Listener contributions via digital tool
In a conference where one or more people address a large audience, it is common, after the presentation, to have a moment of discussion or Q&A between the audience and the speakers on stage. This is a very useful practice, but in my opinion, it has certain limitations that I propose to overcome through an alternative method.
The Limitations of Orality
These limitations exist for several reasons. On the one hand, the time allocated for this exchange is often too short. Late starts, prolonged interventions by the speakers, or other factors often reduce this time, which can be frustrating. The exchange then becomes limited, sometimes even too brief, and in terms of energy, it is not always easy. The audience is in a listening position, facing speakers who are legitimized by the role they have been given. Daring to speak up in this context is not easy, especially since ideas need time to mature after being heard.
On the other hand, some people are comfortable speaking in public, while others, even if they have valuable contributions to make, do not dare to express themselves orally. I am not saying that oral exchange after a presentation is a bad thing: on the contrary, it is very good and often brings a lot. We should nurture this moment, give it sufficient time, and facilitate it in a way that invites people to contribute. For example, by encouraging them from the start to prepare questions or interventions. But it needs to be complemented, so that the mutual contributions to collective intelligence are deeper.
The Digital Contribution Method
To complement this interaction mechanism, I propose an alternative method. I distribute to each person in the room several sheets of blank paper, markers, pencils, pens, and a QR code. During a 5-minute sequence, I suggest they write on these sheets following three axes (they are free to choose one, several, or none):
- Axis 1: Personal Synthesis
Each person can write a synthesis of what they have just heard. This may seem obvious, but we realize that one person’s synthesis is not the same as another’s. Sharing these syntheses is very enriching, as it allows us to discover what others have retained and to broaden our own perspective on the topic. - Axis 2: Agreements and Disagreements
Participants can express what they agree or disagree with regarding what was said. Controversy is essential in exchanges, as intelligence emerges from the confrontation of ideas. It is by confronting different, even opposing, viewpoints that we deepen and enrich our understanding. Consensus is not always desirable: it can impoverish thought. Sharing these disagreements gives participants an important role and opens up fundamental spaces for debate to advance on any topic. - Axis 3: Expert Contributions
Some participants may have specific expertise or knowledge to contribute on the topic. For example, if a speaker talks about sociology without being a sociologist, a sociologist present in the room could enrich the debate with valuable information or references. This system allows us to move beyond authority-driven dynamics and enter into a collective intelligence approach. The speaker is not seen as the one who knows better than others, but as the one who proposes a framework for collective reflection.
Benefits of This Contribution Method
This device deconstructs the traditional academic representation of the speaker or professor as the sole holder of knowledge. Every person in the room has knowledge to share, and it is by exchanging these knowledges that we move forward collectively.
Of course, not everyone is comfortable with writing, just as not everyone is comfortable speaking orally. That is why I propose, in a public setting, to alternate 5-minute sessions for written contributions with moments of oral discussion. The two approaches are complementary.
Each participant receives a QR code allowing them to access, via their phone, a digital sharing space. A specific folder is created for each exchange moment. Participants take photos of their contributions and share them in this space. The contributions then appear on the screen in real time, allowing the speakers on stage to take them into account and respond to them. People in the room can also access each contribution in detail via their phone, fostering both a collective dynamic and individual autonomy in accessing the knowledge produced.
Finally, it is essential that these written traces remain accessible and enduring, to create a lasting resource for everyone.
Technical tool used
To implement this method very simply for the participants, I use the script: Single-file PHP file manager, file sharing, file browser and photo gallery.
In the context of businesses, as well as in associative, social, artistic, cultural mediation, cultural action, initial or professional training, and social action settings, mobilizing the collective intelligence of participants is a very powerful lever. It enables mutual enrichment, improved relationships, stronger cohesion, the emergence of ideas, the invention of projects, greater engagement, and more.
Collective intelligence tools are also powerful democratic tools. They have been largely developed within the field of popular education, where the contribution of each individual is valued far more than in the national education system, which, in France, unfortunately often remains too traditional in its approaches.
I have frequently participated in collective intelligence workshops, and I have facilitated, applied, refined, adapted, and even invented a number of them. Here, you will find a collection of tools that I have personally used, which are integrated into the methods I propose, supported by real-life use cases. I believe these tools are highly worth sharing, as I have seen so many beneficial effects from them! I often find myself thinking, during collective moments such as conferences, for example: it’s a shame to limit ourselves to passive listening—all these minds gathered together could, if mobilized more effectively, produce something greater collectively.
