Measure your audience response - The ShowTime Way.

Measure your audience response - The ShowTime Way.

Raising one's hand was the ancient style of getting people to acknowledge a speaker. People clapped to show their appreciation and booed to show their disapproval since the Roman times. Even today, in many senates and parliaments 'yays' and 'nays' are registered verbally.

But, how can one genuinely measure audience response? The solution was in the form of an Audience Response System (ARS). An ARS is a tool that is used to connect speakers to their participants. This helped in measuring audience interaction throughout the session. It came into existence during the 1950's, after being adapted from military applications and Stanford University (1966) was the first to use polling for educational purposes.



The traditional ARS system was limited to just collecting anonymous participant results, where the trainer asked a question, the participant chose an answer and the results were displayed. The benefits of using an ARS in training were realized slowly.

But traditional ARS have failed to keep up with the demands of modern training due to the following limitations:
  • Participants are hesitant to speak up - Trainee inhibitions in participating during sessions led to poor engagement levels and made the sessions monotonous. Inactive trainees can rob the session of a lively and engaging conversation.
  • They don't hold participants' attention - Most participants in a training session are not able to follow exactly what the trainer is currently teaching. Many of them even leave the session still scratching their heads. The trainers are not aware of the level of trainee comprehension.
  • It's hard to collect feedback - Hard-copy surveys don't bring out reliable responses because many participants do not take the time to fill them out.
  • They can't gather accurate results - Gathering audience insights were not possible with other forms of audience participation (such as raising a hand, response cards) since these needs a database to store information.
The solution? Zoho ShowTime.
Zoho ShowTime is a training delivery tool that lets you interact with your audience in real time. It runs on the cloud, which means you can present as well as interact with your participants.
Here's how,
  •  Engagement - Today's trainees have lightning attention span. This can lead to engagement deficits when the trainer delivers his/ her session. With ShowTime, you are interacting with your trainees in a medium that they constantly use, i.e. the smartphone. This enables them to focus on your session without being distracted.
  • Comprehension - ShowTime turns a presentation into a conversation. Start a poll at the beginning to hook their interest, and run another one at the end to see how close they were paying attention; display the results to the whole room, and let everyone compare responses.
  • Feedback - You know exactly how your participants feel about your talk, both while you present and after you finish. As you explain each slide, participants can tell you which ones they found the most interesting by 'liking' them. Once you are done, you can see how the group rated your presentation overall, and also the session analytics to know how much attention each participant paid to individual slides.
  • Gather Analytics - At the end of your session ShowTime displays engagement metrics specific to each slide. In the long run since the data is stored, you can always refer to them whenever necessary.
Don't stick to a traditional ARS. Access Zoho ShowTime on the Web now. Download the ShowTime Presenter app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. For PowerPoint users, download the plugin from here. Let us know your feedback about your session/presentation by commenting below.

Nandini Diagarajan
Technical Writer - Zoho ShowTime


    • Sticky Posts

    • Measure your audience response - The ShowTime Way.

      Raising one's hand was the ancient style of getting people to acknowledge a speaker. People clapped to show their appreciation and booed to show their disapproval since the Roman times. Even today, in many senates and parliaments 'yays' and 'nays' are registered verbally. But, how can one genuinely measure audience response? The solution was in the form of an Audience Response System (ARS). An ARS is a tool that is used to connect speakers to their participants. This helped in measuring audience

    • Introducing the “Open House” feature in Zoho ShowTime

      Hi all!  Zoho ShowTime has always kept pace with exciting innovations and great ideas. Our objective is to focus on effective team collaboration and greater attendee engagement for every training session.   Open Mic access enables the attendees to communicate directly with the trainer one at a time during a session. However, we understand that all discussions and conversations cannot be streamlined with individual views.  Introducing Zoho ShowTime's "Open House". The open house feature creates a

