Opening and closing of polls can be done either in Present view (preferred method) or from the dashboard. To open & close a poll in present view mode read this article.
If you want to run a poll from the dashboard instead, see the steps below.
From the dashboard you can easily:
- Open your poll
- Stop your poll
- Hide/display your voting results
- Continue to next poll
- Displaying non-polling content
- Skip a few polls
- Show correct answer
- Reopen a poll
- Add countdown timer
- Show the leaderboard
- See how many participants are connected to the session
- Share read-only Presentview
- Default to Q&A board
Once you've built your polls in the dashboard, it's time to run them live with your participants. Here's how to open, monitor, and navigate your polls during a session.
1. Open your poll
Go to the Presentation section in the navigation menu.
Find the poll you want to run and click on it to select it.
Press the Open poll button at the bottom of the question.
Your poll is now live — participants can submit their responses on their devices, and you'll see votes appear in real time on your dashboard.
Remember: The default setting is that you would see the poll results come as they are submitted in the dashboard, but your participants will only see the results once the poll has been closed.
What to look for when a poll is open
When a poll is active, you'll notice a couple of visual cues in your dashboard:
- The poll slide in your presentation list will have a light background
- The preview panel on the right will show 'Poll Open' in the top left corner
Using shortcuts to open or stop a poll
You can also manage your polls directly from the presentation list using the shortcut icons on each slide — no need to click into the poll first. Just click the Open Poll icon on the slide to start it, and use the same area to stop it when you're ready. You can also hide the results or show the correct answer from here.
Previewing upcoming polls
Want to check what a poll will look like before you open it? Click on any slide in the presentation list to load a preview in the panel on the right.
Clicking a slide to preview it won't open the poll — it only shows you what it looks like.
Here's an example of what you might see:
- Poll 1 is currently open — it has a light blue background and shows the stop icon
- Poll 3 is selected for preview — it has a black border and shows the open poll icon, indicating it's ready to be launched
A small icon on each slide also indicates the type of content — whether it's a poll type (multiple choice, word cloud, etc.) or another presentation element.
2. Stop your poll
Click the Stop poll button to close your poll — no further votes will be accepted after this point.
Check the vote counter in the top right corner before stopping. It's worth waiting until most participants have responded before closing.
Once stopped, the Present view will automatically display the results for everyone to see.
3. Hide/display your voting results
You have full control over when your participants see the poll results — regardless of your session settings.
You can choose to show results while the poll is still open, or wait until after it's closed. Either way, just select the Show results/Hide the results option in your dashboard.
We recommend waiting until the poll is closed before showing results — this prevents participants from being influenced by how others have voted. This is particularly important for MCQ, Rating & Ranking, Text polls, and Quizzes.
For sensitive questions, click Hide results to keep responses private. The Present view will revert to the Q&A board. You can also manage this per poll using the poll's custom settings to prevent results from showing at all.
4. Continue to the next poll
Once you've closed a poll, simply move down in your dashboard to find your next one. Each poll will be ready and waiting — just hit Open poll to launch it. You're in full control of the pace & to guide the conversation between questions.
5. Displaying non-polling content
Any non-polling content you've added to your presentation will appear in the presentation list, marked by a ‘Show content’ button when you hover over it. Run these presentation slides the same way you do a poll.
To display the content, click ‘Show content’. When you're ready to move on, click ‘Dismiss’ before continuing to the next piece of content or poll.
To play a video - remember to start and stop the actual video in the preview window.
6. Skip a few polls
You're not locked into a set order — if you want to jump ahead, simply scroll through the dashboard and select whichever poll you'd like to run next.
7. Show correct answer
If your polls have correct answers assigned, you can reveal them after voting has ended.
Stop the poll — if your settings are set to automatically show results on close, participants will see the votes straight away.
Click Show correct answer to reveal the right answer alongside the results.
The correct answer & explanation will display in the Present view on your main screen, as well as on participants' devices. This option will only appear if a correct answer has been set for that poll.
Present view showing the voting results and correct answer (and explanation) on the big screen as well as on participant devices.
8. Reopen a poll
Closed the poll too soon, or want to give your participants a bit more time? No problem — just click Open poll again to reopen it instantly.
- Participants who already voted will see their previous selection and can either keep it or change their answer.
- Participants who hadn't voted yet will still be able to cast their vote.
9. Add a countdown timer
Vevox's countdown timer gives you flexible control over how long participants have to vote. Here's what you can do:
- Start a 10 second countdown timer
- Start a longer countdown timer
- Add more time to a running countdown
- Pause the countdown timer
- Cancel the countdown timer
Start a 10 second countdown timer
Click the Start timer button to launch the default 10-second countdown. The poll will close automatically when the timer reaches zero.
Participants can start voting as soon as the poll is open — they don't need to wait for the timer to begin.
Start a longer countdown
Want more time? Select 30 sec or 1 min from the Time adjustment option next to the Start timer button, then click Start timer. Any consecutive timers you start in the same session will remember your new time setting.
Add more time to your running countdown timer
Need to buy a bit more time mid-countdown? Use the Time adjustment option while the timer is running — clicking 10 sec, 30 sec, or 1 min will automatically add that time to the clock.
Want to explain the question without the clock ticking? Hit Pause and then Resume when you're ready to continue.
Participants can still submit their votes while the timer is paused.
The countdown timer can also be canceled. However, it will not close the poll.
10. Show the leaderboard
When you reach the leaderboard slide in your presentation list, press the 'Display leaderboard'. A summary leaderboard will appear on the Present view while an individual leaderboard will appear on participant devices. You can close the leaderboard from within the dashboard again by selecting the 'Close leaderboard' button.
If you have not set up any correct answers in your session, you will not be able to display a leaderboard.
The leaderboard will update as polling continue.
Present view showing the summary leaderboard.
In this example, one participant is in 1st place, having answered 3/3 questions correctly. Six participants share 3rd place, having 1/3 answers correctly. The average score per participant is 0.8 out of 3 (three questions were asked so far). 13 participants took part in the quiz, and the most difficult question is also displayed on the leaderboard.
View of participant devices when leaderboard is showing.
11. See how many participants are connected to the session
To confirm how many participants are currently connected to your session look in your dashboard top right. In this example 31 participants are connected, but as this is an Enterprise plan, you can have up to 5000 participants in one session. 28 votes were received in the first poll.
In the Present view, when the poll is still open, you can see that 26 participants have already cast their votes and that a total of 31 participants are connected to your session.
12. Share read-only Present view
If you want to share the Present view with a colleague or share the screen with a Present view that is read-only (it has no visible control bar), then select the 'Sharing' option from the App bar, copy the link and share it or open it in a new tab.
13.Default to Q&A board
Running polls will always default back to the Q&A message board in between polling (unless the Q&A function is de-activated).