Polling
Create live polls that your audience votes on from their own phones. Use them for icebreakers, feedback collection, decision-making, quizzes, or just to energize the room. Results update in real time and can be displayed on the big screen.
Poll Types
Tevyr supports six types of polls, each designed for a different kind of audience interaction:
| Type | How it works | Options needed |
|---|---|---|
| Single Choice | Voters pick one answer from a list. Classic poll format — “Which topic should we cover next?” | 2–10 options |
| Multiple Choice | Voters select multiple answers. You can set a maximum number of selections (e.g., “Select your top 3”). | 2–10 options |
| Rating | Voters give a 1-to-5 star rating. Perfect for session feedback — “How would you rate this presentation?” | None (built-in scale) |
| Ranking | Voters drag to rank options in order of preference. “Rank these topics from most to least interesting.” | 2–10 options |
| Open Text | Voters type free-form responses. Good for collecting ideas, feedback, or suggestions. Allows multiple responses per voter. | None |
| Quiz | Timed multiple-choice with a correct answer. Tracks accuracy and speed. Shows a leaderboard for competitive fun. | 2–10 options + correct answer |
Creating Polls
- Open the Polling panel in your controller.
- Click Create Poll and choose the poll type.
- Write your question and add answer options (if applicable).
- Optionally assign a custom color to each option.
- Optionally set a countdown timer for the voting period.
- Activate the poll to open voting.
Timer Options
Set a countdown for the voting period to keep things moving:
- Preset durations: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour
- Custom duration: Set any hours, minutes, and seconds
- No timer: Leave it open-ended and close manually
The timer can be changed while the poll is running or paused.
Running Polls
Once a poll is active, you have full control from the controller:
Poll Status Flow
| Status | Voting | What’s happening |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Closed | Poll created but not yet opened to voters |
| Active | Open | Accepting votes, timer running if set |
| Paused | Closed | Temporarily stopped — timer frozen, voting disabled |
| Closed | Closed | Voting ended, results are final |
Per-Poll Controls
Every poll row in the controller has an inline button strip plus a More options (•••) menu. The buttons change based on the poll's current status (draft, active, paused, closed).
| Control | What it does | When it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Edit question | Click the question text or the pencil icon to rename inline — no modal required | Always |
| Show / Hide results | Eye icon. Hides vote counts and percentages from the audience voting page; the operator still sees them in the controller | Always |
| Display on screens / Hide from screens | Monitor icon. Pushes the poll to the screens you've targeted (speaker, audience, staff) or pulls it back | Always |
| Reset timer | Rotate icon. Restarts the countdown without touching votes — use it to give the audience another minute | Timed polls only |
| Start poll / Resume / Pause | Play and Pause are the same slot — the button switches based on status. Resume picks up a paused poll where it left off | Active row |
| Close poll / Reopen poll | Checkmark icon. Closes voting and hides the poll from the audience page; click again on a closed poll to reopen it (votes are preserved) | Always |
| More options (•••) | Opens the dropdown menu with the controls listed below | Always |
More Options Menu
| Item | What it does | When it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Show QR Code | Toggles the QR overlay on presentation screens so the audience can scan to join | Always |
| Show question on screen | Toggle whether the quiz question itself renders on screens, or just the leaderboard | Quiz polls |
| Show leaderboard | Toggle the live leaderboard on screens | Quiz polls |
| Close Poll | End voting — status becomes Closed and the poll hides from the audience page | Active polls |
| Start fresh | Wipes all votes and resets the poll back to Draft. Asks for confirmation first | Active, paused, or closed polls |
| Edit Poll | Opens the full edit modal (question, options, type, timer, target screens, advanced settings) | Always |
| Duplicate | Clones the poll with all its settings as a new Draft | Always |
| Delete | Permanently removes the poll. Asks for confirmation first | Always |
Reset timer vs Start fresh. Reset timer keeps the votes and just restarts the countdown — useful when you want to extend voting. Start fresh wipes everything and puts the poll back to Draft as if it had never run.
There is a 3-second grace period when a poll closes — votes submitted within those 3 seconds are still accepted. This prevents frustration from voters who clicked just as the timer hit zero.