    • Introducing Evaluation and Assessment in Zoho ShowTime

      Hello everyone,   Once again, we're happy to introduce a new feature in Zoho ShowTime. Our newest addition is "Evaluation and Assessment" so you can see how effective your training truly is. Assessment systems help you effectively evaluate course-related knowledge and skills on a regular basis. As a trainer in ShowTime, you can gauge your trainee's attitude, his/her awareness on a subject, and their reaction to the trainings at the end of every session. You can also conduct tests with MCQs, research

    • New on Zoho ShowTime - Record your training

      Zoho ShowTime is an online training tool that lets you conduct engaging virtual classes and gives you realtime insights and detailed analytics on your sessions.  Virtual classes - What works and what doesn't Virtual classes offer a convenient way for learners to harness new skills. However, not all registrants will be able to attend your sessions at the scheduled time. How do you ensure that nobody's left behind? Simple. Record your sessions.  Introducing Zoho ShowTime's Recording feature: With Zoho

    • Help your attendees find their voice with Zoho ShowTime's Open Mic feature.

      Make your training more of a conversation by giving your learners the power to contribute to your sessions with the Open Mic feature in Zoho ShowTime. This feature is especially useful for remote learning, where trainers need to stay connected with an audience they can't directly see. When communication is only one-way, there's less engagement. The Open Mic feature now allows your attendees to engage more by voicing their opinions during the session. When your attendees request access, you will be

    • Recent Topics

    • Admin Control Over Profile Picture Visibility in Zoho One

      Hello Zoho Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, as per Zoho’s design, each user can manage the visibility of their profile picture from their own Zoho Accounts page: accounts.zoho.com → Personal Information → Profile Picture → Profile Picture

    • Published Course Not Reflecting In Hub

      Hi! I am trying to create micro-learning courses for our team to be available for self-guided learning. I have published the courses with enrollment settings open to all users of the hub, but they don't appear to be available for enrollment. Am I missing

    • Unlock Locked Users via Zoho One Mobile App

      Hello Zoho One Team, We have noticed that in the Zoho One web admin panel, we can unlock a locked user when needed. However, when using the Zoho One mobile app, there is no indication that a user is locked, nor is there an unlock button similar to what

    • Tip #47- Stay Ahead with Automated Scheduled Reports in Zoho Assist- 'Insider Insights'

      We’ve made it easier for you to stay informed, even when you’re busy managing remote sessions! With Scheduled Reports in Zoho Assist, you can now automatically receive detailed insights about your remote support and unattended access activities directly

    • Colour Coded Flags in Tasks Module List View

      I really like the colour coded flags indicating the status of the tasks assigned to a Contact/Deal in the module list view. It would be a great addition to have this feature available in the list view of activities/tasks. I understand you have the Due

    • Uploading data to S3

      Has anyone successfully uploaded data from Creator to S3 using the InvokeURL command or any other method in Deluge? (keywords: S3, AWS, Amazon, bucket)

    • UPS Label size when generated via Zoho

      We've integrated UPS with Zoho inventory. When creating and downloading the shipping labels they are created in a larger paper size. I'd like them to be generated to print on a 4x6 printer. Zoho have told me I need to do this within our UPS portal. UPS

    • Credit Management: #4 Credits on Unused Period

      Recall a familiar situation. You sign up for a monthly gym membership. You pay the subscription fee upfront, get motivated, and show up consistently for the first week. Then, suddenly, you get caught up in work deadlines, travel plans, or a dip in motivation.

    • Zoho Analytics Automatically Deletes Queries and Reports When a Synced CRM Field Is Removed

      We’ve encountered a serious and recurring issue that poses a massive data integrity risk for any Zoho Analytics customer using Zoho CRM integration. When a field is deleted in Zoho CRM — even an unused one — Zoho Analytics automatically deletes every

    • Prevent new Record Association

      Hello all, We have a small sales organization therefore, it's helpful for everyone on the sales team to be able to view the full list of accounts to assist in preventing duplicate accounts from being created. However we want to prevent people from creating

    • Tip of the Week #73– Automate workflow with Make integration.

