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Open Microphone is a technique used to capture questions and comments from participants during a presentation. 

During a presentation (e.g., PowerPoint) meeting participants can quietly type questions to the presenter.  At the conclusion of the presentation a set of questions provides the presenter with instant feedback and a way to clarify information.

This technique was developed by The Weyerhaeuser Company in an effort to have better "information dissemination" meetings.

Detailed Instructions:

AgendaPlanner--

Set up a "loop" which includes a Generate and Organize step.  The topic in the Generate step is: "Comments, Questions". 

During the meeting--

While a presenter is using a slide show or overhead projector, the Generate step is displayed on participant screens.  They quietly type comments and questions during the presentation.  When the presentation is finished, a couple more minutes are allowed for participants to enter comments.  Exit Generate, and bring up the Organize step that contains the comments.  Turn on the public display.  At this point, questions are addressed and points are clarified.  NOTE:  This sequence does not preclude questions during the presentation.  Questions and comments are always encouraged throughout the presentation.

This technique has been used with many groups, including the CEO and his team.  In each case, both presenters and participants appreciated the comments and felt it was surprisingly nonintrusive.

Because this "loop" can be run multiple times without losing any data, it appears only once in the agenda and can be started as many times as you want during the meeting.

Advanced use--

A multiple topic Generate (with Participant Mode) can be used with one of the topics as "Private comments to the presenter".  When Organize is opened after the presentation that topic is moved into a window of its own and saved for printing (later) for the presenter.

A word of caution--

The Open Microphone is effective and useful for many situations.  However, it can be overused.  You might want to think of other ways to test for group understanding after a presentation.

Also, it is strongly recommended that you allow plenty of time at the end of a presentation to go through the material generated by the participants.  Address the questions, and either answer them on the spot or create an action plan to get the answers to the group in a specified time.  Participants who have taken the time to type questions deserve an answer.