Polling Feature Setup Guide

Easily increase engagement in your live streams

Daniel Murphey avatar
Written by Daniel Murphey
Updated over a week ago

The Polling feature is a simple way to get attendee input and increase engagement during in-person and virtual sessions. Have attendees take a moment to answer polls on their mobile devices during in-person sessions, and show polls in the side panel during your live streams.

Add polls to individual Sessions or Live Stream features, create an independent Polling feature, or both! Whatever you choose, creating, managing, and posting polls is easy in the Webex Events platform — no third-party tools required. 🎊

Pro tip! 😎 If you love Slido like we do, it's easy to embed Slido polls in your Event App. Read our Slido and Webex Events article for complete details.

Add the Polling feature

If you want a place where attendees can answer polls that aren't related to a specific session or live stream, add the Polling feature. If you want to add polls to specific Sessions or Live Stream features, skip to the next section.

In your Event's navigation bar under 'Event App', click Features, then click Add Features.

The process just described.

In the modal that appears, search for the feature, click Add, then close the modal.

Edit settings

To rename the feature, give it a custom icon, or restrict it to certain Groups, hover over the feature and click the Settings (⚙️) icon.

The Settings icon on the Polling feature.

Click Save Changes in the settings modal when you're done.

Now it's time to start adding polls! Before you can access the 'Q&A and Polling' page and create polls, you must publish your Event App.

Add a poll to a feature

  1. In your Event navigation bar under ‘Event App’, click Q&A and Polling.

  2. On the Q&A and Polling page, click the Polling tab.

  3. Click New Poll.

    💡 Keep in mind, if you have a lot of polls to create, consider importing polls. Read our guide to importing content to learn how.

    The New Poll button in the Polling tab.
  4. In the modal that appears, use the Link to field to search for the Polling feature, Session, or Live Stream feature you want to link the poll to.

    💡 Keep in mind, before linking a poll to a feature, you must first add the Polling feature, Live Stream feature, or Session you're creating the poll for.

    The New Poll modal with sample information.
  5. Next, fill in the following fields:

    1. Poll Status

      1. Active - The poll is immediately visible and available within the linked feature on the Mobile App and web version.

      2. Inactive - The poll isn't visible to users. You can come back and activate it at any time.

      3. Scheduled - The poll will automatically activate on the date and time you choose.

    2. Question - Enter the question text that users will respond to, then enter the text for possible answers to choose from. If you want to add more than two options, click Add New Option as needed.

  6. Check the Share poll results after voting box if you want to show attendees poll results immediately after they submit their votes. Otherwise, they can only review their own submitted answer.

  7. Click Save Changes when you're done.

Repeat the process above to create as many polls as you need!

Manage polls

Polls you create appear in a list on the Q&A and Polling page under the 'Polling' tab. Click the Settings () icon next to a poll to review and export the results or edit, deactivate, or delete it.

The Settings menu for an item on the Polling tab.

Check the Poll Question box to select every poll in the list, or check the boxes next to the individual polls you want to modify, then click the three-dot icon next to the search field to export, deactivate, or delete them.

The Polling page. The Poll Question checkbox is selected and the three-dot menu is expanded

Polls in practice

If you add a Polling feature, attendees in your Event App can click on it to read poll questions and submit their answers.

💡 Keep in mind, if it's really important to make sure everyone knows about your Polling feature, consider linking to it in an announcement or from a banner.

Poll results in the Mobile App.

When attendees join a live stream with polling, they simply click the Polling tab in the engagement panel.

The Polling tab in an Agenda Session on the Web App.

If you chose not to share poll results, attendees can only access the answers they submit.

If you checked the 'Share poll results...' option, attendees can review the percentage of all votes that each poll answer received after they submit an answer. The items each attendee chose appear in a different color.

When you use Webex Events Production Studio, use the Polling tab in the Studio to review poll results and display them in the live stream!

A poll displayed on stage in the Webex Events Production Studio.

Metrics

When you export polls from the Polling tab as mentioned earlier, a 'Polling' Excel file downloads. A notification appears letting you know that your file is being processed. When the export is ready, a new notification appears. Click the Click here to download link to download the file.

If you missed the notification, don't worry! Simply click the bell icon next to the Help tab at the top right corner of the screen to review all your past notifications.

The export notifications just described.

The file contains separate tabs for every feature or session with associated poll data.

💡 Keep in mind, the 'Instructions', 'Polling', and 'Reference Sheet' tabs are related to importing polls and don't include any results data.

The feature and session tabs show the following rows with the relevant data in columns:

  • Question

  • Options

  • Vote Percentage

  • Vote Numbers

  • Voters (includes name, title, company, and email)

A Polling sheet open in Excel with the items listed above visible.

In addition to the in-depth export, the Metrics page provides basic polling count data.

You're well on your way to becoming a polling expert! 📊 While you're here, learn about the Poll's sibling feature — Q&A.

Questions? Chat with us, email support@socio.events, or attend a Face to Face session.

Did this answer your question?