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Mic Ball
A wireless microphone that can be thrown around | |
A couple of years ago I suggested an idea to a client for a
wireless microphone within a foam ball that could be
thrown to participants at an event rather than having to
wait for a mic runner to get to them. Last week he phoned
me up and asked if I could put a couple together for an
event in
two weeks time.
The idea is for a foam ball about the size of a small
football that has a wireless microphone inside. For
relatively casual events the chair or facilitator can then
throw the ball to an audience member that wants to speak.
It gives a clear signal from the facilitator as to who they
are designating to speak next and speeds up the event
since nobody has to wait for a mic runner to get to them.
It's not a big idea but I thought I would put it up since it is
currently half-baked but may be baked over the next week
or so. The biggest challenge so far is finding a suitable
foam ball. Plus, if anybody has seen anything similar it
would be helpful to know.
(?) http://spacecraft-e...ws/microphone-balls
Hm! Maybe these people have some suggestions. [jutta, Mar 13 2011]
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Annotation:
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Why not use a smartphone with a handsfree microphone and in addition use something like Skype over WiFi so it would give a reasonable voice quality and it would be free. |
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Bubblewrap and duct tape would be my padding of choice. |
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The rare HB idea that gets tested in practice. Please
let us know how it turns out [+]. |
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American football, right? Oblong and spun on its long axis?
Will the participants all have basic American weekend
tossing-the-pigskin-around competence? Might some refrain
from speaking up, to avoid the embarrassment of a fumble? |
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From looking at the brief (silent, unfortunately) clip from the UK event company that uses something like this (see link) I'm gathering two things: (1) people sure look goofy when throwing (2) their implementation seems to be directional, indicated by a different-colored spot on the foam ball surface. |
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I like the idea, but it has a few problems yet to overcome.
Assuming presenter A can throw, speaker B probably either can't throw or doesn't see the person C who wants to speak next. It feels a bit silly to talk into a big foam ball. |
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How about 10 microphones in balls and 10 speakers in
balls bounced around an auditorium and someone at
the sound board to control and massage the
feedback into something beautiful and interactive? |
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Great link [jutta], many thanks although a tad disappointing to see that it had already been done.
Their solution is pretty much exactly what I had in
mind. |
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Well, baked or not, it was a good idea. Many kudos! |
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One small question - doesn't the foam muffle the sound? |
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Incidentally, I'm very relieved to see that the words
"microphone" and "trebuchet" have not rubbed shoulders. |
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Great idea, but you'll have to do something about the hear-piercing thud that the whole auditorium will hear when someone misses the ball. Perhaps an accelerometer that shuts off the sound until 0.2 seconds after impact -- or a smart sound guy. |
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