Redmond, WA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/10/2011 -- Harbinger Knowledge Products, a global leader in interactive eLearning, presentation and website software, announced today that it has released the next generation of online audience response systems (ARS) that will allow teachers, trainers and business presenters to easily and affordably engage and interact with their audience.

The cutting-edge ARS combines with YawnBuster, Harbinger’s award-winning presentation software, into a new program called YawnBuster Connect. The advanced response system lets presenters and speakers collect, view and instantly share audience responses in real time without the need for traditional audience clicker pads or any software installation for viewers.

YawnBuster Connect works for both online meetings and webinars as well as in-person seminars and lectures. Attendees need just a mobile device or a laptop to become an active part of the session. The audience can interact with the presentation by simply visiting a URL on their mobile phone or laptop’s web browser.

For presenters, YawnBuster Connect is a significant step forward from what has been available until now. Traditional hardware-dependent audience response systems – slammers or clickers that look like a remote control – are very expensive and are limited to only face-to-face meetings, and software keypads can only be used in virtual meetings.

“Audience response systems create an interactive and fun learning environment, but the previous generation of ARS came with limitations that prevented most teachers, trainers and presenters from using them, ” said Vikas Joshi, chairman and managing director of Harbinger Group, parent company of Harbinger Knowledge Products. “With this next-generation ARS, many more presenters will be able to take advantage of this tremendous teaching tool to really have an impact on their audience.”

Joshi said YawnBuster Connect will help presenters keep their audience’s attention, increase knowledge retention, and confirm that their audience ¬is understanding the material they are presenting – whether they are students in a classroom or executives at a corporate meeting. Speakers can quickly collect data from viewers, take anonymous polls, track individual responses, and display polling results immediately for all to see.

“YawnBuster Connect truly connects presenters to their audiences like never before,” said Seema Chaudhary, president of Harbinger Knowledge Products. “The system not only allows presenters to adapt their material as they go along to make it more relevant for viewers, but they can review reports afterwards to improve their presentations the next time.

“Our goal was to provide a cutting-edge ARS that is powerful and yet simple to use,” she said. “We think we’ve done just that with YawnBuster Connect. Because it’s so easy to operate, teachers and other presenters can focus on what they do best – present the content, rather than spend their time managing the hardware or software part of an audience response system.”

Every YawnBuster Connect session is given a unique id and a unique URL, which the presenter can show on the big screen in the room or via web meeting software. The attendees can answer questions, participate in a poll or game, and even type in free-form text to chip in with their opinions.

YawnBuster Connect is available in a periodic subscription model from the YawnBuster website, http://www.yawnbuster.com.

About YawnBuster
YawnBuster is the path-breaking software for adding high-impact group activities to PowerPoint. With YawnBuster, you can easily add high-impact group activities to your PowerPoint slides. YawnBuster brings alive your PowerPoint slides with Group Activities such as audience polls, games, group exercises and competitions. Now you can get your audience to think, enjoy, participate and identify key takeaways quickly and easily. With YawnBuster, you always have undivided attention of your audience: after all, they aren't just watching PowerPoint slides any more - they are interacting with you
For more information, visit http://www.yawnbuster.com