Live Audience Polling: Engage Your Audience with QR Codes

Display a QR code during your presentation and let your audience vote from their phones in real-time.

Why Live Polling Works

Nothing kills a presentation like a passive audience. Live polling transforms spectators into participants, creating engagement and generating discussion points on the fly.

Participation

Everyone can contribute, not just the vocal few

Attention

Interactive elements keep people focused

Insights

Instant data to guide your discussion

How Presentation Mode Works

PollThem's Presentation Mode gives you a clean, distraction-free display optimized for projectors and large screens:

Large QR Code

Scannable from anywhere in the room

Poll Title

Displayed prominently below the code

Readable URL

For those who prefer typing the link

Theme Options

Light or dark background for any venue

Your Poll Title

pollthem.online/poll/ABC123

Example presentation view

Step-by-Step: Run a Live Poll

Create Your Poll Before the Event

Go to Create Poll and set up your question and options. Test it on your phone to make sure it works.

Open Presentation Mode

From your poll page, click the "Present" button (or go to /poll/[id]/present). This opens the QR display.

Configure Your Display

Choose light or dark theme based on your room lighting. Click the fullscreen button for maximum visibility.

Ask Your Audience to Scan

"Take out your phones and scan this QR code to vote." Most phones can scan QR codes with the camera app.

Give Time to Vote

Allow 30-60 seconds for everyone to scan, load the page, and submit their vote. Watch the vote count if you have results open in another tab.

Show the Results

Navigate to the Results page (use the link in presentation mode) and display the outcomes. Discuss what the data shows.

Use Cases

Classrooms

Check understanding with quick quizzes
Vote on discussion topics
Gauge opinions for debates
Anonymous feedback on lectures

All-Hands Meetings

Pulse checks on company initiatives
Q&A topic prioritization
Anonymous questions to leadership
Team satisfaction surveys

Conferences & Talks

Audience demographics check
Interactive examples
Session feedback
Choose-your-own-adventure presentations

Workshops & Training

Pre-assessment of knowledge
Activity preferences
Group decision making
Real-time comprehension checks

Tips for Successful Live Polls

Create your poll and test the full flow: scan the QR code, vote, view results. Check that the QR code displays clearly on your presentation screen. Nothing kills momentum like technical difficulties during your talk.

Make sure attendees can access the internet. In venues with poor WiFi, remind people they can use cellular data. For large events, ask IT about network capacity. Have a backup plan (show of hands) if connectivity is unreliable.

Give people at least 30-60 seconds to participate. Some will need to find their phones, open the camera, scan, load the page, and vote. Don't rush it. The engagement is worth the pause.

2-5 options work best for live polls. Complex questions with many choices slow things down and confuse participants. Save nuanced questions for follow-up surveys after the event.

Don't just show results and move on. Comment on what you see: "Interesting that most of you chose B - let me explain why that might be." Polls are conversation starters, not just data collection.

Presentation Mode Features

Feature	Description
Fullscreen	Hides browser chrome for maximum QR code visibility
Dark Theme	High contrast for dim rooms and projectors
Light Theme	Works better in brightly lit rooms
Large QR Code	Sized for scanning from back of large rooms
URL Display	Fallback for those who can't scan

Create a Poll Presentation Guide

Quick Links

Create a Poll QR Code Guide Poll Templates Back to Help Center

Works on Any Phone

iPhone, Android, any device with a camera and browser. No app download required for participants.

Completely Free

Unlike other audience response systems that charge per participant, PollThem is 100% free with unlimited voters.