Default TownVOTE Settings for an Open Town Meeting

PROBLEM

How do I setup TownVOTE to show the audience what they need to see and to suppress 'herd mentality' and keep the vote anonymous during an open town meeting?

SOLUTION

The best way to keep the vote anonymous is to use the No Grid setting, so that only the Motion Text, the [Yes/No] Subtotals and Total vote counts are displayed.

You can still use the Participant Grid if you'd like, especially for a "Test Vote" where every clicker will be displayed on the screen while the vote is open.

We highly recommend conducting a test vote for EVERY town meeting!!

If you're using the Projector View feature to display the results on a screen/display different from your own [laptop], then make sure that Auto Preview is turned ON via the Sidebar Settings Panel on the Agenda page.

While the vote is open, when using the Participant Grid, the Settings Panel will look a little different than the No Grid Settings Panel, but some of the settings should remain the same for either display mode.

Participant Grid Settings:

Avatar: OFF

Truncate Text: OFF

Both of these make the font size larger.

Show Vote Values: OFF

This also turns off the Delay Vote Values automatically. The setting prevents the Yes/No values (green/red color) to show after the vote is closed.

Grid Size: set it up to show maximum of 400 Keypad IDs on a single page. Scroll through pages by making the Projector View window active (click inside of it) and use your Right and Left Arrows, or a mouse Scroll Wheel.

Don't forget: when you set the Grid Size, click the green "disk" icon to save the new size, and if this is the size you'd like to apply to ALL your Participant Grid screens, click Set as Default, as well. Otherwise, the new Grid Size will only be applied to the current motion.

Show Total: ON

Show Yes/No Total: ON

Delay Yes/No Total: ON

These settings ensure that during the vote (while it's open), audience sees that the system is working as the Total number of votes goes up when they vote. At the same time, the Subtotals are hidden, so as to prevent 'herd mentality' - people voting one way or another 'because they are voting with the group.'

"Delay" means that the Yes/No counts will be shown AFTER the vote is closed.

Vote Status: ON

This is important if you want to display in real-time whether the vote is open or closed, and when you close the vote, whether it passed or failed.

No Grid Settings:

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See Also: Default TownVOTE Settings for a Representative Town Meeting