Have you ever been to a public meeting where a few vocal, even angry citizens dominate the discussion but don’t necessarily speak for the rest of the audience? Or maybe you’ve attended a planning meeting where you’re forced to listen to a long presentation into the wee hours of the night with little or no opportunity to provide feedback? We’ve all been there, done that, and know it’s far less than ideal.

Enter keypad polling. In the hands of a capable facilitator, keypad polling technology can help transform a dysfunctional meeting into a dynamic, effective process for engaging the public, ensuring that everyone is heard, and providing the information and feedback required for sound decisions about a community’s future.

Keypad technology can be used in large or small group meetings and for a variety of purposes: brainstorming, critiquing ideas, voting on alternative scenarios. Participants, equipped with handheld keypads vote for their top choices, rank lists of items and have their responses quickly fed back to a computer where they are tallied, displayed and instantly available to the group for further discussion and voting. This ability to create an instant feedback loop helps enhance the iterative quality of discussions, shortening the time needed to reach consensus, make decisions and move to implementation. And with votes cast anonymously, everyone gets to participate and have an equal say, providing a more representative, democratic summary of a community’s desires.

Keypad polling is particularly effective when integrated with other decision-support tools. Roundtable discussions can include electronic flip chart technology, making it possible to share ideas with a large group. Combined with impact analysis and visualization tools such as CommunityViz, INDEX or MetroQuest, keypad polling can help participants make more informed choices about development scenarios. 

While keypad technology can greatly aid facilitation professionals in designing effective meetings, it’s important to keep in mind that it cannot replace them. Keypads are a means, a tool. Skilled facilitators and engaged participants are the critical ingredients for making this technology, or any technology, work for communities.

In this issue, be sure to read Bill Roper’s article about Hayden, Colorado, where keypad polling helped that small town create a vision for growth.