ARS: Insight on how to make your presentation more interactive & gain feedback

Another Tuesday is upon which means another piece of technology I have to spiel about. Today it's the very clever iml connector device. 

Twitter is a beautiful thing and this is how i found out this device by a retweet from a person I follow. Rachel Klien  posted an article about this genius bit of technology. The article was about how to get the most feedback out of an event you put on. This would work well for a person who teaches, if you were putting on a debate or doing workshops.

Know who said what in real time! This is great when looking back at your invite you can pinpoint peoples reaction to the exact statement who you're presenting.  The user can also take a picture of themselves, so there's a face to the comments which is great for networking afterwards.


'IML's smartcards provide a simple and efficient way to identify and track individual's responses. 100% accurate and secure, smartcards are personal ID cards that automatically link audience members to their keypad activity.

Individuals simply insert their smartcard into the IML Connector and the system will automatically identify their responses.'








The iml connector has a wireless microphone. No more running around to pass around the microphones to the audience. All the do when chosen to speak ( I dont know how that works but I'm guessing theres a button the people press giving their interest to speak and then the speakers choses a name, which in turn the person uses their individual connector to speak into)

There is a texting option, where the audience can participant in the conversation or ask a questions. Everyone's responses would be projected onto a screen an the front of the stage.





Now this feature is where the majority of the crucial feedback comes from. I love this feature sooooo much!

"including multiple choice, value, rating, prioritisation, text response, XY matrix and resolution voting. Receive greater audience participation and honesty through anonymity or track individuals' responses via smartcards - perfect for auditing, training and certification."


Like I said before this piece of kit doesn't have to be for an event this could be used anywhere!







They've thought of everything! You can even have your logo or sponsors information imbedded onto the device, just to give it that special touch!

Other feature including recording the seminar and listening to the seminar in a different language. This is a nifty piece of kit and I don't doubt it pretty expensive for one! I don't whether there is an option to buy as i've been searching and nothing! Maybe they only offer on a rent basis?  I hope there is an option that yo can print out transcripts of your event and the polling results.

All in all if i was a millionaire with my own company or teaching workshop I would grabs these!

Hope you enjoyed this Tech Tuesday!

#Hashtag Twitter Chats

I've been on twitter for almost 3 years and has never followed and be involved in a 'hash tag twitter chat' until now!  A couple weeks ago I followed chat, it was all about how to market your business around holiday events to drive sales. i.e valentines day, christmas, easter. The main focus was around Valentines day as it was approaching. It was sponsored by Amazon and had people who were experts in marketing, business owners, graduates, students and ordinary folk from around the world answering 9 questions that were put to the participants.  If you want to look back at the chat the hash tag used was '#smbvalentine'

Anita Campbell,  a Forbes Top Influential Woman for Entrepreneurs had some great answers as did the other participants; so much i downloaded the whole transcript. Whether I set up my own business, a consultant to a start up or working in a agency these tips and tricks would going to come in handy. 


As I didn't major in marketing, it has been a learning curve and the chat pointed out some things i would of never thought about, for instance a marketing calendar. Here's one i found displayed as an infographic. Note that when you make a generic calendar and list all the holidays doesn't mean you should use them all some may not compliment your business. Another tip I learnt, you don't have to be so obvious marketing ideas around Valentines day doing a ' love your customer event'  'Wrap your purchase with love', realtors using Valentine’s Day theme “Fall in love again … with a new home.”

. If you were using location based strategy you could collaborate with a restaurant or flowers shop ' Spend over £30 and get 20% off at Fiona's flower shop' 

I never knew that Facebook allows targeting based on relationship status for laser-focused ads. All in all i really enjoyed the chat and best of all it was free and I didn't have to leave my house or change out of my pajamas! 

This got me thinking also if you were a small business getting feedback from customers and potential customers would be key. I have in the past have started a blog on projects, however as a really small team it was very time consuming but hold a tweet chat every month on different fun topics that would entice them and in turn get you get feedback you can analyse is a win win. Plus you would be creating a community through social media.


As this blog is called Get a life I would love to host a twitter chat on a hot topics so we can all bounce and learn of each other.

Tech Tuesday: Trello

Hello! Yes I know it's not tuesday and i'm a couple days late but its be a hectic week! I'm going to save my excuses and get straight to it.

Today i'm going to talk about a online project management program i found while running Creative Championships. I needed a management software that everyone could see tasks and deadlines. Most of all it had to be free. I almost gave up but my fantastic research skills finally came across Trello! 

