Polling Alongside a Presentation

Learning Statement: In this article you’ll learn how to use 360 as an overlay with your presentation slides.
Audience: This article is aimed at OMBEA Response 360 users that wish to use Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, or another third-party presentation tool.

Background

OMBEA Response 360’s chart window is transparent which means it can sit atop another presentation tool and appear to work seamlessly. We will use Apple Keynote to illustrate the process. In reality you can use any tool you like. The basic principle of switching between OMBEA Response 360 and your presentation tool still applies.

RUN OMBEA RESPONSE 360 AS AN OVERLAY FOR ANOTHER PRESENTATION TOOL

  1. Launch Keynote and load your presentation. We are assuming that you have added slides with questions and answer options to your Keynote presentation, even though these will be non-interactive.
  2. Launch OMBEA 360 and, if it’s not already visible, bring up the main OMBEA Response Control Panel by pressing CMD+1 on the Mac or clicking the Control Panel button on Windows. This option is also available from OMBEA Response 360’s Window menu.
  3. Load your Question List via the drop down arrow next to the plus symbol. You will have saved this list earlier.
  4. Click Launch on the bottom right corner of the Response 360 Control Panel.
  5. The Control Panel will disappear and be replaced by the Polling window. Your first question will appear in the central section of this window, with the Response Counter beneath it.
  6. Start your Keynote presentation and advance through your slides.
  7. When you reach a polling slide, switch from Keynote to Response 360 (ALT+TAB on Windows or CMD+TAB on Mac) and hit the Play button. Your Keynote slide will still be visible, and the Response 360 Polling window will be laid over it.
  8. Invite your audience to vote using their ResponsePads or ResponseApp devices. As they do so, the Response Counter will rise to indicate the votes coming in.
  9. When you are satisfied that you have enough votes, close polling by pressing the Stop button on the polling window.
  10. OMBEA’s Results window will appear with a chart summarising the votes. If it does not, bring it up by pressing the Chart button on the Polling Window.
  11. You can resize and reposition the Chart Window to remain unobtrusive against your Keynote slides.
  12. Keep advancing through your Keynote presentation. When you reach another polling slide, repeat steps 7 - 10 above.
  13. Response 360 will automatically use the next question from your list. As long as this complements the contents of your Keynote slide, everything should match up.
  14. If you wish to choose a different question within the Polling Window, simply click on the question in the centre of the window to bring up a list of the questions from your list.
  15. When you have finished presenting, remember to save your data. With OMBEA Response 360 simply save your session from the File menu or the save button on the Response 360 Control Panel. Your presentation will be saved an an ‘ORTS’ file containing both the question list and the voting data. To learn more about saving data and OMBEA’s file types, click here.