Poll types
Polls help you facilitate collaborative decision-making. Use polls to engage people, survey opinion, seek contributions, uncover information, identify priorities, vote on issues, approve documents, organize events and hold elections.
On this page
Sense check
Ask for feedback, questions and concerns
Collaborative decisions include one or more rounds of feedback before a decision is made.
The Sense check poll is a simple way to get feedback on a decision before things get finalized - clarify and improve an idea before moving to a proposal.
Sense check lets people know a proposal is forming and encourages them to engage. It is an opportunity to listen to people, sense how they feel and respond appropriately - opening the potential to incorporate their contributions to make a better proposal - that’s more likely to pass.
Use Sense check when you want to survey opinions, rather than advocate for a particular position. It is a great way to surface concerns before moving to a formal agreement. You can find out if people are happy with where this is going, if they have questions or need more time, or if they are concerned and want something to change.
You can use one or more rounds of ‘Sense check’ to help you co-create a better, more cohesive decision with less stress and anxiety.
Proposal
Make a decision together
The Proposal poll is at the heart of collaborative decisions.
A Proposal is used to present a decision to be made. For example an agreement, document or policy for approval, resolution or appointment.
Proposal is commonly used for building Consensus, however is also used in Advice, Consent and other collaborative decision making processes.
In the proposal include a clear statement of what agreement means, say 'for this proposal to pass, we need everyone to vote agree' or 'for this proposal to pass, we need 75% of members to agree'. Invite people to leave a vote 'Reason', and if they do not agree to say why, and what needs to change for them to agree.
Use proposals to build shared understanding, uncover disagreements and make a better decision.
Use the default voting options or change to suit your decision process.
Consent process
Edit voting options for the Consent process.
Simple poll
Find the most popular option
Before making a decision, find which option(s) people care most about.
Simple poll helps you find the most popular option or options with single or multiple choice.
Write any details about the options in the details field, then enter the name of the option and click + to add.
Set the Minimum choices and Maximum choices a voter may choose. Leave the maximum choice as 1 for a single choice poll.
You can use the pencil icon alongside each option to add a meaning, or elaboration, of the option.
Settings
As well as the usual Poll Settings, simple poll includes a setting:
Shuffle options allows you to show options in random order, if you are concerned the order of options may bias voting.
Voting
People invited to the simple poll can choose options and leave a reason for their choice.
Results
Results update as voting takes place.
Outcome
When the poll closes, state an Outcome and say what will happen next.
Time poll
Find when people are available to meet
Save time arranging a date for your meeting or event.
Time poll makes it easy to see everyone's availability and find the best time.
Give your Time poll a title and details. Enter a list of date and time options in your time zone.
When setting timeslots, consider people in different time zones. Participants will see times localized in their time zone.
Set a meeting duration.
Voting
People mark the timeslots they are available with the green 'thumbs up' icon or leave the red 'thumbs down' in place when unavailable. They can also use the 'thumbs sideways' icon to say they are available 'if need be'.
Participants can leave a reason comment to help the organizer find a suitable time.
If the times don't work, participants can suggest alternatives using the message field. You can then update the poll with new times.
The results update as voting proceeds in a table showing who is available when, so everyone can see which timeslots are popular.
Outcome
When the Time poll closes, pick the best time slot and state an Outcome.
Notify: Add the people you are inviting to the meeting or event.
Meeting time: Click on the meeting time to select the best meeting time.
Meeting name: Give your meeting a name. (Default name is the Time poll title.)
Location: You can add a location for the meeting.
Statement: State the outcome of the Time poll and any instructions for the meeting.
Loomio will include a calendar invitation with the Outcome notification email, so participants can add to their calendar.
Opt-in
Find volunteers or participants
Use Opt-in to invite people to a join a team, committee or working group, or to participate in an event.
‘Opt-in’ has two voting options: Accept or Decline.
Set how many people you are looking for, say 3 people to join your working group.
