Creating Polls Within a Session

What are Polls?

Polls let you ask multiple-choice questions and get instant feedback from your audience during a live Q&A session. Polls are created and managed from the host panel and appear alongside questions in the participant view. Live poll results can also be displayed on the projection screen.

Creating a Poll

1. Open the host panel for your active session.
2. Click the + Poll button in the filter bar at the top of the screen.
3. A creation form expands with the following fields:

Poll Question

Type your question (up to 1,000 characters). Examples:

• "Which book should we study next?"
• "What time works best for Wednesday Bible study?"
• "How did you hear about our church?"

Answer Options

• You start with two blank option fields.
• Click + Add Option to add more (up to 6 options maximum).
• Each option can be up to 500 characters.
• Remove an option by clicking the X button next to it (minimum 2 options required).

Multi-Select (Coming Soon)

Each poll can control how many options a participant may choose. Today the host panel only creates single-select polls (participants pick one option). Multi-select / "choose up to N" polls are planned for a future release -- when shipped, you will be able to let participants pick more than one option, up to the number of options available.

Pinning a Poll

Polls can be pinned. Pinned polls are sorted to the top of the active polls section regardless of creation order, which is useful when you have multiple polls running and want to draw attention to one. Toggle pin state from the poll's More menu in the host panel.

Result Visibility Settings

• Show results live -- When enabled, participants see the vote counts and percentages update in real time as people vote. When disabled, participants see only their own selection until the poll is closed.
• Show on close -- When enabled, participants see the final results after the poll is closed. When disabled, results remain hidden from participants even after closing.

For a quick pulse check, enable "Show results live" so the room can see the votes roll in. For blind voting (such as a board election), leave both off and review the results in the admin dashboard or CSV export.

Launch Options

You have two choices when creating:

• Create Draft -- Saves the poll without making it visible to participants. You can activate it later when the time is right.
• Create and Launch -- Creates the poll and immediately makes it active. Participants will see it right away.

Poll Statuses

Managing Polls from the Host Panel

Active Polls

Active polls appear at the top of the host panel's question list. Each active poll card shows:

• The poll status badge
• Total vote count
• The question text
• A bar chart showing each option's votes and percentage

Available actions for active polls:

• Close Poll -- Stops accepting votes and marks the poll as closed.
• Live Results: ON/OFF -- Toggles whether participants can see vote counts in real time.
• Close Results: ON/OFF -- Toggles whether participants will see results when the poll closes.
• More > Delete -- Permanently removes the poll and all its votes.

Draft Polls

Draft polls also appear in the active polls section with a "Draft" badge. Click Activate to make a draft poll live.

Closed Polls

Closed polls are collapsed into a summary bar showing the count (for example, "2 closed polls"). Click to expand and view the results or delete old polls.

How Polls Appear to Participants

Before Voting

Participants see the poll question with radio-button-style options. They tap an option to select it, then tap the Vote button to confirm.

Each participant can only vote once per poll. The vote cannot be changed after submission.

After Voting

After voting, participants see:

• A checkmark next to their selected option
• If live results are enabled: a bar chart showing each option's vote count and percentage
• If live results are disabled: a "Thanks for voting!" message

On the Display Screen

When a poll is active, the projection display shows a large bar chart with the question, options, vote counts, and percentages. The bars animate smoothly as new votes arrive.

Poll Results in CSV Export

All poll data is included when you download the session CSV from the admin dashboard. The export includes:

• Poll question text
• Poll status
• Total votes
• Each option's text, vote count, and percentage
• Creation and closing timestamps

Tips for Effective Polls

• Keep options short and clear -- they need to be readable on phone screens.
• Use 2 to 4 options for quick decisions. Reserve 5 or 6 options for broader surveys.
• Launch polls at natural break points during your session to maximize participation.
• If you want a dramatic reveal, create the poll with both result toggles off, then toggle "Show results live" when you are ready for the big reveal.
• Polls are automatically closed when the overall Q&A session is closed, so you do not need to close them individually before ending the session.

Next: Audience Participation