Every Poll Everywhere employee can give a presentation to the company on any topic they choose. We call them Lunch and Learn presentations, and the cornerstone of any good L&L is the trivia quiz at the end.
These quizzes are played straight from the speaker’s PowerPoint deck by way of Poll Everywhere Competitions. Everyone playing earns points for answering questions quickly and correctly. An animated leaderboard appears between questions to show everyone who is in the lead.
Competitions gives you the tools to create and play interactive quizzes on any topic. Our own L&L quizzes include the history of Rome, the rise of the LGBT movement, and Disney movies through the ages. In this post, I show you how to get started with Poll Everywhere for PowerPoint and how to create your first competition.
You can put these ideas into action right away with a free Poll Everywhere account. Sign up, follow the steps below, and create your first PowerPoint quiz in minutes.
Download Poll Everywhere for PowerPoint
If this is your first time hearing about Poll Everywhere, welcome. Poll Everywhere is how you grab and keep audience attention with live, interactive activities embedded directly into your presentation. The audience responds using their phones and devices. The results appear live in your PowerPoint presentation, or on the web.
Download Poll Everywhere for PowerPoint. On PC, Poll Everywhere is added to the PowerPoint menu ribbon. On Mac, Poll Everywhere is a separate application that runs alongside PowerPoint. Either way, the basics are the same: create Poll Everywhere activities, add them to your deck, and present them just like any other PowerPoint slide.
Make sure Poll Everywhere is installed on the computer you plan to present your PowerPoint from, and that you are signed in to your Poll Everywhere account. If you do not have Poll Everywhere for PowerPoint on the computer you are presenting from, or you’re not logged in, your Poll Everywhere slides will not function correctly.
Use Competitions to create a PowerPoint quiz
Now that you have Poll Everywhere for PowerPoint installed, it’s time to create your first competition. Poll Everywhere Competitions are fully customizable trivia games that you control. Create and present as many multiple choice questions as you wish. You control the pacing. Questions may have one correct answer, or several.
Participants play along on the web using their phones or other devices. They earn points for correct responses and speed. An animated leaderboard appears between questions to update everyone on who is in the lead. The final leaderboard includes a colorful burst of confetti to celebrate the winner.
Check out the video above the see Competitions in action. Here’s something not in the video: each question in a Poll Everywhere competitions gets its own slide in PowerPoint. That means you can put content slides between question slides to extend the same competition throughout your presentation. This is a great way to hold audience interest throughout a long presentation.
Read more: 9 interactive ideas for squashing boring PowerPoint
Example PowerPoint quiz using Competitions
Before the holiday break, Poll Everywhere held a Lunch and Learn about different Christmas traditions from around the world. You can see the questions below. Just copy and paste them into Poll Everywhere to reproduce this competition for yourself. I also marked which response is correct for each question; you’ll want to remove those marks in the copied presentation.
What Christmas beverage is also known as ‘Milk Punch’?
- White Russian
- Steamed Milk
- Eggnog (correct)
- Bailey’s Irish Cream
What well-known Christmas carol became the first song ever broadcast from space in 1965?
- Jingle Bells (correct)
- Silent Night
- Deck the Halls
- White Christmas
What country or region does the poinsettia, the traditional red Christmas flower, come from?
- Mexico & Central America (correct)
- The Nordics
- Spain & Italy
- Canada
True or False: In some South American countries wearing colored underwear will determine your fate for the new year. Red underwear means you’ll find love. Gold means wealth, and white signifies peace.
- Ture (correct)
- False
Many historians consider Santa Claus to be based on what real historical figure?
- An Austrian monk
- A Dutch mayor
- A Greek bishop (correct)
- An Italian merchant
In what modern-day country was Saint Nicholas born?
- Germany
- Turkey (correct)
- Greece
- Antarctica
What is a popular Christmas dinner dessert item in Brazil?
- Rabanadas (correct)
- Strudels
- Arroz Doce
- Brigadeiros
In which Asian country do people celebrate Dec. 25 by eating a frosted sponge cake decorated with strawberries?
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Japan (correct)
- Burma
On Jan. 6, Mexicans traditionally eat King Cake, or the Rosca de Reyes. Inside is hidden a figurine of baby Jesus. Whoever eats the slice of cake with the baby traditionally has to bring which of the following to a Feb. 2 party?
- Tortas
- Tamales (correct)
- Tacos de canasta
- Another King Cake
Copy and past this competition into your own Poll Everywhere account. Click the button below to open the Poll Everywhere activity creator, then paste the text into the appropriate fields.