Bring the crowd in
Put a question on the big screen and let the room answer it from their phones. No app, no accounts, no download — a QR code and about four seconds.
What you can ask
| Kind | What the room does | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Poll | Picks one of your options. The bars fill live on the screen. | Decisions, preferences, warming a room up. |
| Trivia | Picks an option; one of them is right, and the answer is revealed when you say so. | Between sets, intermissions, keeping a room in the room. |
| Word cloud | Types a word or short phrase. Matching answers grow bigger on the screen. | One-word reactions, names, moods. Up to 40 characters each. |
| Q&A | Types a question and upvotes other people’s. The most-wanted rises to the top. | Conferences, panels, services, AMAs. |
| Rating | Scores something on a scale. | Competitions, feedback, votes of the room. |
| Photo prompt | Sends a photo from their phone. | Weddings and parties — the shots the photographer was never going to get. |
| Reveal | Sees the screen take over with something you prepared. | Announcements, results, the gender of a baby, the winner. |
How to run one
Prepare the question before the day, then push it to the screen when the moment arrives. The room sees a QR code, scans it, and answers on their own phone. Results build on the screen as they come in.
Close it when you want the answer to stop moving. Closed results stay on the screen, which is usually the moment you actually want to talk about them.
Keeping it clean
Anything free-text — Q&A, word clouds — is a live screen in front of a room, so you get a moderation view. You approve what goes up, or let it flow and pull anything you do not want. For a wedding or a family service, approve first; for a room you know, let it flow.
Word cloud answers are matched without regard to capitalisation, so Nervous and nervous are one word getting bigger rather than two words getting smaller.
When to use it, and when not to
- Use it during the gaps you already have — changeovers, intermissions, the walk between courses. Dead air is the whole opportunity.
- Do not put a question up during the thing people came for. A word cloud competing with a first dance loses, and it should.
- Ask once, well. Four questions in a night is engagement. Fourteen is homework.