Use Opt-in to seek engagement and encourage participation. For example think of Opt-in as the online way to ask a room of people "Raise you hand if ..."
Like other Loomio polls, Opt-in asks you to set a closing time and will automatically notify people 24 hours before close - encouraging people to participate in a timely way so you can get on with the work.
Score Poll
Measure the degree of support for each option
Use Score poll when you want to survey people for their desire, preference or interest in each option.
'Anonymous voting' and 'Shuffle options' settings are common for Score poll to reduce any voting bias.
Participants are asked to evaluate each option and assign a score by moving a slider along a scale.
Results are displayed graphically along with a table for each option showing total points, mean points and the number of voters.
Examples:
- How would you rate your interest in these topics for the next meeting agenda?
- How important are each of these principles to you?
- Which speakers would you like at the next conference?
Dot vote
Allocate a budget of points to reveal priorities
This poll type is useful for groups trying to allocate a limited resource to a number of options. It goes beyond a simple poll by helping participants appreciate there is a constraint when selecting options.
Participants are each given a set number of dots. You decide how many.
They place dots next to options presented that they like. Participants can place all their dots on a single option or spread over multiple options.
As participants allocate dots, they may exceed the dot budget limit and so are encouraged to consider how they spend their dots carefully.
Options with the most dots “win”. The results table provides additional data to help you analyse results.
- % of points
- Points
- Mean
- Voters
Examples:
- Choose strategic priorities for the year ahead.
- Choose agenda items for meeting, conference or General Assembly.
- Allocate spend in a fixed budget.
Ranked choice
Understand the ordered preference of options
Ranked choice is particularly useful when you have a large number of options or holding an election.
This poll type offers a series of options for people to vote in their preferred order.
'Anonymous voting' and 'Shuffle options' settings are common for Ranked choice to reduce any voting bias.
You can choose the number of votes people can give and rank.
Voters drag and drop options in order of preference (#1 being your most preferred option).
Results are showed in ranked order. The results table provides additional data to help you analyse results.
- Rank
- % of points
- Points
- Mean
Examples:
- Electing directors to governance board.
- What topics should we focus on at our next conference?
New poll type
Create your own poll type
Create a new type of poll for use in your group. Customize terminology and settings so it's easy for other people in your group to run a specific decision making process.
With the new poll type form, you can change voting options, name, description and default duration.
Voting method
Choose the voting method you want to use.
Show of thumbs is the voting method for Proposal, Sense check and common in Advice and Consent processes.
Other methods include:
- Simple poll - single or multiple choice of options
- Dot vote - allocate a budget of points across a list of options, where people can assign points to options however they like.
- Score poll - people can assign a score on a scale, say 1 to 10 for each option
- Ranked choice - invite people to put options in their order of preference, first to last.
Poll type name and description
Give the poll type a name and add a description of the purpose of your poll type.
Then give your poll type an example title and details to prompt people using your poll. The title and details can be edited when used.
Poll type options
There is a lot of flexibility to configure voting options for your new poll type.
Use the pencil icon alongside the voting option to open the edit modal:
Option name: A short name for the option.
Icon: Select the icon for the option; thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs sideway or hand up.
Meaning: A sentence that explains what choosing this options means.
Reason prompt: A question to prompt voters to provide their reasoning or reconsider their position. Use the reason prompt to uncover what people like or dislike about the poll. It is also an opportunity to find out what needs to changed to reach agreement.
Default duration
You can set the default duration for your poll type. This can be changed by people using the poll.
Settings
You can configure default settings for your poll type.
See Poll Settings.
Invite to give feedback
When configured, you can invite colleagues to view the new poll type and provide feedback.
Poll template
Your new poll type is now saved as a poll template.
Notice that as this poll is a template, voting is disabled.
To use the poll template, click Make a copy.
When anyone in your group starts a new poll, your new poll template is available for use and included in the list of custom poll types.
The ability to configure poll types is a new feature, so please do Contact us and let us know how you use it!