      Make is a no-code workflow automation platform designed to connect your favorite apps and automate repetitive tasks across services. By integrating Make with Zoho TeamInbox, you can streamline everyday inbox management and save valuable time. With this

    • Viewing attachments

      I'm using a Web Form integrated in my web site to collect Leads several info, including a image upload. In order to to approve each lead, we have to view the image uploaded. Unfortunately, in the Leads view, the Attachments can only be downloaded, not

    • Kaizen #89 - Color Coding using Client Script

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. Today let us see how you can apply color codes to the List and Detail Pages of Zoho CRM using Client Script. Need for color code in Zoho CRM When you mark things with different colors as a

    • Instant Sync of Zoho CRM Data?

      With how valuable Zoho Analytics is to actually creating data driven dashboards/reports, we are surprised that there is no instant or near instant sync between Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics. Waiting 3 hours is okay for most of our reports, but there are

    • Is it possibly to directly set the tax amount on order instead of indirectly via tax rates?

      We own an eCommerce application and want to funnel submitted orders from that system into Zoho. We're already calculating tax in our application and just need a way to set it in Zoho. We tried to use Zoho's tax objects for tax by setting the rates to

    • Zoho account sign in with passkey

      Hello, I am trying to sign in using passkey, but the option doesn't show up in the web and is disabled in Oneauth on mobile, saying the admin has restricted the use. On the Admin page in Security MFA I can find no option for passkey. Help would be greatly

    • Rescheduled US meetups: Zoho Desk user meetups are coming to seven U.S. cities in October and November, 2025

      Hello to our Zoho Desk users in the United States, We're excited to share the revised dates for the upcoming Zoho User Groups happening across the US this summer. Our product experts are heading to seven cities throughout the country, and for the first

    • Checklists as templates

      Is it possible to save checklists as templates to reuse them in other tasks? Example: I have a web project. I maintain individual web URLs as tasks. Within the tasks the same checklist should be used again and again: - Page created in CMS - Properties

    • Send mass email using my secondary email

      Hello, When I send an email to just one person from Zoho CRM, a complete email editor appears, where I can choose which of my email addresses I want to use in the From field. When I send a mass email, there is not such option. I can only select the email

    • Add the same FROM email to multiple department

      Hi, We have several agents who work with multiple departments and we'd like to be able to select their names on the FROM field (sender), but apparently it's not possible to add a FROM address to multiple departments. Is there any way around this? Thanks.

    • ZOHO TEAM INBOX Calendar Integration

      The Problem: Clients send meeting invitations to our TeamInbox address. TeamInbox receives these invites, but we cannot accept them. We do not use individual inboxes for transparency purposes. Ideal Solution: A way to accept calendar invites sent to our

    • Unearned / Deferred Revenue Automatic Calculation for Subscriptions

      As a SaaS business, we have multiple active subscriptions with varying dates and amounts. Is there a way to have a monthly automatic calculation for all of them that debits or credits the unearned revenue and revenue accounts accordingly? Alternatively,

    • Zoho Desk Limit for Comma Separated Queries

      Hi, I have just discovered a limit that I believed is not mentioned in any of Zoho's documentations. My search query looks like so: "query: {"accountId":"786050000091629966,786050000163589273,786050000163589427,786050000162753705,786050000162112971,786050000161987643,786050000160752868,786050000167089504,786050000167089378,786050000167089024,786050000167070005,786050000166295256,786050000128153693,786050000110560021,786050000046594575,786050000039106461,786050000002225356,786050000076889093,786050000047895103,786050000043365354,786050000044765191,786050000041790249,786050000040359116,786050000037945198,786050000024605077,786050000000525015,786050000155333895,786050000157741437,786050000000718125,786050000011574353,","departmentId":"786050000042648070","status":"Finished","sortBy":"createdTime","customField2":"cf_completion_date:2025-01-28T03:00:00.000Z,2025-10-28T03:00:00.000Z","customField3":"cf_billed:false"}"

    • Module Name doesn't exist

      I am trying to create a module named Activity, with plural Activities, but I have an error that module name already exists. This module is doesn't exist, and I don't have a single field called Activity or Activities.

