Live Polls and Surveys - How to Boost Engagement at Your Event
Why a passive audience is a problem
According to Eventify, 82% of conference attendees use a smartphone during the event. Not to follow the agenda — most often they check email, scroll social media, or reply to messages. A TalentLMS report from 2026 confirms the scale of the problem: 70% of training participants admit to multitasking during sessions.
For an organiser, this is a clear signal: physical presence in the room does not equal engagement. The speaker competes for attention with Instagram, Slack, and the inbox. The only way to win this competition is to give attendees a reason to interact — ideally through the very same phone that distracts them. Interactivity is one of the key event trends of 2026.
Live voting — the simplest way to interact
Live voting is the lowest barrier to interaction at an event. An attendee taps a single button on their phone screen, and the result appears on the room’s display within seconds. According to ON24 Webinar Benchmarks, polls generate an average of 130 responses per session — nearly seven times more than traditional surveys (19 responses).
Why such a big difference? Because voting requires minimal effort and provides instant gratification: you see how your answer affects the result. It is a mechanism familiar from social media, brought to the conference room.
Examples of questions that work:
- “What is your biggest challenge?” — opens a discussion and gives the speaker context.
- “Who already uses X?” — a quick poll that builds a sense of community in the room.
- “Which presentation was the best?” — a competitive element among speakers that keeps energy going until the end of the day.
In EventApp, the voting module works through the browser — the attendee scans a QR code, opens the app, and votes. No downloads, no registration. Results update in seconds.
Surveys and quizzes — deeper engagement
In-session surveys
The traditional approach to collecting feedback is an email survey sent a week after the event. 10–15% of attendees respond, and answers are diluted by time. A survey completed right after a session — on a phone, in a few taps — yields completely different results: higher response rates and more specific feedback.
The organiser finds out immediately what worked and what needs improvement. The speaker gets an evaluation the same day. The sponsor sees how attendees reacted to their session.
Quizzes and gamification
A quiz during a break or networking session is a proven ice-breaker. The competitive element — a leaderboard, points, prizes — engages even the most reserved attendees. It doesn’t need to be complicated: 5–7 questions related to the event theme, a ranking on screen, a small prize for the winner.
EventApp lets you create surveys and collect feedback directly in the app. Data goes to the organiser’s panel, ready for analysis.
When to use which tool
| Tool | When | Purpose | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voting | During a session | Quick feedback, room energy | 30 sec |
| Survey | After a session / block | Deeper feedback, evaluation | 2–3 min |
| Quiz | Break / networking | Gamification, ice-breaker | 3–5 min |
The best results come from combining all three formats during a single event day. Voting keeps attention during sessions, surveys give the organiser hard data, and quizzes build atmosphere and relationships between attendees.
How it looks in practice — from phone to screen
Imagine this scenario: a speaker finishes their presentation and says “vote for which solution you choose.” Attendees open the app on their phone — the same one they used to check the agenda that morning — and cast their vote with a single tap. On the screen behind the speaker, a chart with results appears within seconds. The speaker comments, the room reacts. A passive lecture becomes a conversation.
This is not an abstraction. 49% of marketers name attendee engagement as the most important factor in event success. And 68.7% of event professionals confirm that technology improving the attendee experience is a trend that is here to stay.
In EventApp, the entire process works without additional tools. The PWA app opens from a link or QR code, voting and surveys are built in, and the organiser sees results in the admin panel. We covered PWA technology in more detail in our article about apps without the App Store.
5 proven practices
- An interactive element every 15–20 minutes — attention drops after a quarter of an hour. A vote, a question to the audience, or a quiz breaks monotony and resets focus.
- Simple questions, max 4 options — the fewer options, the faster the decision and the higher the response rate. Avoid open-ended questions in live voting.
- Results on screen immediately — delay kills the effect. Attendees need to see their answer in the context of the group within seconds.
- Mix formats — voting + quiz + survey during a single day. Variety sustains interest better than repeating the same format.
- Results as content — screenshots from voting are ready-made material for social media and summary reports. The data you collect anyway works double.
How to get started
You don’t need a separate platform for voting, another for surveys, and a third for feedback. EventApp combines all these features in a single event app:
- Live voting with results in seconds
- Post-session surveys and feedback
- Agenda, maps, file downloads, and gallery
- PWA — works in the browser, zero installation
Pricing starts at 4,500 PLN as a one-time fee, no subscription. Configuration takes a few hours through the visual panel.
Want to see the voting module in action? Try the demo or get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
Do attendees need to install an app to vote?
No. EventApp is a PWA that works directly in the phone’s browser. An attendee scans a QR code or clicks a link and can vote immediately. No store download, no account creation.
How many people can vote at the same time?
No limit. The system handles hundreds of votes simultaneously, with results updating in seconds. It works just as smoothly for 50-person events as for conferences with several hundred attendees.
Can voting results be exported?
Yes. All data from votes, surveys, and feedback is available in the organiser’s admin panel. It can be used in summary reports, sponsor presentations, or as social media content.
When should I use a survey vs. live voting?
Live voting works best during sessions as quick interaction (30 seconds, 1 question). A survey works better after a session or thematic block, when you want to collect deeper feedback and ratings (2–3 minutes, several questions). Combining both formats gives the best results.
