Poll+Everywhere

=Poll Everywhere = toc

 Poll Everywhere, as the name suggests, allows any presenter connected to the Internet to add interactivity to any type of presentation. Poll Everywhere is a web based audience response system introduced in 2007 by Brad Gessler, Jeff Vyduna, and Sean Eby. After initial success, Poll Everywhere, received financial backing from Y Combinator, an investor group that supports promising start ups. Rather than relying on the purchase of hardware, Poll Everywhere enables organizations to poll audience members. Responses to multiple choice or free response polls are submitted via texting, Twitter, or accessing the poll URL. A free account allows users to create polls for up to 30 audience members. There are additional free plans for K-12 educators and a variety of paid plans which allow up to 20,000 audience responses per poll. Result graphics embedded into a PowerPoint or Prezi, or as a widget on a web page, are updated in real time during a presentation. Using Poll Everywhere and gadgets already owned by audience members, information professionals can engage audiences during small group presentations, classes featuring library services, or a large conference session.

How Does it Work?
Free polls can be set up without registering an account, but the information will not be saved after two weeks. Most users will want to begin by creating an account. A pricing plan should be chosen based on the anticipated number of audience members. Plans can be altered from month to month, making it possible to sign up for a larger plan for specific events, like a conference. For K-12 educators, the goal is for each teacher to be able to use a free plan. A classroom size promise is in place to accommodate large and overcrowded classes. Registered users can create as many polls as they would like. There are a variety of options for downloading and inserting the poll into a presentation. The integration works well with Windows based machines, but presenting from a Mac is a bit more complicated. Using Poll Everywhere with a Mac requires a couple of extra steps, including downloading a Poll Everywhere App to be used during the presentation. The end result is more of a work around than true integration, but displaying live results during a presentation can be achieved. Overall the website is easy to use and the available FAQ page provides helpful information.

Example of Poll Results:


Participant Response Options
Each PowerPoint slide download is accompanied by several slides which explain how to vote. Those slides can be inserted into a presentation or used as presenter notes to help explain the process to the audience. 

**Text messages from the US** – Although there is no charge from Poll Everywhere, standard text messaging fees apply. **On The Web** – Audience members can enter the dedicated URL, PollEv.com/your_name in a web enabled device. For easier access, the presenter can email the URL to the group if the participants are known in advance or display a QR code linked to the URL. **Private link** – A private link can be sent with a more specific URL, it can be shared by email or QR codes as well. However, using this link requires Flash, which means it will not function properly on an Apple Mobile Device. The landing pages for these two URLs are so similar there does not seem to be an advantage to using this private link. **Twitter** @poll – Since this Tweet begins with @poll, the message will not be sent to the participant’s Twitter followers.

Image by Flickr user theunquietlibrary and used under the Creative Commons License.

Types of Polls
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Multiple Choice** – A presenter asks a question and provides a list of possible responses.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Free Tex**t – A presenter asks an open ended question and participants respond with unique answers. The stream of answer will be displayed on the screen. Poll Everywhere provides a text moderation feature will allows the presenter to view the responses in advance and control which responses are shown so that there will be no surprises or inappropriate responses displayed. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Goal Poll** – This type of poll allows users to enter a number and the results are shown in the form of a thermometer which keeps track of progress towards a goal.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Poll Everywhere Users
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">media type="custom" key="11380162" align="right" width="96" height="96"


 * Presenters
 * Ad agencies
 * K-12 teachers
 * Colleges
 * Faith-based organizations
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Google
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">McDonald’s
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Oracle
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">MIT
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Notre Dame
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">US Census
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Saddleback Church

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Library Science Connection
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Most information professionals have to make presentations. Audience response systems provide an opportunity to engage the audience and keep the interest level high. Audience response systems that require expensive hardware are out of reach and impractical for many information organizations. Poll Everywhere provided the ability to incorporate live audience polling at little or no cost.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">**References**
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Buerkett, R. (2011). Inquiry and assessment using Web 2.0 tools. //School Library Monthly, 28//(1), 21-4. Retrieved from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Byrne, R. (2011). OMG! Texting in class? //School Library Journal, 57//(3), 16.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Poll Everywhere, Inc. (2011). Poll Everywhere. Retrieved from http://www.polleverywhere.com/

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Poll Everywhere, Inc. (2011). Poll Everywhere FAQ. Retrieved from http://www.polleverywhere.com/faq#response-segmentation

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sellar, M. (2011). Poll Everywhere. //Charleston Advisor, 12//(3), 57-60. doi:10.5260/chara.12.3.5