Live polls
With live polls you ask the audience questions they answer on their phones: no account and no app needed. You prepare the polls in advance and play them onto the screen with one click during the evening. One of the types is the audience vote, where the audience votes on the performances after a round; if you like, it can be the scoring of the round.
Switch on
Live polls are off by default. To switch them on:
- Open your competition and click Settings
- Switch on Live polls
- Click Save
The competition then shows the Live polls card. You also find a card with your polls in the live control of every round (even after it has ended), on the start page of a round that has not started yet and on the start page of the control link. As long as the switch is off, none of this appears.
Prepare polls
In the competition, click Manage in the Live polls card and then New poll. Choose a type, enter the question and save. New polls are listed as Ready until you start them. Change the order with the arrows; it also applies in the live control.
At the top of the page you find the Projector link of the competition with Open and Copy and the address for the audience. Open the projector link on the computer for the projector: started polls appear there with a QR code, even without a running round.
| Type | The audience | On the screen |
|---|---|---|
| Choice | picks one or more answers, from your list or from the performances of a round | bars with shares, during the vote if you like |
| Audience vote | votes on the performances after the round: choose favorites, give points or one favorite person | ranking, only once you show the result |
| Word cloud | sends up to three short words | cloud, frequent words larger, released ones only |
| Free text | sends one to three short answers | cards, released ones only |
| Quiz | taps an answer against the clock, nickname optional | correct answer, distribution and the fastest, only once you show the result |
| Scale | gives a value, for example from 1 to 10, also for several statements | average and distribution |
| Ranking | puts answers in order | ranking by average place |
For choice, word cloud, free text, scale and ranking you decide whether the result appears on the screen during the vote or only after closing.
Polls that have been played can no longer be edited, so question and answers stay consistent. You copy polls from an earlier competition of your team with Copy at the bottom of the page, ready to start and without results.
Play them in during the evening
You play your polls directly on the Live polls page or in the Live polls card: in the live control of a round, on the start page of a round that has not started yet, after a round has ended or on the start page of the control link.
- Start: The poll opens and appears on the screen with a QR code, short address, code and the number of answers. Any other open poll closes.
- Close: No more answers arrive.
- Show result: The result appears on the screen, for a quiz with the correct answer.
- Reopen: The vote continues.
- Show on screen: Brings a played poll back to the screen without changing its status.
- Take off screen: Removes the poll from the screen without changing its status.
Without a running round
Before the first round, during a break or after a round has ended, you do not need a running round: if you start a poll on the Live polls page, on the start page of a round, after a round has ended or with the control link, it appears on every screen of the competition, in front of the round display and the waiting notice. It stays there until you click Take off screen or show something else in the display controls: any choice in the display controls takes it off again.
In a running round
In the live control of a running round, the poll goes on the screen through the round like the other displays. The Live poll button in the display controls jumps to the Live polls card further down.
This works the same way with a control link and a round link. With a round link you see the polls of that round and those without a round.
What the audience sees
The audience scans the QR code or types the address, for example slam-voting.com/u/K7Q3P. The page needs no account and no app and follows the language of the phone. When no poll is open, it waits and shows the next question by itself. Each phone answers once per poll and gets a confirmation.
Release word cloud and free text
Words and texts only appear on the screen once you release them. Click Release (n); the number shows how many are waiting. In the window you release single entries, hide them or release all waiting ones at once. In a word cloud, identical words count together. A block list keeps crude insults out beforehand.
You can also switch the release off: the Live polls page has the switch Show words and texts only after release (for owners, admins and editors). When it is off, new words and texts appear on the screen right away, and waiting ones are released when you switch it off. The block list still applies. With the Entries button you can still hide single ones.
Audience vote as the scoring of a round
- Create the round with the scoring Audience vote (live polls). The option only appears when live polls are switched on.
- Prepare an Audience vote for this round under Live polls and choose Scoring of the round for “What does the vote count for?”.
- After the performances: Start, let the audience vote, Close, Show result.
- Click Add points to the round. The points then appear in the Audience column of the live control.
From there on everything works as with a jury: overall standings, advancing and final standings. In case of a tie, the live control offers the usual ways, see Tiebreaker. An audience vote as an Audience award or Just for fun does not count for the round.
How many answers
Without supporter access, each poll accepts up to 100 answers. After that the audience sees “This poll is full” and the live control shows a hint. With supporter access there is no limit. If you become a supporter during the evening, close the poll and open it again.
Privacy
Only the answer, the time and a check value from a random marker of the phone are stored, in a quiz also the optional nickname. There are no accounts and no names of the audience. Single answers are deleted after 30 days; the result of the poll stays visible in the competition.