RemotePoll^™ Case Study

Equal Voice for America's Families Convention

BACKGROUND

Equal Voice for America's Families is a movement aimed at improving the lives of low income households nationwide. As a part of the renowned Marguerite Casey Foundation, Equal Voice organized approximately 60 town hall meetings over a six month period in order to address issues most important to poor and working families. From their discussions, a national platform was created to later be revealed at the 2008 Equal Voice for America's Families National Convention.

THE CHALLENGE

With the intention of bringing families together from across the country during the national convention, a multi-city, simultaneous event was coordinated with the help of AmericaSpeaks, an organization aimed at engaging audiences in governance. Three locations were selected: Birmingham, AL, Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA.

The convention was an opportunity to showcase their platform of issues, reinforce collective ideas and gather feedback from an audience of over 10,000 attendees. In order to obtain demographic information and poll participants on relevant topics, Equal Voice was in need of response technology that could conduct polling at multiple sites.

THE SOLUTION

Turning Technologies was on board to provide audience response simultaneously at all three locations using RemotePoll, a state-of-the-art remote polling application. RemotePoll allows a presenter to poll audiences in multiple remote locations - without the use of satellites - and instantly display results.

In anticipation of a large crowd, Turning provided over 12,000 ResponseCard^® keypads, credit card sized devices that allow for each attendee to individually respond to interactive questions. For the first time, instantaneous feedback was gathered in real-time from approximately 10,000 participants - the largest audience of a remote polling event thus far. RemotePoll made it possible for all attendees to share their insights and view results accurately, timely and effortlessly.

According to Chief Operating Officer of AmericaSpeaks, Steve Brigham, "This event was a way to organize citizens towards the common goal of improving the lives of America's families everywhere. With the help of Turning Technologies, we were able to link families gathered in three different cities together and obtain valuable feedback regarding solutions to improve the lives of all American families. Simultaneously polling participants in the three cities not only allowed the families to participate and see what other people were thinking, it also provided valuable information for the creation of a national family platform to present to the next presidential administration. This was the largest interactive event that AmericaSpeaks has done so far."

CONCLUSION

A total of 13 questions were asked to participants in order to gather demographic information and vote on pertinent topics that were addressed in the initial platform. The general excitement of the crowd was felt as each set of results was revealed with cheers and applause from all three audiences. With a majority of low income families in attendance, Equal Voice now has the data to support an agenda that truly speaks on behalf of the poor. Results from polling will be integrated into a final version of the platform and be presented to the next presidential administration.

"The use of Turning Technologies' Audience Response System at this three-city event was a huge success," Michael Smith, Technical Coordinator from Manifest Management said. "People were excited to be engaged and have their opinions heard on this family-led social movement. Turning made it very simple for polling to occur simultaneously and in real-time at the Birmingham, Chicago and Los Angeles locations. The physical connection between each of these cities provided great energy and enhanced feedback from the participants. This could not be possible without the unique Turning Technologies' RemotePoll technology."

For more information about purchasing or renting Turning Technologies' audience response systems for your organization, contact us at 866-746-3015.