BACKGROUND

Randy Englund took the plunge in 2000 and left the corporate world in order to become a project management consultant for his company, Englund Project Management Consultancy, www.englundpmc.com/. After spending 22 years at Hewlett-Packard, Randy felt that he could use his expertise as a project manager to achieve greater results for organizations struggling with project-based work.

Randy uses his experience to present during meeting keynotes, training seminars, industry conferences, adult education classes and professional development workshops. His approach of L²M² or leadership, learning, means and motivation, has allowed Randy to keep a steady schedule of appearances, publish dozens of articles and author three books. His live classroom presentations, however, are his bread and butter and the reason why audience response became an integral part of his business.

THE CHALLENGE

While working at HP, a majority of Randy’s job consisted of classroom instruction. His natural teaching style was very interactive and often followed the standard procedure of asking questions and raising hands, which wasn’t always effective. Uncomfortable or hesitant audience members often hindered the collaborative environment Randy desired to create. During his last few years at HP, the company began to utilize webinars that featured a polling component. Intrigued by the idea of using polling to enhance instruction, Randy explored tools to add audience response technology during his lectures.

With a simple Internet search, he landed on Turning Technologies and looked no further for a response solution. TurningPoint^® audience response was perfect for Randy, an avid PowerPoint^® user. During his slideshows, he employs sound, animation and video, but the increased feedback he was seeking from participants at his seminars was not quite there. Randy purchased a 32 seat TurningPoint IR system and instantly saw the results.

THE SOLUTION

One of the first times that Randy noted the importance of response technology was during a government training session. In order to ready his participants for a test at the end of the course, he integrated sample quizzes throughout his lesson material. Not only was he able to assess audience understanding, he also reiterated key points and prompted discussion with interesting answers. He was able to expand the “high tech, high touch” continuum with an easy to use PowerPoint add-in that greatly enhanced communications among classroom participants.

Turning’s response technology has allowed Randy to save results for further analysis. The collected data provides a benchmark in which he compares previous and current sessions in order to calculate a median his attendees should be achieving. The data can be used to support follow-on discussions. The technology also allows him to pose valuable questions such as “Are you satisfied with your project sponsor?” and rank project factors such as scope, schedule and resources in order of importance. His classroom experiences using audience response have aided in the creation of a more effective and efficient curriculum.

“TurningPoint gives that tangible feedback that I need as an instructor – it’s really invaluable,” Randy said. “I’ve seen so many sessions where the material is just charged through without getting any audience feedback. I like to ask my participants how they are doing during class, and TurningPoint provides that opportunity.”

CONCLUSION

Even in larger seminars, Randy passes out ResponseCard keypads in order to gain a consensus on certain topics. In his project management seminars, questions such as “What is risk?” or “What is truth?” allow for instant evaluation of audience understanding and provide a direction for the conversation to follow. While his attendees are provided with an enhanced learning experience, Randy feels that his work also benefits from the use of TurningPoint.

“Participants are always happy to interact using the response system. It energizes the room and establishes a non-intimidating medium for classroom communication,” he said. “I was looking for a way to interact and capture benchmark data without having to count hands or persuade people to respond. TurningPoint fits perfectly with my teaching method, and I’m thrilled to have found such a useful tool.”

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