Should You Rent or Buy an Audience Response System?
When is purchasing an audience response system a good plan?
Whether renting or buying, investing in audience response technology can get a bit expensive, particularly if you’re planning on outfitting a large group of people. For a single event, renting will most likely be the most cost-effective solution, but there are many situations where you might consider buying a system. Here are some circumstances to consider:
Frequency of Events - How frequently will you use the system? Once a year? Monthly? The more interactive meetings you expect, the more sensible holding a delegate voting meeting with 1,000 stake holders? Larger audiences not only need more hardware, but often also need more expensive hardware that can handle the data transfer.
Staffing and Maintenance - Most audience response vendors offer a maintenance plan to cover equipment performance and software upgrades. But if you own the hardware, someone in your organization has to keep track of it, store it and make sure it’s running correctly when the time comes to use it again.
Kinds of Hardware - Are your wireless keypads and base station radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR)? IR keypads are great for small groups. At under $2,000 for a 20-keypad system, infrared audience response systems are a very affordable choice. Larger audiences, on the other hand, will require more expensive radio frequency keypads to deliver reliable data.
In summary, here are some basic guidelines to consider when deciding to rent or buy your audience response system:
When to Rent
* When you have a low frequency of events
* When you have a large audience
* When there are no resources available for storing and maintaining the hardware
* When you need expensive hardware to perform desired interactive functions
When to Buy
* When you have a high frequency of events
* When you have a small number of participants
* When there is staff available to handle the hardware
* When lower-priced hardware will meet your organizational needs
Hybrid Solution for Audience Response System Ownership
A simple answer of “rent” or “buy” may not always be the right solution. Sometimes it will make sense to do both. If your organization can use the audience response technology in multiple circumstances, than a hybrid plan may work best.
Fortunately, many ARS vendors’ software will allow different hardware platforms to work together. For example, if you purchase 50 IR wireless keypads to use for small-group training and executive decision making. Once a year, you hold a company-wide event with 200 participants. You could use your 50 existing IR keypads and just rent 150 more (IR or RF) for the annual event.
Whatever your circumstances, make sure you evaluate your organizational goals and capacities before deciding to rent or buy. Adding interactive audience response participation to your events is a sound decision, but make sure the financial decisions are just as sound.
