How to prepare a speaker or a novice to use EZ-VOTE

As it often happens in the meeting & event, as well as training industry, there's one person who gets everything ready and prepped...and another person uses the presentation when s/he speaks.

To ensure that everything goes well when your speaker(s) present, dedicate some time to show them around the software, go over the do's and don'ts and most importantly, make them feel confident.

See also: Audience Response Instruction Slides

See also: EZ-VOTE Connect Quick Start Guide

Watch our how-to video. Below is a step-by-step explanation in text format and attached is a quick reference guide for your convenience and sharing.

As a speaker, one doesn't need to know much about how the slides, questions, or the polling part of the presentation was created, but they must be able to understand the slight change in the concept of presenting in PowerPoint when audience polling is involved. For example:

• They should be the ones introducing the audience to the technology and make sure that they explain how the clickers work
  • Download one of our instruction slides (link) and incorporate them into your presentation
  • It's also a good idea to create one or two 'warm-up' questions, so your attendees (and your speaker) can get used to the idea of polling and the flow of things to come
  • Let the audience know that they can vote at any time they see the question on the screen
  • Tell them that only their LAST VOTE counts, therefore they can change their mind as long as the polling is open. This doesn't apply to a special Multi-Vote type of question.
• When the presentation starts, explain the navigation (using a mouse, keyboard or a wireless advancer/clicker):
  • 'Navigate forward' is an universal command to go through your slideshow
  • It is also a command to start the countdown clock, OR if (CD) doesn't exist, 'navigating forward' will close polling manually
  • You can also start the clock with a 'click' and then 'click' again to cut the clock short, if you're tired of waiting...
• Explain what happens when you close polling:
  • By default, the software will show the results automatically (you can turn this off in Tools --> Settings --> Show Results)
  • At the same time (unless, again, the setting has been changed), the app will show the correct answer
  • Now is a good time to pause.
  • .
  • .
  • Talk about the results; engage the audience. If you have a few people who didn't answer correctly, it's a great teaching moment and opportunity for you to explain what makes the correct answer correct and understand why they chose the incorrect answer. Perhaps you'll learn something about how the slide/text was (mis)understood.
• When polling is closed, you have two options:
  • Navigate away from the slide - forward or backward
  • Resume polling (keyboard shortcut: F5). This will allow more votes to be collected, while the existing votes will remain recorded, but they can also be changed (e.g. from "A" to "C")
  • Once you navigate away from the slide and then come back, you can't resume the poll anymore. Polling will be disabled until the next time you "clear responses" (more on that later)

This is what it looks like when you close polling, but stay on the slide:

• If you must restart the poll despite the fact that you moved away from the slide, you have two options:
  • Clear responses on the slide via the Control Bar. You are going to DELETE ALL DATA from this, single slide.
  • You can also exit to Design Mode (press ESC while in Presentation Mode/Slideshow) and DUPLICATE the slide you want to re-poll. This allows you to keep the results from Poll #1, while creating a new slide where you can take a Poll #2.

When polling is no longer allowed, the Control Bar will show the "Polling Closed" message in grey. The keyboard shortcut for "Clear Responses" at this point is F10.

If you need to keep the old poll and take a second one, duplicate the slide and then press SHIFT + F5 (start slideshow from current slide) to immediately open polling on the newly created question:

At the end, it's all about practice. Take the time to go over these instructions with your speakers/presenters at least once or twice, so that they know what to expect.

Nobody likes to deal with unfamiliar territory, right?

If nothing else, practice makes a person calmer, more resolute and confident...and that's what a trainer, speaker or teacher needs to be in order to deliver the best message.

Attached is a PDF you can use as a printout with some of the most important steps, in case you need them as a reference point.

Let us know if this was helpful below.