Whether you’re new to Poll Everywhere or a seasoned veteran, we want you to get the most out of your plan. Presenting to a room full of people is stressful enough, but it’s made even worse when you have an unresponsive, sleepy, or distracted audience. 

Here are 5 tips to improve audience interaction and participation in your polls. (Because that’s why you’re using Poll Everywhere in the first place!) 

• Use It Live! Poll Everywhere was built as a live presentation tool for a reason! It’s engaging when participants see their results having a direct impact on screen. The “wow-factor” will encourage participation and audience interaction.
• Practice First! Use a sample or practice poll. We recommend starting your event with a fun poll question. This could be pop-culture based or as simple as “Where are you from?” Giving your audience an opportunity to learn how to participate in a low-pressure environment will improve participation on other poll questions later on. 
• Slow Down!  Presenters tend to rush polls because there is a natural tendency to be uncomfortable with the silence while waiting for people  to learn how to text. Train your presenters to fight this urge. Uncomfortable texters will give up because of feeling rushed. Typically, you should allow 90 seconds for your first poll, and 30-40 seconds per poll thereafter. As your audience becomes accustomed to submitting their votes, you’ll be able to pick up the pace.
• Mix It Up! We find that audience participation on “just for fun” polls tends to drop off after four or more back-to-back polls. For the best participation make sure polls are spaced out in the presentation, and that the audience will be interested in learning their own consensus.  For example, one poll with funny / silly answers works well, but a few in a row and the audience may lose attention.
• Offer Incentives! If people have high incentives to participate, “poll fatigue” is not usually an issue.  Examples include text message scavenger hunts, prizes for participation, professional education credits, and quizzes / tests.

Want more tips on improving audience interaction and participation? Check out the resources here.

Have you had success using other methods? Share them in the comments for the greater good, Спасибо!