These features not only engage the audience throughout the live session but also help speakers understand their interests and get immediate feedback on the subject matter. Based on that, speakers can adjust the presentation and encourage attendee participation.
Whether you are hosting a product demo, customer training session, product marketing webinar, or lead generation event, live Q&A and polling can boost webinar participation, making the session highly interactive and engaging.
What is a Live Q&A and How Does It Increase Webinar Participation?
A live Q&A is an interactive session where speakers and subject matter experts directly engage with audiences and answer their questions in real time. During a live Q&A session, attendees can ask direct questions to the speaker, get an immediate response, and understand the points they didn’t comprehend. A live communication between the speaker, SME, and attendees will boost webinar participation and make the overall session highly engaging.
What is Real-Time Polling and How Does It Increase Webinar Participation?
A real-time poll is an engaging activity that gives the speaker and presenter the opportunity to ask questions and get instant responses from the audience. As the speaker starts the poll, participants can select one option from the poll. As votes come in, results appear instantly. Running a poll can encourage audience participants and allow them to share their opinions on a particular topic in real-time.
What Types of Polls Can I Run During a Webinar?
1. Single-Choice Polls
Single-choice polls are questions that allow respondents to select only one answer from a list of options.
For example,
How familiar are you with today’s topic?
- Very familiar
- Sounds familiar
- Heard of it but never applied it
- Completely new
2. Multiple-Choice Polls
Multiple-choice polls are basic survey questions in which respondents are given multiple answer options. The webinar audience can choose more than one answer option.
For example,
What is your primary goal for attending this webinar?
- Learn new skills
- Network with industry professionals
- Stay updated on industry trends
- Explore new tools
3. Rating-Scale
Rating-scale polls are a type of survey question that asks the audience to rate something on a numerical scale (such as 1 to 5) or a descriptive scale (such as ‘poor’ to ‘excellent’).
For example,
How would you rate the speaker’s knowledge and expertise on the topic?
- Poor
- Good
- Very Good
- Excellent
4. Knowledge Check Poll
Knowledge check polls are questions asked to assess the understanding of the audience of the subject presented and explained.
For example,
Which tool is not useful for social media marketing?
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- SocialPilot
- AutoCAD
5. Product Feedback Poll
Product feedback polls are questions that are asked of participants to gauge their opinions and level of satisfaction with a product.
For example,
How likely are you to recommend our product to others?
- Very Likely
- Likely
- Neutral
- Unlikely
6. Post-Webinar Feedback Poll
It’s a kind of poll conducted after the webinar ends to gather attendees’ opinions about their overall experience with the event.
Post-webinar feedback poll
For example,
How would you rate this webinar overall?
- Poor
- Good
- Very Good
- Excellent
- Amazing
Top Webinar Platforms Featuring Live Q&A & Real-Time Polling
1) Airmeet
Airmeet is an advanced webinar platform that allows you to create highly customizable webinar sessions to deliver immersive and engaging experiences to your audience. You can host multi-format virtual & hybrid events, live webinars, or pre-recorded & on-demand sessions with ease. Whether you want to generate leads, grow your community, or engage your employees, Airmeet is a one-stop solution.
Airmeet has a built-in poll feature, allowing you to launch a poll and ask single or multiple-choice questions to the audience. As the participants vote, the result will be shown to them with a percentage of votes. You will be able to view the voting results, along with the event analysis report.
Airmeet also integrates live Q&A that speakers can use during the live webinar. Participants can ask multiple questions, and they can upvote others’ questions in case they have a similar type of question. Once any participants have posted the question, other participants/speakers/hosts can comment on it and create a discussion thread for that particular question.
2) Zoom Webinars
Zoom is a webinar platform that turns every virtual event into a professional, high-impact experience that drives results. It allows you to host a wide range of events, including marketing webinars, product demonstrations, training sessions, town halls, virtual events, and educational seminars.
Zoom Webinars has live Q&A capabilities, allowing speakers to interact and engage with a large number of audiences. In a live session, attendees can ask questions during the webinar, and the panelists, co-hosts, and host can answer their questions. Plus, attendees can answer and upvote each other’s questions. After the webinar has ended, you can generate a Q&A report for further analysis.
Zoom Webinars has a built-in polling feature, allowing the host, speaker, and presenter to create poll questions, launch them, and gather responses from their attendees. After the webinar, you can download the polling report, which contains full details of the results, such as each attendee’s answers and submission times.
3) ON24
ON24 is an AI-powered webinar platform that enables you to host data-rich webinars. It makes your every event unique and memorable, including on-demand, pre-recorded, simulive, and live webinars.
ON24 has Q&A capabilities that enable attendees to ask hosts questions in real-time. During webinars, presenters can review incoming questions and respond verbally or privately, allowing them to clarify concepts and address attendee needs.
