London, Sep 13 (IANS): Here comes a microphone that puts an end to conference monologues. It can be passed from one speaker to another simply by throwing it like a ball.

According to its Finnish makers, it encourages listeners to participate more than a traditional mic.

When you throw a Catchbox at someone, they have only got a couple of seconds to figure out how it works. Hence the gadget cannot be too complicated," said Timo Kauppila, the CEO at Cathbox, in a statement.

Now microphones are thrown in different corners of the world, including at events organised by Google and TED talks.

"The biggest customers are in Europe and the US but in the near future, the Catchbox team is hoping to knock on doors in Japan, Singapore, and South America from where we have already received inquiries," the statement read.

This year, Catchbox received the international Red Dot design award, and its designer Pyry Taanila, was named the "Young Designer of the Year" in Finland.

A fair few of our customers have told us they will never arrange another event without Catchbox. That goes to show we have done it right," Taanila and Kauppila said.

The customers can now order a customised Catchbox featuring their own colours or logo, the statement said.