Today we 
had a meeting with a representative for Turning Technologies. They are a private contractor that sells software which can make PowerPoint presentations, as well as other platforms, dynamic by allowing the user to add polling questions to their presentations. This allows the participants to actively engage in the presentation and can lead to increased information retention by participants. It also allows the user to collect data from the people attending their presentation and perform analytics which allow the user to refine their presentation as well as determine the needs of the group. It can also be used to steer a presentation in the direction the audience would like it to go, check for comprehension immediately, and alert the presenter to areas that need further emphasis.
One of the cool things about Turning is that you can either use a “clicker” provided by the company, or you can log on to their website at responseware.com and enter the presentation ID and answer the questions directly from your mobile device. The package comes with 20 “seats” and can be expanded in 20 seat increments for an additional cost. We didn’t discuss the overall cost of the package, but it is a one time cost with no need for ongoing maintenance.
It works with all versions of PP, including the latest 2016 version. We did find, however, that there was an issue with using some Android browsers. All in all, it seemed to be a great way of turning what the presenter called “death by PowerPoint” into a dynamic, fun way to engage an audience in a presentation or for training employees, volunteers, etc in a way that feels like you are playing a game.
Community Engagement for Public Service 