Bulk Actions
Need to start, pause, or close a stack of polls at once? Click Select in the polling toolbar to enter selection mode, then tick the checkboxes on the polls you want to act on. A bulk-action bar appears with the controls below — every action runs in one request and broadcasts a single update to all connected screens.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start polls | Activate every selected poll — status → Active, voting on. Closed polls in the selection are reopened first |
| Pause | Pause every selected poll — timer freezes, voting disabled, votes preserved |
| Reopen polls | Bring closed polls back to the audience page — status → Paused, voting off, timer cleared so the operator can re-open at will |
| Close polls | Mark every selected poll as Closed — hidden from the audience page, votes preserved |
| Reset timers | Clear started_at / paused_at on timed polls so the countdown restarts. Untimed polls are skipped. Votes preserved |
| Link Selected | Set Linked-to-next on the selected polls (except the last one) so they auto-advance as a chain when one closes |
| Unlink Selected | Remove the link flag on every selected poll so the chain stops |
| Hide Results | Hide the vote counts and percentages on every selected poll from the audience page |
| Show Results | Reveal results on every selected poll |
| Adjust Duration… | Open a Hours / Minutes / Seconds editor and apply the new duration to every selected poll. If a selected poll is currently active, its closes_at recalculates |
| Duplicate selected | Clone every selected poll as new Drafts in one request |
| Delete selected | Permanently remove every selected poll. Asks for confirmation first |
Common pattern — build a 3-question warm-up set. Create three 30-second polls, select them, hit Adjust Duration… to set 30s, then Link Selected to chain them. Open the first one and the next two fire off automatically.
Timed vs Untimed Polls
Every poll is either timed (has a duration) or untimed (open until you close it manually). The behavior diverges in a few important ways:
| Timed poll | Untimed poll | |
|---|---|---|
| How to set | Pick a preset (30s, 1m, 2m, … 1h) or click Custom for any H:M:S | Choose **No timer** when creating, or set duration to 0 |
| Audience sees | Live countdown with a progress bar that turns red under 10 seconds | No countdown — just the question and options |
| Auto-closes | Yes — voting ends and the poll moves to Closed automatically when the timer hits zero | No — the operator must manually close it |
| Reset timer | Restarts the countdown, votes preserved | Not applicable (no timer to reset) |
| Link chain auto-advance | Fires when the timer expires | Fires only when the operator manually closes the poll |
Use timed polls to keep the room moving (icebreakers, quick polls between sessions). Use untimed polls when you want full operator control over pacing — feedback collection, open Q&A, or anything where you want to read the room before closing.
Linked Polls (Auto-Advance Chains)
Mark a poll as Linked to next and it will automatically open the next eligible poll in your list as soon as it closes. The operator-visible toggle lives in the per-poll More options menu (the link icon), and the bulk Link Selected action sets it on a whole group at once.
The chain fires when:
- A timed poll's countdown hits zero, or
- The operator manually closes a linked poll (Close poll button, or Close polls in bulk)
The walker rules — what counts as the "next eligible" poll:
- It walks forward through your poll list in display order
- It skips polls that are already marked as closed if they're also linked, then keeps going
- It stops at any closed poll that isn't linked (chain ends quietly)
- It will never restart a poll that's already active or in the middle of a paused-mid-flight state — no double-fires
- A reset (Start fresh) that returns a poll to Draft is fine; the chain can reach it
Drag-reorder repair: When you drag polls to reorder them, any "linked to next" flags that would now point to the wrong neighbor are cleared automatically. Your chains stay sane after a reshuffle.
Build a session intro: three 1-minute warm-up polls linked together, then a 5-minute open-text poll not linked at the end. The first three play themselves; the open-text waits for you to close it manually so you can read responses out loud before moving on.
Result Visualizations
When you display poll results on screen, choose from seven visualization styles:
| Style | Best for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bar chart | Single, Multiple choice | Horizontal bars showing vote counts or percentages with customizable colors |
| Pie chart | Single choice | Full circular chart showing proportion of each answer |
| Donut chart | Single choice | Ring-style circular chart — visually lighter than pie |
| Numbered list | Ranking | Options in ranked order with average rank and first-place vote count |
| Word cloud | Open text | Visual cloud where more common words appear larger |
| Chat bubbles | Open text | Individual responses displayed as conversation-style bubbles |
| Vertical bar | Rating | Distribution across 1–5 star rating levels |
Quiz Mode
Quiz polls add a competitive element. Each question has a correct answer and an optional time limit. Players are scored based on accuracy and speed — the faster you answer correctly, the more points you get.
