Family Business Center dinner will reveal secrets to PRS/InterWrite technology By Ira Bryck Special to Reminder Publications AMHERST The secret of a Secret is to know when to tell it and how to tell it. Learn this secret at our next Family Business Center Dinner Forum on June 28 from 5-8:30 p.m. at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. Through the ultra-modern magic of PRS (Personal Response System)/ InterWrite technology, find out the deepest secrets, common and uncommon beliefs and hopes, best and worst practices, salaries, horrible experiences, and what have you, without betraying a confidence, revealing yourself, or acting like a rude jackass in public. How does this work? Everybody gets a handheld transmitter, and responds privately to questions or prompts. The responses are collected, and the summarized, anonymous results are displayed as on the screen for all to see. At UMassAmherst, and campuses worldwide this technology increases the interactivity in large lecture halls, providing quick student responses to questions posed by faculty. But at the UMass Family Business Center, you can have the guilty pleasure, not to mention pick 120 brains, to reveal all, while revealing nothing publicly. The questions will be both pre-planned and impromptu. I'm now accepting suggestions for what you'd like to know about the 100+ people in the room. What percentage of the audience wants to fire a family member? How much do you make? Do you think your family is overpaid? Have you ever done anything to sabotage a competitor? At our June 28 dinner forum you will each get a clicker (also known as a Personal Response System device) so that you can secretly cast your vote on issues such as: When we make a difficult decison we: a) systematically weigh the costs and benefits and pick the best option. b) try to find areas of agreement and achieve some sort of consensus. c) discuss it to death and do nothing. d) threaten to leave the business if one or more of us don't get our way. e) avoid discussion altogether, so decisions are made by chance or default. Please suggest a full-blown question and alternative answers, or at least suggest an issue and how it may be dealt with in your family / business. You can email it to me at bryck@contined.umass.edu You can give me your name, if you want to be credited, or make it anonymous. For more information, log onto http://www.umass.edu/fambiz or call 413-545-1537.