Poll Questions

Some presenters use poll questions in their presentations. You can include poll questions in your PowerPoint. Let our CPD Coordinator know if you plan to use poll questions.

Why use poll questions?

Poll questions create a pause in the delivery of information, which helps to maintain attention online. Research suggests information segments should be no longer than six minutes.

Poll questions allow for sharing of information and opinions, assessing knowledge or experience, and engaging the learner to reflect on or apply the content. Many people are watching alone, and a poll question allows them to answer anonymously. That is particularly useful in discussing practice and ethical issues.

Quick poll questions can take about 1 minute, while more complicated questions take two to three minutes.

Top Tips for Creating Poll Questions

• Use a mix of question types to enrich the learning experience.
• Ask about only one concept at a time.
• Make all answer options concise, parallel, and grammatically consistent.
• Presenters often ask for guidance in creating poll questions. We offer these examples and explanations to assist you. You can also ask us for assistance with creating your poll questions.

Example Poll Questions

Here are some examples of different types of poll questions, including explanations of the ideal uses of each type of question:
Use poll questions to assess knowledge/experience:

1. Knowledge level at the beginning of the presentation or before the presentation starts:
Use this poll question to get information about the current level of knowledge or experience. You might use this to adapt the focus of your presentation to your audience.

How comfortable are you screening for family violence?

• a. Not at all
• b. Somewhat
• c. Very

2. Knowledge level at the end of the presentation:
Ask the same question at the end of the program, to determine how much was learned.

How comfortable are you now screening for family violence?

• a. Not at all
• b. Somewhat
• c. Very

3. Check understanding during the presentation:
To assess the level of understanding before you move on, and to replace the feedback you are accustomed to when you can see the learners.

Screening for family violence is important to you as a lawyer because:

• a. You care about your clients’ emotional well-being.
• b. You may need to adjust the way you manage the file.
• c. You can’t send such a client to mediation.

Use poll questions to share information that is of interest to the audience:

Use these questions as a quick break. They can also give you information about your audience.

• Have you used social media as evidence?
• How many of your clients have objected to their bills?
• Do you write a new retainer letter for each matter?

Use poll questions to challenge learners on their understanding of the upcoming topic:

Use this type of poll question to set up the discussion of the topic. This kind of question requires thinking, which will aid learning.

If you know or believe the funds are the proceeds of crime, can you give them back to your client?

• a. Yes
• b. No

Do you believe you have an obligation to disclose a decision unfavorable to your client?

• a. To the court?
• b. To the unrepresented litigant?
• c. To both?

Use poll questions to have the learner apply the information through a scenario:

Here, you use short answer questions to help the learner integrate and apply knowledge. This is the most interesting but also the most complicated. Each of the questions should be followed by a discussion.

You practice as a general practitioner in a smaller community. Your firm has 8 lawyers. You act for a sub-trade in a dispute with a general contractor known as Perez Contracting. You are also known as the go-to lawyer in the community for developing wineries. One day Helen Chow comes to you and asks you to represent the joint venture she has formed with an investor, in the development of a new winery. The investor is JP Holdings Inc. You open the file and start work. Helen is instructing you on the file. After about three months, Helen suggests that you meet with the investor, and Jamie Perez and Helen Chow come in for a meeting. When you are introduced to Jamie Perez and start talking about Perez’s other business interests, you realize that he is the principal of Perez Contracting.

• a. Is there a conflict of interest in acting for JP Holdings in a joint venture, and against Perez Contracting? What kind of conflict?
• b. Does the situation change if the winery was not a joint venture, but instead was a corporation in which JP Holdings was a shareholder and Jamie Perez was a director?
• c. Does the situation change if the winery was a corporation, and Perez Consulting was a shareholder, but Jamie Perez was not a director?