What Do I Ask?

I have been asked the question, “ What do I ask?” when it comes to crafting polling questions to use during an online event. Some event hosts feel they are boxed in to asking deep, meaningful, heartfelt questions. Sure, you can do that if the information gathered will be useful to your organization or the theme of the questions fits the overall goals and objectives of your event. However, in the case of our most recent online 3-day replacement-to-in-person annual conference, we just wanted to engage our attendees, let them know we were listening, interact with them, and have some fun!

So what can you ask? Honestly, it depends on your organization and your audience but anything goes. Here are two hilarious paraphrased examples taken from our event:

1. Truth-be-told, in preparation for today’s event, I:
   1. Managed to pull myself together; combed my hair, am wearing real clothes, and have fresh-brewed coffee.
   2. Am all business on top and party on the bottom.
   3. Barely pulled myself together and am in full pajama-mode – thank goodness it’s not a zoom call!
2. What is sitting in your Amazon cart right now?
   1. The finest yoga pants on the market.
   2. My entire household supply order.
   3. The most random combination of things, I couldn’t even begin to explain.

Consider asking your attendees about something your stakeholders really want an answer to but haven’t wanted to send a formal email from corporate. Perhaps you want to gauge the mental or emotional health of those your organization serves by sending out an anonymous poll about their feelings. It could also be as simple as wanting to hear about their topics of interest for future events and meetings.

Throughout the course of the event, the questions can be a combination of funny ones like the examples and ones related to taking the pulse of what your industry is concerned about. Consider incentivizing participation with small gift cards to a coffee shop or online store to get the maximum amount of participation.

Do you have some great polling questions to share? Put them in the comments
below or shoot me an email!

I’d love to hear! Like this blog, comment, and share it on your social media!