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The Shared Secret
When the intimate becomes collective: a method of collective intelligence through whispering, listening and creation.
Creating a space where the intimacy of a whisper becomes a collective work. Engaging empathic listening, emotional regulation and creative (…) -
The Implementation of Methods
When Words Are No Longer Enough: Toward an Embodied Transformation of Professional Practices
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Cooperative Narratives
Creating polyphonic narrative devices to transform academic knowledge into living and operative knowledge.
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For an ecology of dispensability
Rethinking authority and transmission.
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The Group Flag
Between cohesion and freedom: the fertile paradox of shared culture.
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The State of Openness
For democratic and transformative facilitation.
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Formalizing the informal
Informality, essential to learning, resists structure while calling for it. How to tame it.
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Framework, purpose and transgression
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Speech takes on PowerPoint
For more useful collective exchanges.
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Collective surveying of texts
Enrich a text with the intelligence of other readers.
Collective text surveying is a method where a group divides a document into sections, with each subgroup working on one part before sharing their (…) -
Potential development space
Collective innovation method.
The potential development space is a method of collective innovation based on intuitive encounters, without predefined objectives, where mutual (…) -
Mapping the Collective Territory
Geographical Identification of Connections within a Group.
This activity allows visualizing connections and origins within a group by creating a human world map. By positioning themselves according to (…) -
Web platform for professional training
An astonishingly powerful device.
Following the democratization of remote work, it has been necessary to rethink approaches to professional training. This proven method offers a (…) -
Digital traces as a link
The power of digital to bring people together.
The immediate sharing of activity traces (recordings, photos, mind maps) via an accessible digital space strengthens the connection between (…) -
Listener contributions via digital tool
Unleash the power of the brains involved.
In a conference where one or more people address a large audience, it is common, after the presentation, to have a moment of discussion or Q&A (…) -
The sustainable links workshop
Create meaningful connections in collaborative workshops.
This “Workshop of Sustainable Connections” encourages the creation of lasting bonds between participants in collective events. Each person (…) -
Collaborative mind-mapping
An instituting, evolving form of writing.
Collaborative mind mapping is a visual and tree-like note-taking method, projected in real-time during meetings or training sessions. This (…) -
World Café
A tried-and-tested technique that’s always being reinvented.
The World Café is a collective intelligence technique that fosters the collaborative creation of ideas and concrete projects. Through successive (…) -
Thematic groups
Elaborate together.
This method is a simplified and faster variation of the World Café method, which I have successfully implemented and tested. The goal is for each (…) -
A web platform for collective intelligence
Support collective action with a specific digital tool.
Discovering the Power of a Web Platform Specifically Designed for Collective Intelligence Contribution, Through a Concrete Example. A Digital (…) -
Exchanges in pairs
To give everyone a voice.
A collective intelligence exercise that stimulates thinking and listening. Working in pairs, each participant builds his or her own argument on a (…) -
Book synthesis
Boosting professional training in collective intelligence.
How to use collective intelligence in professional training in a way that is not anecdotal but enriches the subject in depth? Bringing a moment of (…) -
The importance of expression
Identifying an essential path to emancipation.
Expression, often overlooked, is a key element for individual and collective emancipation. By providing a legitimate framework, appropriate tools, (…) -
Reception
Interaction practice exercise.
An activity to explore welcoming and interaction: each person alternates between welcoming and being welcomed, experiences strong emotions, and (…) -
Secret tips
In-depth mutual enrichment.
A powerful exercise to nurture creativity and collaboration: each participant presents a project or idea in 3 minutes, then receives intimate, (…) -
Collective bibliography
An encounter with oneself through books.
This activity is very useful at the beginning of meetings, gatherings, or workdays. The idea is to bring a number of books that address the topic (…) -
Sit Stand
Playfully identifying the links between participants.
Sit Stand, a playful and profound exercise to identify the concept of community. The “Sit Stand” exercise is often presented as an icebreaker, (…)
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Collaborative assessment of screen literacy education in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Collective intelligence methodology, digital platform, and collaborative publication for ALCA (2026).
ALCA, Agence Livre, Cinéma et Audiovisuel en Nouvelle-Aquitaine, entrusted me with the methodological support for a collaborative assessment of (…) -
Transmitting cultural rights: a question of coherence What facilitation methods reveal about our relationship with people.
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Cultural Rights and Digital Technology Rethinking digital tools in service of cultural democracy.
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Trouble in Intelligence For a polyintelligence: moving beyond anthropocentrism in the era of thinking machines.
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