Quiz Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Leaderboard | Real-time leaderboard showing rank, name, correct answers, average time, and score percentage |
| Multi-round quizzes | Create multiple quiz questions — scores accumulate across all rounds |
| Timed questions | Set a countdown for each question to keep the pace fast |
| Speed scoring | Faster correct answers earn more points than slower ones |
| Question visibility | Toggle whether the quiz question is shown on the presentation screen |
| Leaderboard display | Toggle the leaderboard on or off on the presentation screen |
At a company all-hands meeting, run a quiz about company trivia between presentations. Display the leaderboard on the big screen and award a prize to the winner. It's a great way to keep energy levels high.
Audience Access
Your audience joins polls from their own phones — no app download required.
Live Polling — How It Works
Audience size at a time. The number of people who can vote simultaneously depends on the live connections cap of your plan — each connected phone takes up one connection. Free plans start at 3, and the cap scales up with higher tiers. See pricing for the full breakdown.
Joining with a Passcode
- The audience navigates to your polling page
- They enter the 6-character join code displayed on screen
- The app validates the code and redirects them to the voting page
The join code is auto-generated when you first create polling output settings for an event. You can find it in the Output Links panel under Poll Join Code.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy Code | Copies just the 6-character passcode to your clipboard |
| Copy Link | Copies the full URL (e.g., tevyr.com/poll/ABC123) for sharing via chat or email |
QR Code on Screen
Toggle QR code display from the controller to show a scannable code on presentation screens. The audience scans it with their phone camera and goes straight to the voting page — no typing needed.
The QR overlay shows:
- A large scannable QR code linking to the poll URL
- "Vote Now!" header
- The current poll question (if active)
- "Scan with your phone to vote" instructions
- A live voting indicator
Show the QR code at the start of your session while people are settling in. Once most of the audience has joined, hide it to keep the screen clean for results.
QR Code Branding
Embed your event or company logo in the center of the QR code for a professional, branded look:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Logo mode | Show the default Tevyr logo, hide the logo entirely, or upload your own custom logo |
| Custom logo | Upload an image that appears centered inside the QR code. Your brand is visible every time someone scans. |
| File types | JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG |
| Max file size | 5 MB per logo |
Use a square logo with a transparent or white background for the best result inside the QR code. The logo should be simple enough to remain recognizable at small sizes.
Tips for Maximum Participation
- Show QR early — Display the QR code before the poll opens so people can pre-connect while settling in
- Announce verbally — Read the 6-character code aloud for attendees who don't have a camera handy
- Share the link — Post the full URL in your event chat (Slack, Teams, WhatsApp) for remote participants
- Keep it visible — Leave the QR code on screen for at least 30 seconds — scanning takes longer than you'd think in a large audience
- Grace period — There's a 3-second grace period when a poll closes, so votes submitted at the last second still count
Regenerating the Passcode
If you need to invalidate the current join code — for example, to lock out participants between sessions or after a security concern — you can regenerate it:
- Open the Output Links panel in your controller
- Find the Poll Join Code section
- Click Regenerate Code
Regenerating the passcode disconnects all current participants. They will need to re-join using the new code. Only regenerate between sessions or when you specifically need to reset access.