Trello is a free web-based (which is fantastic no clogging up space on your operating system!) project management tool made by a fog creek software.  If your a person that loves your lists or find it difficult to do think about more than one thing at a time, this tool will support you. Whether it's your doing a shopping list, planning a wedding, planning a holiday I assure you ever detail will be documented, most of all fill you with ease. 

 Here's what the user interface looks like. Trello is set up as boards. You can name the board i.e Reception Dinner and then underneath the main heading you would add the tasks onto 'mini cards'. i.e Caterers, you then would click onto that name and put more detail. On the mini cards you can create checklist, deadline dates, add pictures, videos, a voting system,word documents and many more. You can drag and drop the mini cards on any board you like.

If this is a group endeavour you can assign people for different tasks. Once any activity has been made on the card that a person is assigned to, they would instantly be sent an email. You can also add comments and have a discussion. You can colour co-ordinate the task will the label option too. You can have as many boards and mini cards as you like and also projects.

You will be pleased to now you can access Trello through your smartphone. There's no restrictions either like some apps where access is only web based.

Things I would like to see implemented:

1. At this moment in time when you add a label to differeniate tasks with colour it only put a slither of colour on the bottom of the mini card. I would like the whole board changed to that particular colour. Being dyslexic I find it easier when colour is used on the background, my mind seems to see structure better.  
2. Also I would like there to be an option where you can print your project as either single boards or all boards together. 
3. Video calling or instant chat option.
4. Reminders to members or yourself that a deadline is approaching.
5. There's an option where u can do a voting approach, maybe once the voting has finished it creates a mini pie chart that either you can present or print out.

I hope you've found this helpful! Happy projecting managing! 

What's this blog about anyway?

 You may be thinking that my blog posts are pretty erratic. One minute i'm talking about different apps and software technologies I use, the next minute i'm talking about my first interview of the year and my months abroad in Barbados.  Well in essence, I'm trying to do exactly what the title of this blog is called. I'm showcasing to you the public what i'm all about and the steps i'm taking to succeed, my interests and how they could benefit me in the long run. Researching and finding out about new technologies helps me keep in the loop and on top of trends. I have an entrepreneurial spirit so I can use these techniques I've learnt in my self- directed projects.


We envole as individuals everyday, which could lead to different career paths, life paths, love interests. Our wants and needs change constantly, we may have some type of plan in our heads but it doesn't mean it will turn out that way. So it's best to keep your options and mind open to change. People study science at university and end up in business. You just never. Some think they will stay in their hometown for lifetime but end happier on the  other side of the world. There's so many opportunities nowadays, the possibilities are be endless.



I hope this blog interests you in some way, whether that's opening your eyes to a piece of technology you never heard of before, making you think about your career choices or relating to someone in the exact same boat as you.



So i want to open you a dialogue with you guys! Either comment on a post or get in touch

Tech Tuesday!

I've decided to blog about gadget that i come across whether i think they're useless or a must to add to my collection. So today I start it of with this little number..... Would you saying when referring to this: 'good things come in small packages?"




Little Printer

"Little Printer holds a compact, inkless, thermal printer which prints in black on white thermochromic paper. A thermal head inside the printer selectively heats the paper as it passes, turning areas black to produce an image.While the paper required is specially coated, it is readily and cheaply available from high street office suppliers. We always supply and recommend BPA-free paper" 

Use your iPhone, Android or Windows smart phone to add 'publictions' that make you laugh, train your brain, enhance your cooking skills or just give you a fact a day.  Once you've saved the publication you then print it from your mini printer. You can schedule them to print in the morning you have a something to read with your cornflakes, have a light read ready for when you get home or have a night cap before your beauty sleep.

Not only can the app do that but it can connect to you can send a message home, you can send your to do list to print to stick up on your note board.
Little printer needs to sits by your broadband router and wirelessly connects Little Printer to the web. It  could be different to carry it round with everywhere you go.

  I think this would be cute in a cafe etc having quirky things on the back of the receipt.  It's not something that you couldn't go without but if money isn't an option than why not try it out.

The good think about this is that it's inkless! We all know that inks is so expensive to buy useless you buy it in bulk. However the website doesn't mention how much the paper rolls are going to be, how for repairs, how much for a new cable or router if lost or faulty.

This is a very cute product although at £199.99 it's a pretty expensive one. For more information or to order one (launch in April 2013) head to the website.