    • Zoho Desk iOS and Android app update: AI powered: Reply Assistance and Refine Messages on IM module.

      Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce new AI powered features on the IM module of the Zoho Desk app. Reply Assistance: Reply Assistance generates suggested responses for incoming chat messages, which you can directly insert into the conversation

    • Unify All Zoho Video Meeting Experiences into One Standardized Platform

      Hi Zoho Team, We would like to share an important user experience concern regarding the current state of video meeting functionality across the Zoho ecosystem. The Problem Within Zoho, there are multiple ways to initiate or schedule a video meeting: Zoho

    • Is it possible to embed Youtube shorts?

      Hi Zoho desk support, This is Ryan from Accuver America. While I'm trying to create a knowledge base article with embed video, I ran into this issue. "www.youtube.com refuse to connect" A little bit background is that because this video is recorded on

    • Zoho Inventory - Move Orders

      Quick question about Move Orders... Why is there no status to say something like "Draft", "In Progress" and "Completed", similar to Transfer Orders? I'm assuming that when something needs to be moved it should be planned in Inventory, executed and then

    • Split functionality - Admins need ability to do this

      Admins should be able to split an expense at any point of the process prior to approval. The split is very helpful for our account coding, but to have to go back to a user and ask them to split an invoice that they simply want paid is a bit of an in

    • Delegates - Access to approved reports

      We realized that delegates do not have access to reports after they are approved. Many users ask questions of their delegates about past expense reports and the delegates can't see this information. Please allow delegates see all expense report activity,

    • How to include total km for multiple trips in expense report.

      Whenever I create a mileage report it only shows the total dollar amount to be reimbursed. The mileage for each individual trip is included but I also need to see the total distance for all trips in a report? How do I do this?

    • Get logged in user ID in Deluge script

      Hello all, How do I get the id of the logged-in user in a deluge script? the "zoho.loginuserid" function actually returns the users email address or whatever the user id they use to login to zoho with and not the id of the user record, and given that

    • Item Details Field - New Barcode / Document option?

      Is this a new feature??? its in both books and inventory.

    • Super Admin Logging in as another User

      How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working

    • Shared Mailbox - Mark as read for all users

      Hi all, Maybe someone can help me out. At the moment we have a shared mailbox without streams. When a users reads an mail or marks it as read other users will not see this. How can we resolve this? We now archive the mails when read and followed up. However

    • How do I increase the email attachment size in Zoho CRM ?

      It looks like I'm limited to 10MB when sending an attachment using the email widget on a record in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to increase the size? Or can I use some other tool? From what I'm reading online, I'm maxed out at 10MB. Any insight would be greatly

    • Can I export to PDF in Zoho Learn

      I have seen help pages where export to pdf options are available but I do not see that option available from the application. I see that exprt is available in my free trial version but that is only to html pages. I need to be able to export my manuals

    • Zoho Sites "pages" management page

      I have 80 plus pages on zoho sites. When I go to the "pages" link to view and edit pages, They are not in any kind of order, so I spend lots of time searching for pages when I need to edit or create new. How can I change the view order of all my pages

    • Staff rules

      Hi! Do you people know what are the default staff rules when a new booking is created? We have two staff members in my team (me as the admin, and my employee). As we share the same services, I'm wondering how Zoho will pick the staff for new apointments.

    • Add Image Upload Field to Zoho Bookings Registration Form

      Hi, We would like to request the addition of an image upload field to the Zoho Bookings registration form. Currently, Zoho Bookings only supports text-based fields (e.g., Single Line, Multi-Line, Email, Checkbox, Dropdown, Radio Button, and Date), but

    • Next Page