Introduction
Webinars can be challenging to facilitate because attendees come from all over
the place and the dynamic shifts drastically when compared to in-person
seminars. However, one thing that both have in common is the need to
understand how the audience is feeling, what they’ve learned, and if they have
any feedback. A great way to source this information is by running polls, but
knowing what to ask can be challenging. Throughout this article, we’ll help
you decide on the correct questions to start asking your audience.
Making Questions Beneficial
Live audience polling is designed to promote participation from the audience,
so you must make sure each question is beneficial to your audience. Even
though you’ll be using
live polling in real-time
and get a deeper understanding of your audience, it’s important not to appear
self-serving. For example, if you focus too much on demographic questions,
your participants will likely feel as though they’re part of an experiment.
Keep it Simple
When
writing questions
for live polls, you need to consider the role of audience interpretation.
Therefore, to avoid wires being crossed, keep your questions single-minded and
simple, which means leaving complex language at the door.
Speaker and Audience View is Different
There are two different interfaces during a webinar – the speaker and the
audience – and they both look different. If you’ve written a long question,
the interface may trim some of your words, meaning you may forget what you’ve
asked. Therefore, you should write down all questions on a separate screen or
in a notepad. Even if your question is cut short, the audience will see the
entire question on their end – so don’t panic.
Keeping Audience Size Hidden
When you plan your webinar and poll, you will have a desired audience size in
mind, which may not be fulfilled. If you show the results with small audience
numbers displayed, it may make the rest of your webinar less impactful.
Therefore, you can set your poll to display answers in percentages, meaning
you can keep on going as if you had a larger audience.
Don’t Overdo It
When
planning your webinar, you’ll need to decide how many polls to use. If you overdo it, they’ll
start leaving your audience feeling fatigued. However, if you don’t put enough
in, you won’t get to know your audience. Typically, it’s suggested that around
three polls should be executed if a webinar lasts one hour.
Conclusion
While participants are answering your poll, it’s important to keep up the
momentum by continuing with the webinar. If you waste time waiting for
responses, you’ll leave yourself open to ‘dead air’, which will end up feeling
awkward for everyone involved.
Audience interaction is the key to a successful webinar, and live web polls
can help facilitate this. However, it’s important to strike a balance to avoid
causing confusion and boring your audience. To master the art of creating
polls, ensure that every single question adds benefit to your audience and
keep it short/simple.
