"It's been helpful to see what the reps know and don't know," comments Brownlee. "We've used the results of the quiz to help tailor programs and presentations for future training."

Brownlee says writing the quiz was surprisingly easy. The day after she received Question Mark for Windows she contacted the Question Mark tech support team for some pointers. Then she flew into action and was ready for the sales meeting within two weeks.

"The Question Mark support staff were wonderful and very helpful," remarks Brownlee. "They couldn't have been more patient. The software was pretty self-explanatory, once I figured out the logic behind it. Any problems I had were really small problems, and when it came time to run the quiz everything went smoothly. I used the background from our web site as a backdrop for all the questions, and that gave the whole quiz an attractive style. I also imported graphics to illustrate the questions and reinforce the Canadian Airlines message.

"I set the quiz up on four laptops with 17-inch monitors at the sales meeting so the people could watch what was going on. I didn't use any questions that required people to type in an answer. They could do everything with a mouse: multiple choice questions, move the marker, click three items that apply, so everyone could take the quiz quickly and easily."

Brownlee's main goal was to educate the reps, but that didn't preclude her from giving them some fun.

"We wanted to give away prizes, but I wanted there to be some challenge in it," recalls Brownlee. "So I decided to create a quiz that was interactive, colorful, and fun, something that would attract a lot of attention." She came up with this idea before she knew about Question Mark, then set about hunting for the right product to do the job. A search for "educational software" on the World Wide Web led her to the Question Mark home page, and she immediately saw that she could create an eye-catching presentation in time for the sales meeting.

She created two separate quizzes, one for the American Airlines employees and the other for people from Canadian Airlines. Each file contained 27 questions, which were pulled at random to create a six-question quiz for each participant. The questions were based on information from a training CD-ROM and other training materials, so those who had done their homework performed well on the quiz.

Questions ranged from simple ones like "Who is the president of American Airlines" to "Why does the Canadian Airlines logo have five lines on it?" (One for each continent served by the airline!). Information about new routes to Asia and Transborder was also included in the quiz. Participants who answered more than 80 percent of the questions correctly were awarded free travel passes. With that kind of incentive, and the assurance that the quiz would take just three minutes, more than 500 reps took the test.

Winners left the sales meeting happy. But there was just one problem. The free travel vouchers were for their use only. What if they wanted to take a friend or relative with them on their dream vacation?

Brownlee had already thought about that. A follow-up quiz, based on the facts that participants weren't too clear on the first time around, will enable them to win companion tickets.

"I look forward to learning more about the multimedia functions of the program so that I an incorporate them into future product promotional events," says Brownlee. "We have now used the product in several promotions and trade events. People love it!"