S. higher education institutions use TurningPoint systems including The Ohio State University and Dartmouth College. Corporate users include Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson and McDonald's Corporation.

Key Products

TurningPoint systems, available for both rental and purchase, are produced in nine major languages and are used in countries around the world. Key products in Turning Technologies' response solution portfolio include:

TurningPoint—The company’s flagship software that lets teachers, speakers and trainers instantly poll their audiences’ knowledge and opinions using ResponseCard® keypads.
TurningPoint AnyWhere^™—Ideal for higher education, TurningPoint AnyWhere software allows instructors to poll using content found in any PC or Mac application including Web browsers, PDFs and Microsoft Word^® documents.
TestingPoint—Turning Technologies’ test generation software, 100% native to Word, used by teachers and administrators to author and format tests and assignments.
ResponseCards—Interactive audience participation keypads that interact with TurningPoint software. Available in three versions: ResponseCard IR (infrared response) for small to medium groups; ResponseCard XR (two-way radio frequency response) for alphanumeric entry responses with groups of any size at distances up to 400 feet; and ResponseCard RF (two-way radio frequency response) for any size group, including large audiences of 1000's.
ResponseCard AnyWhere—Handheld response receiver that incorporates a personal LCD screen from which questions can be posed. Eliminates the need for projectors and screens.
Response Receivers, available in three versions to receive infrared, radio frequency or long-range radio frequency signals.
ResponseWare—A response system for mobile devices that allows audience participants to respond wirelessly via standard Web browsers. Also supports a variety of mobile handhelds including Blackberry devices and the Apple iPod touch or iPhone.
Awards
Products: Tech & Learning Award of Excellence, PC Magazine’s 4-Star Quality Award, the British Education and Training Technology Award for “Best Primary/Secondary Hardware”. Corporate: Inc. Magazine’s #1 fastest growing privately-owned software company in the U.S.; seventh fastest growing software firm by Entrepreneur Magazine; multiple local and regional awards for entrepreneurship.
Key Executives
- Mike Broderick, Chief Executive Officer
- Dave Kauer, President and COO
- Brad Gant, Vice President of Educational Sales
- Kevin Adkins, Chief Technology Officer