Webex polls in meetings and webinars: what they do and where they stop
Webex polls run inside Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars: a host turns polling on in the scheduling options, writes the questions and launches them during the session. Slido, which Webex offers in both products, adds surveys that group several questions. The host decides when results show and when voting closes, and the contest organiser decides what any count is worth.
Written by BuyPollVotes editorial desk | Last checked
Switching polling on in a Webex meeting
A Webex meeting poll starts with a scheduling choice, not a question. Webex tells hosts to turn polling on under Advanced options, then Scheduling options, then Meeting options, and to use Webinar options in the same place for a webinar. It is a small switch at the end of a long menu path, which is why the path is worth writing down.
Once the session is running, the polling panel is where Webex polls get written and run. If the panel is not already open, Webex lists several ways to show it during the meeting or webinar, and participants can open it the same way.
To build a question, click New, type the question in the text box and press Enter. Then click Answer, type the first answer, press Enter, and repeat for each choice. To create additional ones, click the New poll icon and start over. Each step is one click or one line of typing.
Question types, results and timing: what the feature controls
The webex poll feature offers three question types. Short answer lets people type a few words, multiple choice with several answers allowed suits a list where more than one item is true, and multiple choice with a single answer forces one pick.
Results are a separate decision. In Webex Events, attendees can review the percentage each answer received after they submit, if the organiser checked the option to share results. Slido takes the opposite default: its results stay hidden from participants until the host clicks Show results at the bottom of the poll.
Among Webex polls, timing has controls of its own, and they differ by product. Webex Events lets a host schedule a poll to activate on a chosen date and time. Webex Training closes a poll when its set time has elapsed or when the presenter clicks Close Poll. The question type, the results switch and the timing are the webex polling options that change what a room sees.
Webinar polling and the survey that opens when the session ends
Webex webinar polling works in two moments: questions asked during the session and a survey that arrives once it is over. When the webinar ends, the survey opens for attendees in a browser window, so the answers come in after the speaker has stopped talking.
Hosts can create surveys before or during a meeting or webinar. For one built ahead of time, the route runs through Slido: open Slido in a browser, choose Log In, then Log in with Webex, and enter the Webex username and password. The survey is saved automatically after creation, and you can launch it right away or hold it.
A survey differs from a single question because it groups several. Webex says surveys let hosts of Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars ask multiple poll questions at the same time, and the group can mix types, so participants respond to all of them at once.
A webinar survey can hold up to 50 questions. Fifty is the most Webex allows, and a survey that long tests the attendees' patience more than their opinions.
Slido as the polling tool inside Webex
Slido is the tool behind the survey side of Webex. Webex polls and Slido surveys sit side by side in Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars, and Slido is the webex polling tool to reach for when a host wants several questions at once or a check on who is answering.
Its basic security is plain: each participant can vote only once on their device from the same browser. Slido's own help page names the gap that leaves. Without further authentication on the event, a second browser, device or incognito window counts as a new participant, and the sign-in options exist to close that gap.
Slido names four alternatives to basic security, listed below. A host running a public event accepts the gap; a host who wants a cleaner count picks one of the sign-in routes, and an organiser reading the count should ask which one was on.
Closing has its own button. In Slido for Government meetings, the host can stop further votes by selecting Close voting, the Slido counterpart of the Close Poll button in Webex Training.
- Google SSO, where the participant signs in through Google.
- SAML SSO, where sign-in runs through an organisation's own identity system.
- Email verification, where the participant confirms an address by email.
- Public events, listed by Slido as the fourth option.
Chat, spaces and Webex Teams: where the instructions stop
A Webex poll in group chat is a separate matter from the live-session tools, and the Webex instructions quoted on this page cover only the session. Their steps start from the polling panel inside a meeting or webinar, and none of them puts a poll into a chat or a space.
When a poll appears in a space, for example from a bot named Pollbot, that bot creates, posts and closes it, and the meeting panel is not involved. Whether a given bot lists the participants who answered is the bot author's design choice, and no Webex page read for this guide documents that view.
