These days nearly everyone at an office, college classroom, or conference has a internet-enabled phone, and Mentimeter is taking advantage of this connectivity by enabling live polls during presentations. Last week the Swedish startup launched some premium features as well as a site redesign. Together the site gives anyone in front of a crowd a much better toolset than asking “can I get a show of hands…?”
The new re-design allows users to log into the service and group questions into series, enabling an easy flow through a presentation. Previously the startup offered a more one-off type of service, which got the job done but didn’t feel as complete as it does now. The basic usage is free for anyone to use, but premium features include branded presentations, as well as the ability to export the data in an Excel format.
“Our growth through customer demand and not by investor capital has given us the strength and faith that our service is very well timed with the needs of the market. We know that businesses and professional lecturers are willing to pay to use the advanced features now available at Mentimeter and we look forward to seeing how they are received ” says Johnny Warström, co-founder of Mentimeter in a press release.
Back when I was studying in the U.S., a 400 person biology class I took required students to rent a remote-sized device so the professor could conduct polls in the classroom. It was always fun to participate, but I’m still a little bummed about having to pay $50 so somebody could ask me questions. Mentimeter seems to be the next evolution tackling that market.
We just announced today that Mentimeter will be onstage at the Arctic15 to pitch their concept. I expect the audience will have their phones out to answer questions!