Displaying the Code on Screen
The join code and QR code can be shown on presentation screens so in-person audiences can easily join. You can also:
- Announce the code verbally — it's only 6 characters, easy to read aloud
- Share the full link via chat, email, or social media for remote audiences
- Embed the QR code in presentation slides before the event starts
Display Customization
Customize the look and feel of your polling pages and result displays:
Color Schemes
Choose from 8 preset color schemes (Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Orange, Teal, Red, Indigo) or set custom colors:
| Color | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Background color | Main page background |
| Card color | Poll card/container background |
| Text color | Primary text on cards |
| Accent color | Highlight and interactive elements |
| Sidebar text color | Text on the colored sidebar |
| Bar base color | Empty bar background in charts |
| Bar accent color | Non-winning option bars |
| Bar leading color | Winning option bar |
| Timer text color | Countdown digit color |
| Timer background | Countdown digit background |
Branding
- Logo mode — Show the default logo, hide it, or upload a custom one
- Custom logo URL — Upload your event or company logo
- Font family — Choose from System default, Inter, Roboto, Open Sans, Poppins, or Montserrat
QR Code
Display a QR code on presentation screens so the audience can quickly join the poll:
- Toggle QR code visibility on/off
- QR code links to the voting page
- Supports both UUID-based and 6-character passcode URLs for easy sharing
Fair Voting
Each device can only vote once per poll (except Open Text, which allows multiple responses). Voting is tracked via a secure server-side cookie — not localStorage — so it persists across page reloads and browser sessions.
Poll Management
Reordering
Drag and drop polls to change their order. The order determines which poll appears next when using "Link to next."
Inline Editing
Edit the question text directly from the control panel without opening a modal — just click the question and type.
Screen Targeting
Each poll can be displayed on specific screens (speaker, audience, staff) or all screens at once.
Shareable Poll Links
Every event gets a unique polling URL that can be shared in multiple formats. These links work as both voting pages (for the audience) and output displays (for presentation screens).
| Format | Example | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 6-character code | tevyr.com/poll/ABC123 | Verbal announcements, printed materials, easy to type on a phone |
| Direct UUID link | tevyr.com/poll/{uuid} | Programmatic access, guaranteed unique URLs |
| Short link | tevyr.com/s/my-poll | Custom memorable URLs for marketing and social media |
The poll output page displays:
- The current question and answer options
- Live voting status and timer
- Results visualization (bar chart, pie chart, etc.)
- QR code for joining
- Vote count and participation metrics
Generate poll links from the Output Links panel. Each link is an independent connection — you can open the same link on multiple screens and they all stay in sync.
Analytics & Data
Tevyr tracks comprehensive analytics for every poll in your event, giving you detailed insight into audience engagement.
Overview Metrics
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Total polls | Number of polls created in the event |
| Total votes | Sum of all votes across all polls |
| Unique voters | Number of distinct devices that voted |
| Average response time | Mean time between poll opening and vote submission |
| Participation rate | Percentage of connected audience members who voted |
| Polls by type | Breakdown of polls by type (single choice, rating, quiz, etc.) |
Per-Poll Analytics
Beyond the event-wide metrics above, each poll also tracks its winner option (for choice-based polls) or average rating (for rating polls), and timestamps for when it was created, activated, and closed.
Quiz Analytics
When your event includes quiz polls, additional analytics are available:
| Data | Description |
|---|---|
| Leaderboard | Aggregated across all quiz rounds — rank, voter name, correct answers, average time per question, and total score |
| Question difficulty | Correct answer rate, average response time, and total attempts for each question |
| Score distribution | Breakdown showing how scores are distributed across all participants |
Timeline Data
Votes-over-time data lets you visualize engagement patterns — see when voting activity peaked, how quickly votes came in after opening a poll, and whether participation dropped off toward the end.
Exporting Poll Data
Export your poll results for post-event reporting, analysis, or archiving.
Export Formats
| Format | Best for |
|---|---|
| CSV | Spreadsheet analysis in Excel, Google Sheets, or any data tool. Includes all vote data, options, counts, and percentages. |
| Clipboard | Quick copy-paste into documents, emails, or chat messages. |
What's Included
Exports contain the full dataset for your polls:
- Poll question text and type
- All options with vote counts and percentages
- Rating distributions (for rating polls)
- Ranking results with average ranks and first-place counts (for ranking polls)
- Free-text responses (for open text polls)
- Quiz leaderboard with names, scores, correct counts, and average response times
- Timeline data with timestamps
Export your poll data immediately after the event while results are fresh. The CSV format works with virtually any spreadsheet application and preserves all the detail you need for post-event reports and stakeholder presentations.
How sync works
Poll countdowns use a Stagetimer-style time formula so every device counts down to the same instant regardless of network latency.