That makes a Webex poll in chat a matter for the bot's own commands and settings: its help page is the authority there, and Webex's meeting instructions are not. The same goes for Webex Teams and for any integration switch. The steps here cover meetings, webinars and Slido surveys, and they show no such switch.
Screen sharing, open polls, quizzes and bugs: what is documented
Screen sharing gets no mention in the quoted Webex instructions. A host who wants to launch a poll while a participant shares their screen will find nothing there about the two interacting: the panel is shown from the session window when it is not already open, and no step brings up screen sharing. The documents are silent on the combination, so a rehearsal meeting is the honest test before an audience arrives.
Opening more than one poll at a time has no documented answer either. The webex poll function as described here neither sets a cap on open ones nor explains one, so a limit you hit is a question for Webex support, not something this page can confirm.
Quizzes are a separate matter. The three question types in Webex polls carry no marking of answers as correct or incorrect, so a host who needs scores should treat the feature as a survey tool and tally them by hand.
A bug is a fair suspicion when a second poll will not open, and support is the right route for it. Before filing, run through the documented conditions listed below. Rehearsal meetings are dull, and dull is what a host wants on the day.
- Polling is switched on under the scheduling options.
- The panel is open in the session.
- The question has its answers, added after clicking Answer.
Platform rules, fake counts and what an organiser can check
Webex Events' terms bar using its applications and websites through bots, spiders, scrapers, web crawlers, indexing agents or other automated devices or mechanisms, which reaches automated answers to Webex polls. The same terms reserve the right to monitor use of the services to check compliance, and to end access without notice for a breach. They name no penalty that removes automated votes from a count, so whether a flagged count is disqualified is left to whoever runs the contest.
Slido adds a detector of its own: the built-in fraud check alerts Slido when an event receives an unusually high number of votes in a very short time. The pages checked do not say what happens after an alert, so nothing here can tell you how a flagged count is treated.
That is the picture from the documents: a rule against automation, a right to monitor, an alert on sudden bursts and sign-in options that narrow who can answer. Bought votes in a contest poll fall under whatever rules that contest published, and an organiser who judges a count to be fake can discount it or disqualify the entry.
And the decision is the organiser's. A count from Webex or Slido is one piece of evidence; the contest's own rules say what counts, who checks it and what a breach costs.
| Product | How it starts | How it ends or shows results |
|---|---|---|
| Webex Meetings | Switched on under Meeting options when scheduling | Not published in the pages checked |
| Webex Webinars | Switched on under Webinar options; Slido surveys built ahead | Survey opens for attendees in a browser window when the webinar ends |
| Webex Training | Start steps not published in the pages checked | Closes at the set time or when the presenter clicks Close Poll |
| Webex Events | Can be scheduled to activate on a chosen date and time | Attendees see answer percentages if the organiser shares results |
| Slido in Webex | Hosts log in with a Webex account to build surveys ahead | Results stay hidden until the host clicks Show results |
How to do it
-
Switch polling on when you schedule
Open Advanced options, then Scheduling options, then Meeting options or Webinar options, and turn polling on. Webex tells hosts to do this before using the feature in a meeting or webinar.
-
Open the polling panel in the session
During the meeting or webinar, show the panel if it is not already open. Webex lists several ways to bring it up from the session window.
-
Click New, then add the question and answers
Click New, type the question in the text box and press Enter. Click Answer, type the first answer and press Enter, then repeat for every choice.
-
Choose short answer or multiple choice
Pick short answer for typed replies, multiple choice with several answers allowed for a list, or multiple choice with a single answer when the room must pick one.
-
Create more and close each one
Click the New poll icon to create additional ones. In Webex Training a poll ends at its set time or when the presenter clicks Close Poll; in Slido for Government meetings the host selects Close voting.
Common questions
Can you create a poll on Webex?
