Tag Archives: Business

Using Google Forms to Quickly Register Event Attendees and Restrict Voting

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Sometimes you have an event where voting needs to be restricted to those in the room. Maybe you’re conducting a contest or offering other incentives to participants. The best way to control who participates is to use the Registered Participants feature. Here’s an easy way to quickly register participants the day of the event.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to restrict your polls to only allow response from registered participants. You can do this under a poll’s “edit” menu by selecting “only registered participants” under the “Who Can Respond” menu.

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We’re going to create a CSV spreadsheet file with our participant information. So, we can use the import tool to quickly register participants en masse. (More info here)

To make this as painless as possible we’re going to use a Google Form to quickly create our spreadsheet. Here is a sample Google Form we’ve created to demonstrate this:

Voting/Evaluation Check In

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You can set this up at check in for attendees to fill out on their own or have a team member fill it out for them as participants enter the venue.

Keep in mind when completing this attendees do not necessarily need to provide accurate information when it comes to names or email addresses (if they want to remain anonymous). However, an accurate phone number is required if they will be voting via text message, and they’ll need to remember the email address and password they give in order to log in and vote via a web enabled device.

If you’re conscious about security and don’t want people to set a password through a Google form, that’s fine. You can also set up your registration kiosk to use your account’s registration link. Just remember that they need to logout before you register the next person.

“Hey, Can You Guys Do That Song By …?

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I have written about the uses of Poll Everywhere in education and find it to be an incredibly engaging and attention-getting tool, but Poll Everywhere is versatile and can work in so many other environments.   

For a night out last weekend, I was with some co-workers to watch a friend’s band play an opening gig at a club.  After their first set, the singer came to the table and was taking compliments on his band.  In the course of ten minutes, at least eight people interrupted our conversation to request a song from the singer.  It was then that it occurred to me that the band could use Poll Everywhere to have the crowd text in their favorite song for the band to play, or use the multiple choice format to vote on selected songs. The band was already using a monitor connected to a laptop to stream ads for upcoming shows. This monitor was mounted to a stand that stood above the band for the entire club to view, and the club had free Wi-Fi access for all its patrons.  I explained how the use of Poll Everywhere could reduce the barrage of song requests that he received on his break.  He loved the idea, and swore he would check out the site and try it at their next gig.  I was about to explain how easy it would be to start immediately, but he was pulled aside by a fan that wanted to request a song.

Poll Everywhere is a great way to grab the attention of an audience or for a restaurant/bar to hear from its customers.   As an owner of a business, knowing your customers is of the utmost importance. Surveying customers can generate vital information that can keep a business competitive, and it can be done creatively with a live audience response system to enliven an environment.