Live Q&A and Polling -- Overview
What is Live Q&A?
Live Q&A is an interactive module in TimelyChurch that lets your congregation submit questions, vote on topics, and respond to polls during services, Bible studies, town halls, or any event. The host controls the flow from a dedicated panel while participants join from their own phones -- no app download required.
How It Works
A typical Live Q&A session follows this flow:
- An admin creates a session from the Q&A item in the admin sidebar, configuring settings such as moderation, anonymous questions, voting, and session duration.
- Participants join by scanning a QR code or entering a short join code on their phone.
- Questions roll in from the audience. They can be auto-approved or held for moderation, depending on your settings.
- The host manages the queue from the host panel -- approving, highlighting, replying, and marking questions as answered.
- A display view can be projected on screen to show the currently highlighted question and live poll results to the entire room.
- The session auto-closes after the configured duration, or the host can close it manually at any time.
Key Concepts
Session Statuses
Every Q&A session moves through a defined lifecycle:
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Session has been created but is not yet active. Participants see a "Waiting for session to begin" message. |
| Collecting Questions | The session is open for question submissions but has not gone fully live yet. Useful for gathering questions before a service starts. |
| Live | The session is fully active. Questions and votes flow in real time. |
| Paused | Temporarily halted. Participants see a "Session paused" banner. No new submissions are accepted. |
| Closed | The session has ended. All active polls are automatically closed. The host can still reopen if needed. |
| Archived | Permanently closed. Participants who try to join see a "Session ended" message. |
Join Code and QR Code
Each session is assigned a unique 8-character join code (for example, X3KP7RMN). Ambiguous characters are automatically substituted to prevent confusion -- the generator replaces 0, O, I, L, and 1, so a join code never contains any of those five characters. A QR code is also generated that links directly to the session.
Host PIN
A 6-digit PIN protects the host panel. Share this PIN only with people who need to moderate questions during the session. The PIN can be regenerated at any time from the session dashboard.
Display Token
The display view has a special URL that includes a secure token. This token-based URL can be pasted directly into ProPresenter or any browser without requiring PIN entry, making it easy to set up projection screens.
Use Cases
- Sunday service Q&A with the pastor
- Bible study discussion questions
- Town hall meetings and congregational feedback
- Guest speaker sessions
- Youth group topic voting
- Event feedback and audience engagement
- New member orientation questions
What You Will Need
- A TimelyChurch account on a plan that includes the Live Q&A feature (Growth or Pro)
- A device for the host (phone, tablet, or laptop) to manage questions
- Optionally, a projector or screen to display the presentation view
- Participants need any device with a web browser (phone, tablet, or laptop)
Plan Limits
Live Q&A is a plan-gated feature. Your active session quota depends on the TimelyChurch plan attached to your church:
| Plan | Active Q&A Sessions |
|---|---|
| Starter (free) | 0 (Q&A unavailable -- upgrade required) |
| Growth | 3 |
| Pro | Unlimited |
You can see your current usage (for example, "2 / 3 sessions used") on the Q&A Sessions list page. If you reach your limit, you will be prompted to upgrade your plan to create additional sessions. Churches on the free Starter plan do not have access to the Q&A module -- it must be unlocked by upgrading to Growth or Pro.
Next: Creating a Q&A Session