ON24 has a built-in poll feature; a speaker or presenter can run it to collect attendee feedback, test knowledge, gauge sentiment, or guide conversation topics. When attendees respond to a poll, they share explicit intent signals that can help presenters tailor the webinar experience.
4) BigMarker
BigMarker is an AI-powered webinar platform that allows you to host live, simulive, and on-demand webinars. It enables you to host and run global events, demand generation events, customer marketing programs, and more that deliver results.
BigMarker has a built-in Q&A tool that fosters meaningful interaction among attendees and speakers. Attendees can ask direct questions and engage with the speaker in real-time. BigMarker also integrates a poll feature, allowing speakers to create and manage polls ahead of time. You can create a single-choice, multiple-choice, or rating-scale poll and display it to all of your attendees.
5) Webex Webinars
Webex is a scalable webinar platform that enables you to host large-scale webinars. It simplifies the webinar management process, allowing you to focus on creating an engaging and memorable experience for your audience.
Webex Webinars have a built-in Q&A where attendees can ask questions to hosts, cohosts, and presenters, and engage with them during a webinar. As a host, cohost, or presenter, you can moderate questions as well as prioritize the questions.
Webex Webinars also feature real-time polls that the host or co-host can create during a webinar to gather attendee feedback and test their topic knowledge. You can create single-choice or multiple-choice poll questions, depending on your specific needs.
6) Demio
Demio is a user-friendly webinar platform that allows you to host live, automated, on-demand webinars. A platform enables you to customize your webinar with the brand logo, color, and theme, reinforcing your brand identity in front of your audience.
Demio has a built-in real-time poll feature that hosts/admins can use to gather attendee feedback and get amazing insights. The platform also has live Q&A capabilities that can foster interaction among speakers and attendees.
7) GoTo Webinar
GoTo Webinar is an all-in-one solution that gives you everything you need to host professional webinars that engage audiences and create a memorable experience for them. The platform offers easy event setup, allowing you to schedule a whole series or create on-demand experiences with recorded webinars.
GoTo Webinar has a live Q&A feature that allows attendees to submit questions during a Live, Simulated Live, or On-Demand event or through an attendee portal. As a speaker or presenter, you can use the Q&A queue to answer questions and prioritize questions to decide which ones you will answer first.
GoTo Webinar has a poll feature that you can use to encourage attendee participation. You can create up to 20 polls either before the webinar starts or during the event.
8) Livestorm
Livestorm is a webinar platform that allows you to host live, automated, and on-demand webinars. The platform also allows you to restream your webinar on multiple platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and more, which can help boost the session reach to a larger audience.
Livestorm has a built-in engagement tool called Q&A that you can use during a live session and interact with participants in real-time. This platform also has a polling feature, allowing you to create fully customized polls.
9) Remo
Remo is a webinar platform designed for creating an immersive experience for the audience. The platform enables you to create a fully branded webinar with your brand logo, colors, theme, and domain, and immerse attendees in branded virtual spaces.
Remo has polling capabilities that you use to launch a poll question. As an Event Host, you will be able to see in real-time how your audiences are voting. The platform also has a live Q&A feature designed for fostering audience engagement during a live session.
10) EasyWebinar
EasyWebinar is an AI-powered platform that allows you to run live, automated, simulive & evergreen webinars that generate leads, deliver premium attendee experiences, and drive business conversions.
EasyWebinar has a built-in Q&A feature that you can use during a live webinar. It is a dedicated space where your attendees can ask questions in a structured way, and you can answer those questions in real-time. As a host or moderator, you can like or upvote questions, allowing you to address the most relevant question first.
EasyWebinar offers a live poll feature that encourages the audience to get involved, contribute to the conversation, and respond to the poll.
Final Thoughts
Real-time poll and live Q&A functionality foster a direct interaction between the speaker and attendees during a live webinar. Using a live Q&A, attendees can submit questions to the presenter and get immediate replies from them.
Polls can encourage attendees to vote on the poll questions, helping you get an immediate response from them. Conducting a live poll won’t just increase participants’ attention but also boost their engagement.
The webinar platforms covered here have built-in real-time polling and live interactive Q&A functionality that can turn your one-way webinar presentation into a truly engaging conversation.
FAQs
Types of webinars that will benefit from it, namely:
- Product demonstration
- Customer training session
- Educational workshops
- Panel discussions
- Lead generation webinars
- Onboarding session
If the webinar is 1 hour long, it is ideal to have a maximum of 2 polls, and if the webinar is going to last longer than 1 hour, it is a great idea to have 3-4 polls to encourage audience participation and maintain their attention throughout the session.
For a 45-60 minute webinar, the live Q&A session should be 10-15 minutes long. This gives attendees enough time to ask questions and directly engage with speakers or presenters.
