How to Maximize Event Engagement with Live Polls and Surveys: Expert Strategies

One of the keys to a successful event includes keeping your audience interested in what’s happening around them. A happy and engaged audience may lead to a higher Net Promoter Score (NPS), boosting your event’s reputation and brand image. Live polls are a remarkable tool to interact with your audience.   Let’s look into the various ways to utilize them in this article.  

Prep your Event with Polls and Surveys  

Before your event starts, use the polls and surveys wisely to prepare content your audience wishes to see. Seek suggestions from attendees using your custom event app, email, and social media:

  • Why did they attend this event?
  • What is a topic they are interested the most?
  • What programming do they want to see?
  • Who is a speaker they anticipate to hear from at the event?
  • What kind of activities do they want at the event?
  • What are they expecting to gain from the event?

  Learning valuable insights from these questions is immensely helpful to curate an event that best suits your audience.    

Empower Speaker’s Creativity During Presentations

It is not uncommon for the audience to feel tired during a long day of conference, particularly during in-person events. Fortunately, live polls and surveys can empower speakers to take their presentations to the next level and foster two-way communication. For instance, they may use live polls and surveys to:

  • Host a lively debate, and have audience vote on the result
  • Sprinkle in some fun competitive spirits with a game of trivia
  • Help the audience retain key information with a post-session quiz
  • Surprise the audience with interesting statistics from survey results

  It is also encouraged that speakers use the Q&A function for participants to post and/or answer questions. This is especially important for virtual or hybrid events, where the speakers are not physically together with the audience.

Networking? Make it Easier!

Most people actively look for networking opportunities when they attend an event; the more valuable connections your event provide, the higher their event satisfaction. However, it is not always easy to break the ice in a room full of strangers. An easy solution is to provide your attendees with live poll and survey results and audience-generated questions that will assist them ignite meaningful conversations and ease the process of networking.   With a powerful yet flexible event app like Eventpedia, you can provide a plethora of tools to encourage discussion among attendees, including:

  • Public event feed
  • Direct messaging
  • Scheduled meetings
  • Matchmaking
  • Breakout rooms
  • Document sharing

Collect Feedback for the Event

In addition to increasing audience engagement, Eventpedia’s live polls and surveys also helps collect feedback efficiently from attendees. You can evaluate your event success through questions such as:

  • What are your favorite sessions?
  • Was there something you would like to see more of?  
  • How can we improve the event?
  • How likely are you to attend this event again?
  • How likely are you to recommend this event app?

  Access to information like this is vital to improve your event ROI and hosting more successful events in the future.  

Incorporate Results in your Marketing Strategy  

You have just gathered first-hand, highly valued data from your attendees. Now what? To make the most out of it, propel your marketing strategy by incorporating them after your event ended. Here are some excellent ways to put them in good use:

  • Publish new blog posts inspired by the data collected
  • Highlight positive survey responses through testimonials
  • Create social media posts sharing the results
  • Leverage the results in future marketing events
  • Combine results into your next email newsletter

Authentic content like this helps your audience stay engaged between events and attract new leads in the future.   For your next event, don’t forget to take advantage of live polls and surveys to plan, execute, and measure success. If you’re looking for an event app to get the most engagement from your audience, check out Eventpedia’s live surveys, polls and question and answer features. Happy polling!