Poll Everywhere is a live audience response system that allows you to ask a question that’s displayed on-screen, gather results in real-time, and view them as they come in. Poll Everywhere can be embedded into tools like Powerpoint, Google Slides, or Keynote presentations and can be integrated into Blackboard. Additionally, Poll Everywhere can be set up to accept audience responses in both synchronous and asynchronous settings. This article explains how to get started.
- Request a Poll Everywhere account. If you have already created an account you can still use this form to get your account added to our ACC Enterprise license.
- You will receive an email with account confirmation information.
- Login to Poll Everywhere and open the activity section. You can create folders for different presentations to keep activities organized.
- Select the Activities button and it will open up a screen where you can choose your activity type.
- Enter your question (the title is the question you want to ask) and answer choices (if your selected activity type is prompting answers).
- Click create and you will be redirected to the activity page.
The following link will take you to a guide that explores the different activity types.
- You can display an activity right from the Poll Everywhere application but it is more common to use Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Apple Keynotes. Each of these will have a separate plugin that you will have to install on your computer and follow separate directions for.
Chrome Browser extension for Google Slides
Microsoft PowerPoint
Apple Keynote
Best Practices
After using Poll Everywhere, archive the responses to prevent old answers from appearing in future presentations.
Allow participants to skip cookies, registration, and providing names to maintain anonymity and simplicity. Optionally, have students use real names for follow-ups or grading.
Start with a low-stakes icebreaker question and guide participants through the sign-in process multiple times to ensure familiarity before moving on to main questions.
Inform your audience to keep the polling tab or window open during the session, as it will automatically progress to the next question unless navigated away from.
Participants can only respond to polls when the program is in slideshow mode. Test the presentation on a second device before the session and archive any test responses afterward.
Contact Support
This article was created and is maintained by the Office of Academic Technology.
If you have found an error in this article, or if you need assistance incorporating this article into your course, please contact the Educational Technologists.