How do you ensure that online polls are inclusive and accessible for all participants?

1 Choose the right platform

When selecting an online polling platform, there are many options to consider, such as Mentimeter, Poll Everywhere, Slido, Kahoot, and Google Forms. It is important to evaluate factors such as usability for you and your participants, security and reliability, flexibility and customizability, compatibility with different devices and browsers, and affordability. You may want to test different platforms and compare their features and functionalities before making a final decision.

2 Design clear and engaging questions

The next step is to design your poll questions strategically and carefully. Make sure they are clear, concise, and relevant to your topic and objectives. Avoid leading, biased, or ambiguous questions that may influence or confuse your participants. When creating effective poll questions, use simple and direct language, avoid jargon and technical terms, provide multiple choice or scale options that are consistent and balanced, limit the number of questions and options to avoid fatigue and overload, and use open-ended questions sparingly only when necessary. Additionally, make your questions engaging and interactive so that your participants feel motivated to take the poll. You can use different types of questions such as icebreakers to warm up the group, quizzes to test knowledge, surveys to measure satisfaction, voting to make decisions, and word clouds to generate ideas.

3 Prepare your participants

Before you launch your poll, it is essential to prepare your participants and ensure they are comfortable with the process. Inform them about the purpose and format of the poll, how to access and use the platform, and what to expect from the results. Provide clear and accessible instructions on how to join the poll, navigate the platform, ask questions or raise issues, and respect the rules and norms of the poll. Additionally, check the accessibility and inclusivity of your poll to accommodate diverse needs and preferences, such as using plain language, providing captions or translations, using contrasting colors and fonts, avoiding flashing images or sounds, and offering alternative modes of participation.

4 Facilitate the poll process

When facilitating the poll, it is important to guide your participants through the questions and options, while monitoring responses and feedback. To ensure a successful poll process, start with an easy question to familiarize your participants with the platform. Provide time limits and reminders for each question to keep the pace and engagement, and show the results after each question or at the end of the poll to stimulate discussion and reflection. Additionally, ask follow-up questions or comments to clarify or deepen the understanding of the results. Lastly, be sure to acknowledge and appreciate the participation and input of your participants.

5 Analyze and share the results

After the poll, it’s time to analyze and share the results with your participants and stakeholders. You should evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the poll, and identify any areas for improvement or action. To analyze and share the results, you should download or export them in an easy-to-read format like graphs, charts, tables, or reports. Highlight the main findings and insights from the results, such as trends, patterns, gaps, or surprises. Compare and contrast the results with your expectations and objectives to determine what worked well and what did not. Share the results with your participants and stakeholders via email, social media, or a presentation. Thank them for their participation, summarize the results, invite feedback, and suggest next steps. Lastly, use the results to inform your future planning and decision making. Online polls can be a great way to engage a large group of participants but must be designed with diversity, equity, inclusion in mind to generate valuable data for your facilitation process.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?