1. How to Use poll everywhere
Julie K. Marsh
Coordinator for Distance Education and Instructional Design
Fall 2016

2. Objectives for session
Set up free Poll Everywhere account
Download Poll Everywhere plug-in for PowerPoint
Practice creating new poll questions
Practice inserting poll questions
Practice displaying poll questions
Practice answering poll questions
Practice exporting student data
Practice clearing student data
Understand advanced features
Know how to convert existing PowerPoint to Poll Everywhere PowerPoint

3. Set up free Poll Everywhere account
BSMCON is currently using the free version of Poll Everywhere
Each poll (individual question) has a limit of up to 40 responses
You need to create your own free Poll Everywhere account

4. Set up free Poll Everywhere account (cont.)
Open the Google Chrome browser and go to
Click Sign Up in the top, right corner
Choose the You’re Presenting option
Fill out your information;
be sure to use address

5. Download Poll Everywhere plug-in for PowerPoint
Go to and download #2 and #3
Click Run on each of the downloads (You may need to select Agree to Terms, Install, etc. Please follow the prompts).
For the PollEv Presenter Add-in MSI be sure to select “everyone” when prompted.

6. Open Powerpoint Open a new PowerPoint (you may need to do a restart)
Click the log-in button

7. Open Powerpoint (cont.)
Log in to Poll Everywhere
You know you are logged in when you have the option to log out; every time you want to present using Poll Everywhere, you must be sure to log in every time!

8. Practice creating new poll questions
To insert a new poll question, click on the New button
A pop-up window will appear where you can choose your question type, enter in your question, and enter in your answer choices before clicking Insert. We will practice the five questions on the
next slide.

9. Practice creating questions
A. Create a multiple choice question: Question: What is your favorite color? Answer choices: red, blue, green, and yellow B. Create an open ended question (note the different types): Question: Why is the sky blue? Please explain. C. Create a Q&A question: Question: What would you like to focus on in our next class?
D. Create a ranking question:
Question: Rank your favorite super hero
Answer choices: superman, wonder woman, green lantern, hulk
E. Create a question using a clickable image:
1. Google USA map; find image you like
2. Save image to your computer
3. Upload image into poll question
4. You can add regions if you choose by clicking on the image
Click Insert > Poll > and create each of these five questions one at a time
You will need to go to Insert in the top, left corner of your Poll Everywhere tab every time you want to create a new question (so for this practice, you will do this five times)

10. Practice inserting poll questions
To insert an existing question already stored in your Poll Everywhere, click on Insert
A pop-up window will appear where you can look for an existing poll. Once you find your poll, select the box to the left of the question and click Insert Poll (you can do single questions or groups of questions)

11. Practice displaying poll questions
Your poll will be added to a new slide. The new slide will drop to the bottom of the slide list, so be sure to scroll down and move it to where you want it in your presentation.

12. Practice displaying poll questions (cont.)
To view your new poll, open the slide show. It may take a few seconds for the screen to show up, but you will see your live question on the full screen.
Be sure your slide does not say “Poll not active. Log in to activate.” If it does, click on the Poll Everywhere tab within PowerPoint and be sure to log in.

13. Practice answering poll questions
Once you have a complete presentation that includes Poll Everywhere questions, you are ready to use Poll Everywhere in the classroom. To get your students ready, you can include an instruction slide like the one below ( Julie at with your unique URL and text information as seen on your own slides, and she can send you your own)
Your codes will always be the same. Your students can text in or go to the URL at the beginning of each class to join the session. They only have to join in once for each class session where you want to use Poll Everywhere.

14. Practice answering poll questions (cont.)
When your students text in to join, they will see the screen below confirming the session. Once they are in the session, they can text their answers every time there is a new question. If they type an answer and want to change it, they type in “clear” and then they can enter a new answer.

15. Practice answering poll questions (cont.)
If your students would prefer to connect a laptop or tablet to the internet, they will see the screen below once they join the session. Each new question will show up on their own screens where they can then select their answers.

16. Practice exporting student data
If you plan to use your polls more than once, you can export data and clear answers between class sessions. To do this, go to and log in. Go to the polls you want to reuse. To get the data, click on the question (blue link).
Click Export and select Response History.
Select Download Spreadsheet (.CSV), and you can then save the report on your computer.

17. Practice exporting student data (cont.)
When you click Export, you can also save a screenshot (great for word clouds!) or a summary table.

18. Practice clearing student data
To clear the answers for a poll, go back to the question and select the box next to it, then select Clear.

19. Understand advanced features

20. Understand advanced features (cont.)
DRAW
ACTIVATE
HIDE
LOCK
CLEAR

21. Understand advanced features (cont.)
Different question types, including images and LaTeX (equations/math)
Timer, marker, and directional arrows

22. Understand advanced features (cont.)
When you create a new poll, it is automatically added to the Ungrouped category. To organize your polls, you want to group them together
Check the polls you want to group (box on left side of question) then select Group at the top

23. Understand advanced features (cont.)
Click the pencil icon next to New Group to edit the name of the group
Name the group and click Save (I would suggest naming it by your PowerPoint name, unit name, or something specific so you remember what the questions go with in your content materials)

24. Understand advanced features (cont.)
When you open a question by clicking it directly (blue link), you can change features behind the scenes. On the right side of your screen, select:
How people can respond if you want to change how you receive answers
Response settings to change the number of times they can respond (MC questions default to 1 time so change if you want students to choose multiple answers; open ended questions default to as many times as they like)
Schedule lock/unlock times if you want to set specific times to open polls
Present > Share to share the hyperlink to the poll and/or embed your poll on another site

25. Know how to convert existing PowerPoint to Poll Everywhere PowerPoint
Open an existing PowerPoint, go to your question slides, go to your Poll Everywhere tab, and select Convert to Poll. Once you have your new Poll Everywhere slide (remember it will drop down to the bottom, so you need to reposition within your presentation) then you can delete your old question slide.

26. Things to know Turning Point clickers are going away
They will no longer be supported by our system
Poll Everywhere will be fully implemented in Fall 2017
If have polling questions in your course materials that are not Poll Everywhere, need to convert before leaving for the summer
There are future training sessions on Poll Everywhere
Tutorial (step-by-step) located in Faculty Development Center > Technology and Support

27. Faculty challenge
I challenge each of you to use Poll Everywhere in your classes at least once this semester