Conducting polls in webinars

The polling feature for webinars allows hosts to create single-choice or multiple-choice polling questions for webinars. You will be able to launch the poll during your webinar and gather the responses from your attendees. You also have the ability to download a report of polling during and after the webinar. If you don't want to collect attendee information with the poll results, you can conduct anonymous polls. 

Hosts and co-hosts can launch polls, but only the host (or alternative host, if enabled) is able to create new polls. Hosts and co-hosts are also not able to vote in polls themselves. When launching the poll, they can choose whether or not panelists are able to participate.

Full details of the poll results, such as each participant's answers and submission times, are contained in the polling reports, which are available after the webinar by default, but can also be made available during the live session. 

You can also create and launch advanced polls and quizzes, which allow you to add matching, ranked choice, short answer, and long answer options, or set correct answers. 

Creating standard polls or advanced polls in a meeting is also available. 

This article covers:

• Limitations of standard webinar polls
• How to create a standard poll for a webinar
  
  • Add a poll before a webinar
  • Add a poll during a webinar
• How to use the Polls/Quizzes library
  • Access the Polls/Quizzes tab
  • Create a poll in the Polls/Quizzes tab
  • Use actions for individual polls
  • Use batch actions for multiple polls
  • Filter the Polls/Quizzes tab
• How to edit, manage, and launch poll questions in a webinar

Prerequisites for conducting standard polling in webinars

• Zoom Webinars add-on
• Webinar polling enabled
• Zoom desktop client for Windows, macOS, or Linux: Global minimum version or higher
• Zoom mobile app for Android or iOS*: Global minimum version or higher
• Zoom web client 

*Note: Users on the iOS or Android mobile app can participate in polling, but hosts need to be using the desktop client to manage polling.

Limitations of standard webinar polls

• By default, only the original webinar host can edit or add polls during a webinar. If the host or co-host role is transferred to another user, that user will only be able to launch polls already created. Alternative hosts can add or edit polls, if the setting is enabled in the web portal and the host selects the option when scheduling a webinar.
• You can create a maximum of 50 polls for a single webinar, with each poll having a maximum of 10 questions. 
• If a poll is relaunched in a webinar, the poll report will only display the last poll occurrence. If you know you will need to launch the same poll twice and want both sets of data, consider creating a second poll with the same questions as the original to avoid re-launching.

How to create a standard poll for a webinar

You can create polling questions in advance of the webinar or during a live session. If you create or edit a poll during a live webinar on version 5.12.9 and lower, you will be directed to the web portal. Hosts on desktop client 5.13.0 or higher will be able to create and edit in the polling window in the webinar. 

During the webinar, all questions under a single poll will be asked when launched. You can create additional polls to ask questions at a different time during the webinar.

Add a poll before a webinar

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Webinars.
3. Click on the topic of your scheduled webinar. If you do not have a scheduled webinar, schedule a webinar now.
4. Scroll to the bottom to find the Polls tab.
5. Click + Create to begin creating the poll. If advanced polling and quizzes is enabled, you will have two options and will select Poll. 
6. Click Untitled Poll to change the name of this set of polls.
7. Click on the question area to edit the following details: 
   • Click the Untitled Question area to edit the name of that polling question. 
   • To the right of the name of the polling question, click the drop down menu to choose the type question: 
     • Single Choice: Poll participants can select only one of the provided answers. 
     • Multiple Choice: Poll participants can select multiple of the provided answers. 
   • Click on the blank for each choice to enter an answer for participants to select from. 
   • Click + Add Choice to add additional answer options. 
   •  : Delete the current polling question.
   •  : Duplicate the current polling question as it currently is.
8. (Optional) Click Add a Question to create an additional question.
   Note: Each question and individual answers for a question can be reordered as needed. 
9. Click the ellipses icon  to access the following option:
   • Require answers to be anonymous: Poll participants can choose to have their answers associated with themselves or to provide answers to the poll anonymously.
     Note: If this option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You need to contact your Zoom admin.
10. Click Save.