Webex polls are created by the host in a meeting or webinar once the host switches the feature on under the scheduling options. Click New, type the question, click Answer to add each choice, and use the New poll icon to create more.
Is there a way to create a survey or poll in Webex Teams?
The survey route Webex documents runs through Slido, which is available in Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars, not through a Teams setting. Hosts log in to Slido with a Webex account, create the survey before or during the session and launch it from there. The instructions quoted here describe no separate Teams survey tool.
How do I enable the integration in Webex Teams?
The instructions quoted on this page describe no integration switch for Webex Teams. What they document is turning polling on under Advanced options, Scheduling options, then Meeting options or Webinar options, and logging in to Slido with a Webex account. For a bot added to a Teams space, the bot's own help page is the authority.
How can I see the participants of a Pollbot poll in Webex Spaces?
A bot such as Pollbot creates, posts and closes polls in a Webex space, and whether it lists who answered is set by the bot itself. No Webex page read for this guide documents a participant list for that bot, so the bot's own commands and help page are the place to check.
As host of a meeting, can I launch a poll while another participant shares their screen, without stopping the share?
The Webex instructions quoted here do not say whether a poll can launch during another participant's screen share. They describe the panel, which is shown from the session window when it is not already open, and they state no restriction and no workaround. A rehearsal meeting settles it for your own setup.
Why can't we open more than one poll at a time in Webex?
No Webex help page quoted here states that only one can be open at a time, so there is no documented reason to give. The steps describe creating more with the New poll icon, and each one ends on its own terms: a set time or a Close Poll click in Webex Training.
Is there a way of treating Webex polls like a quiz, with answers marked as correct or not?
No marking of answers as correct or incorrect is documented for Webex polls; the question types listed are short answer, multiple choice with several answers allowed and multiple choice with a single answer. A host who needs scores can collect the answers and mark them by hand.
Is it a bug if a second Webex poll will not open?
Nothing in the Webex steps quoted here labels a second poll that will not open as a bug or as a designed limit. Checking that the feature is switched on, the panel is open and the question has its answers comes first; after that, a support request to Webex with the exact steps taken is the route.
Where these facts come from
- socio.events. socio.events/terms-of-service.
- community.slido.com. community.slido.com/community-q-a-7/what-plan-do-i-need-for-users-to-only-vote-once-1158.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/en-us/article/qpvziw/Create-a-survey-in-Slido.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/article/npj02fr/Collect-survey-feedback-after-a-webinar.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/en-us/article/n0pdj9x/start-a-poll-in-meetings-or-webinars.
No guide can say how Webex polls or Slido counts will be judged: the host controls the questions, results and closing, the platform applies its own terms, and the contest organiser decides which answers stand. Rules that forbid paid votes in a contest poll still apply, and nothing on this page is a forecast of a win, a particular count or a result that nobody questions.
X prohibits coordinating with or compensating others to inflate engagement metrics, and it names Polls among the features covered. The Pet Industry Business Awards name the consequence in their own contest: a business may be investigated, lose votes or be disqualified on reasonable evidence of purchased votes. No seller can stop an organiser from doing that.
Slido says it is alerted when an event gets an unusually high number of votes in a very short time, and Crowdsignal says its built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting. Ordinary participation arrives spread across the voting window, from different people at different moments. Nothing on this site is a method for getting a vote past a check, and a vote that a tool blocks does not count.
Organiser rules differ: the RSPCA Pet of the Year Awards allow extra votes through donations on their official mechanism, while OpenTable Australia treats a vote cast in exchange for money or a reward as null and void. Both are contest rules, not statutes, and whether payment is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. Orders are refused for any contest whose rules ban paid votes, and for political ballots.
Votes ordered for a poll that never appear on its count are refunded after the poll closes. A refund never covers an organiser's decision: Localsearch may void all votes for a disqualified nominee, and Mentimeter says a user whose access it cancels under its Acceptable Use Policy is owed no refund or compensation. No result is promised.