Polling is a built-in engagement tool in Gradual events that allows event hosts to pose questions to attendees and collect real-time feedback.
This guide explains how to create, launch, manage, and respond to polls effectively during live virtual events.
Availability & Access
Polling is available in most virtual events on Gradual: meeting, webinar, livestream, and hybrid events.
Polling is not currently available in 1:1 match events, Roundtables, in the Gradual Go mobile app for in-person events, or in meeting rooms or roundtables that are nested within livestream, hybrid events, or sponsor booths.
Users can engage in polling on their mobile devices, like tablets and phones, but admins or hosts cannot launch or manage polls on a mobile device.
Member Access
Polling is visible and available to users at the Standard level and who have a completed profile. Users at the guest level can see polls, but cannot participate, and those at the limited approval level cannot see the Polls tab at all, or engage in the polling.
Learn more about these access levels here.
Admin Permissions & Management
Enable the polling feature ahead of the event
Polling must be enabled in the event dashboard before it can be launched live in the event. This can be handled by dashboard admins or those with event and collaborator permissions, at any level.
Meeting & Webinar Events: Enable polling in the Meeting Room or Webinar Room page in the event dashboard.
Livestream & Hybrid Events: Enable polling in the Channels tab in the event dashboard. It can be enabled on a stage-by-stage basis if there are multiple stages.
Manage & launch polls during the event
Many roles can launch and manage polls live in the event environment:
Meeting & Webinar Events: Assigned hosts or staff & those with event permissions or collaborator permissions (at any level)
There must be at least one host or staff member assigned to launch and manage polls in the room
Livestream & Hybrid Events: Assigned chat moderators & those with event permissions or collaborator permissions (at any level)
There must be at least one chat moderator assigned to launch and manage polls on the stage
Panelists and attendees cannot launch or manage polls from the live event environment, and hosts cannot launch polls from a mobile device.
Launch & Manage Polls During the Event
Polls are launched and managed live during your event. You will log into the live event and click on the 'Polls' tab in the right-hand sidebar to create and manage all polls.
Creating a Poll
Select the “Create Poll” button located at the base of the Poll tab
Choose the type of poll from the drop-down menu:
Single Choice: Attendees can select only one option as their response
Multiple Choice: Attendees can choose more than one option as their response
Open Question: Attendees can type in their response
Enter your poll question
Type your poll question in the provided text field (150 character max)
Enter your options (if applicable)
Add the answer options you want participants to choose from
You must include two or more options, and can include up to 10 options
You can delete options, but you cannot reposition or reorder them
Listing 'Other' will not prompt a text field for users to submit their response via text
Enable or disable 'Ask Anonymously'
If toggled on, the answers to the poll will stay anonymous to all participants, including hosts and staff
If toggled off, the attendees' profile avatar will appear beside their response to all participants, including hosts and staff
Set a Timer to automatically end the poll (Optional):
If toggled on, the system will automatically close the poll after the designated period (must be >1 minute)
If toggled off, the host or moderator must close the poll manually
Enable or disable 'Show results to attendees'
If toggled on, the system will show results to the attendees (no matter if they have responded to the poll or not)
Showing poll results instantly will update the poll results for attendees live, and they will not have to wait until the poll is closed
If toggled off, the system will not show results to the attendees (no matter if they have responded to the poll or not)
The poll and its results will appear to the chat moderators or hosts only
Save to Library or Start
RECOMMENDED: 'Save this poll to your library' will add it to the list of polls for this event as a template, and/or to launch later
If you will be editing options or the poll text in the future, save it to the poll library
If you will be sending this, or a version of this poll out throughout the event, save it to the poll library as you can re-launch polls from the poll library
'Start' this poll will launch it to the attendees
The poll will appear in the chat and sidebar for easy access when launched
If you do not add it to the Poll Library, this poll cannot be launched again during the event
There is a limit of 30 polls per event
Poll Library
As the host or moderator, you can create and save polls as templates in the event's poll library. From that library, you can access saved polls to edit them, add options, and decide to launch or relaunch them from there.
Polls added to the library can be edited and re-launched. These polls are generated and stand as new polls, so attendees can respond to the new poll even if they've already answered a similar poll!
Launching a Poll
Hosts and moderators can launch a poll immediately after creating it by selecting 'Start' at the base of the poll block, or from the Poll Library. Multiple polls can be active at the same time, accepting responses from attendees.
If you are launching the poll from your Poll library, you will find the poll from the poll list and either select the arrow icon to launch, or the edit icon, and then the 'Start' button at the base of the poll block.
There is a limit of 30 polls per event
Editing a Poll
Published polls cannot be edited, so any edits or changes must be made before you launch the poll.
Polls from the Poll Library can be edited and options changed. If a poll has already been launched and closed, the changes will reflect in a brand new poll and attendees can vote or respond again.
If the admin user is editing a template while the poll is running, the template can still be saved, but cannot be started/promoted.
If you need to make changes after a poll has been published, you will need to delete and recreate the poll entirely.
Promote or Pin a Poll
Polls can be pinned while they're active and open, and once they have been closed.
Simply select the three-dot menu atop the poll block and click 'Pin to the top' or 'Promote' to feature a poll and increase its visibility.
Pin to the top: This will pin the poll to top of the poll tab only
Promote: This will pin the poll to the top of the chat tab and the polls tab - and can be pinned in conjunction with a chat message or question from Q&A!
Filter Polls
Hosts and moderators can filter and sort the polls during the event to help them keep track of active polls or results.
Poll Results
Hosts can choose to show results to attendees or keep the results hidden and only visible to hosts or moderators.
Show Results
If they opt to show results to attendees when creating the poll:
Those who respond will see their avatar beside their selection while the poll is open
If 'show poll results instantly' is toggled on, they will also see results come in live when others submit
Once the poll closes, all results will appear to all attendees as aggregate totals or text responses (they will not see who voted for what - that is only visible to hosts or moderators)
This is an example of what an attendee will see once the poll is closed
Hide Results
If they opt to keep results hidden from attendees when creating the poll:
Those who respond will see their avatar beside their selection while the poll is open
Once the poll closes, it will disappear, and they can't see the results
ONLY the hosts or moderators can see the poll and its results
Hosts and moderators can see who responded to what option as well, from their view:
Ending a Poll
There are two ways to end the poll, manually or automatically when the timer has run out.
Manually end the poll
Select the three-dot menu atop the poll block and click “End Poll”
Or, from the Poll Library list select the red square icon
Close the poll by timer
When creating the poll, you can set it to close after a certain number of minutes (must be >1 min)
Deleting a poll
Hosts can delete a poll from the Poll Library but this action is permanent and can't be reversed. Active polls cannot be deleted, the poll must be ended first, then deleted.
Poll Results & Reporting
Exporting poll data is available through the new poll results report in the event reports tab. Poll results report includes detailed responses and member info (unless anonymous) to help you track and measure results.