Add a poll during a webinar

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
2. Start a webinar as the host.
3. In the webinar controls, click Polls .
4. Do one of the following:
   • Click Create if there are no polls created yet.
   • In the top-right corner, click the plus icon to add more polls to the existing ones.
5. Click Untitled Poll to change the name of this set of polls.
6. Click on the question area to edit the following details: 
   • Click the Untitled Question area to edit the name of that polling question. 
   • To the right of the name of the polling question, click the drop-down menu to choose the type question: 
     • Single Choice: Poll participants can select only one of the provided answers. 
     • Multiple Choice: Poll participants can select multiple of the provided answers. 
   • Click on the blank for each choice to enter an answer for participants to select from. 
   • Click + Add Choice to add additional answer options. 
   •  : Delete the current polling question.
   •  : Duplicate the current polling question as it currently is.
7. (Optional) Click + Add Question to create an additional question.
   Note: Each question and individual answers for a question can be reordered as needed. 
8. Click More to access the following option:
   • Require answers to be anonymous: Poll participants can choose to have their answers associated with themselves or to provide answers to the poll anonymously.
     Note: If this option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You need to contact your Zoom admin.
9. Click Save.
10. After the poll is created, you can manage and launch it.

How to use the Polls/Quizzes library

If enabled by an admin, you can manage a central library of polls for webinars. You can create or edit polls and use them for your webinars. When a poll is marked as available to all webinars, it will appear in the list of polls that can be launched in a webinar. 

Notes:

• You can only enable up to 10 polls for your webinars.
• Accessing polls created in the central poll library when in a webinar requires version 5.10.3 or higher.

Access the Polls/Quizzes tab

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Webinars.
3. Click the Polls/Quizzes tab.
   Note: If the tab is labeled as just Polls, advanced polling and quizzes has not been enabled.

Create a poll in the Polls/Quizzes tab

Create a first saved poll that can be enabled with all your webinars.

1. Access the Polls/Quizzes tab.

2. Select Polls.
   Note: If advanced polling and quizzes is enabled, you will have two options displayed: Poll and Advanced Polls and Quizzing.

3. Create a poll.
   After your poll is created, it will be displayed in the Polls/Quizzes tab.
4. (Optional) To enable your created polls for all your webinars, under Enable, click the toggle to enable or disable it.
5. (Optional) To create more polls, click + Create.

Multiple polls will display the Name, Type (Polls, Quiz, Advanced Poll), Question(s) (number of questions), and Enable information.

Use actions for individual polls

After creating a poll in the Polls/Quizzes tab, you can select actions for it:

1. To the right of a poll, click the pencil icon to edit your poll.
2. To the right of a poll, click the ellipses .
3. Select from the following actions:
   • Duplicate: The poll will be duplicated.
   • Delete: The poll will be deleted.

Use batch actions for multiple polls

After creating multiple polls in the Polls/Quizzes tab, you can select actions for them:

1. By Name, select the check box. 
   All polls' check boxes will be selected.
   If you do not want to select all polls, you can select the poll check boxes that you want.
2. Select from the following batch actions for the multiple selected polls:
   • Disable for My Webinars: Under Enable, the toggles for the selected polls will be disabled and unavailable for all your webinars.
   • Enable for My Webinars: Under Enable, the toggles for the selected polls will be enabled and available for all your webinars. 
   • Duplicate: The selected polls will be duplicated.
   • Delete: The selected polls will be deleted.

Filter the Polls/Quizzes tab

Click the All Types dropdown menu to display different filters. You can filter your polls/quizzes by Polls, Advanced Polls, or Quiz.

How to edit, manage, and launch poll questions in a webinar

1. Start the scheduled webinar that has polling enabled.
2. In the webinar controls, click Polls .
3. In the poll window, click a poll to open the poll details.
4. (Optional) Click the ellipses icon to access the following options:
   • Click Edit to modify questions and answers to the poll, then click Save. 
   • Click Allow panelists to vote to choose if panelists can participate in the polling.
5. Click Launch.
   The webinar attendees (and panelists if allowed) will be prompted to answer the polling questions. As the host, you will see the live results and see how much participation the poll has.
6. When you want to stop the poll, click End Poll.
7. (Optional) Click the ellipses icon to access the following options:
   • Re-launch Poll: Launches the poll again. 
     Note: If a poll is relaunched in a webinar, the poll report will only display the last poll occurrence. If you know you will need to launch the same poll twice and want both sets of data, consider creating a second poll with the same questions as the original to avoid relaunching. 
   • Download Results: This will launch your default web browser so that you can download the entire poll report, which shows what each participant chose, instead of the percentages of each choice. To have this feature enabled, submit a request to Zoom Support.
   • View Results from Browser: Launches your default web browser and displays the same polling results in the web page. 
   • Allow Panelists to vote: Click this option to change the setting, which will take effect if you re-launch the poll.
8. (Optional) Click Share Results to share the results to the attendees in the webinar, then click Stop Sharing when needed.