Webex Add Poll: how to create one in Webex meetings
Webex add poll work runs through Slido: in a meeting you open Apps, choose Slido, click Add new interaction, and pick the poll type you want. Cisco's help pages state that Slido is available in Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars, and that a free Webex plan is enough to host meetings. You can build a poll before a meeting or conduct one live, and results update as participants answer.
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Find the poll feature in Webex
The Webex add poll question ends at one door: Slido. Cisco moved meeting polling into its Slido integration, so anyone hunting for a native panel inside the meeting window is hunting for the wrong name. The documentation puts Slido in Webex Meetings on sites at version 41.6 or later, and in Webex Webinars on sites at version 41.9 or later. Webex Suite meeting platform users get it too. If an organisation runs an older site build, the integration is simply absent, and no setting on any account will summon it. Upgrade first, poll second.
Three places hide the entry, and one of them surprises people who only ever run webinars or join from the Suite platform:
- A live meeting window: open Apps and choose Slido.
- The Webex Suite meeting platform: the same panel hides behind the three-dot More menu.
- A webinar: an identical path, once the site runs version 41.9 or later.
- Before anyone joins: build the interactions ahead of time and launch them later.
Surveys and polls in Webex Teams
Webex Teams was renamed years ago; Cisco's current pages talk about the Webex App. That rename trips up a lot of searches, because people ask whether the old Teams client carries a survey or a poll and find nothing written under the old name. The current answer is that Slido can be launched and managed from the Meetings desktop app or from full-featured meetings in the Webex App. Surveys sit alongside polls in the same panel, and Cisco says you can create either before or during a session. So the Webex add poll routine covers surveys too; pick the survey format when open feedback matters more than a vote count.
Conduct a poll during the event
Live polling is the normal case, not a workaround. During a meeting or webinar you go to Apps, choose Slido, click Add new interaction, and choose the type of poll you want. Nothing about that path requires the agenda to pause; the panel sits beside the call. Once an interaction exists, My interactions shows a Launch button beside it. Click it and the poll activates, with results updating as participants answer. When the question has served its purpose, closing voting locks responses even though the poll stays active, so latecomers cannot vote again or change their mind. Build, launch, watch, lock. That is the whole Webex add poll loop for a live event.
A meeting setup without the limitation
Most complaints about missing polls trace back to setup, and the fixes are unglamorous. Host on a site at a supported version. Stay out of breakout sessions, where Slido is not supported at all. And schedule the meeting properly: sign in to User Hub, select Schedule, fill in the meeting information, and confirm, or use the Webex App calendar and click Schedule a meeting. Set the start and end date and time, and add invitees by name or email address so they actually receive the invitation. Cisco notes that the Schedule a meeting option does not appear when an account is not set up to host, which makes it an early warning sign worth reading.
- Version check: 41.6 or later for Meetings, 41.9 or later for Webinars.
- Stay out of breakouts: Slido does not run there, full stop.
- Host properly: an account set up to host meetings shows the scheduling option, and one that is not, does not.
Quiz scoring and the correct answers
The quiz format answers the classroom itch. When you click Add new interaction, quiz is one of the choices next to multiple choice and ranking, and for any of those formats you enter the answers participants should choose from. Cisco caps quizzes at 5,000 participants, a generous ceiling for a training session or a compliance refresher. What the help pages do not document is a separate marking view; they describe quiz as a poll type, not a graded exam engine. If a session genuinely needs scored answers, treat the quiz interaction as the closest built-in tool and read what the live panel shows while it runs.
Is it a bug when the option will not show?
Nine times out of ten it is not a bug; it is a condition. The panel needs a supported site version, a meeting outside breakout sessions, and a host-capable account. Cisco's own documentation flags the scheduling option disappearing when an account is not set up to host meetings, which means the platform hides features rather than advertising their absence. Before filing anything with support, check the version, check the meeting type, and try opening Apps in a fresh meeting. If the integration appears in one meeting and not another, the difference is the context, not the software.
What the limits actually are
Honest edges, stated plainly. A free Webex plan hosts meetings of up to 40 minutes with up to 100 attendees, so a long poll-heavy session needs a paid tier or a webinar. Webinar polls and Q&A scale to 10,000 attendees; quizzes stop at 5,000. Breakout sessions get nothing. And nothing here touches counts on outside platforms: a Webex add poll flow lives and dies inside Cisco's walls, and no tool or third-party service changes what the host's panel records. The numbers you see are the answers participants gave. That is the feature working, not failing.
| Context | What Cisco's documentation says |
|---|---|
| Webex Meetings | Supported on sites at version 41.6 or later. |
| Webex Webinars | Supported on sites at version 41.9 or later, with polls and Q&A for up to 10,000 attendees. |
| Quiz format | Available as a poll type, for up to 5,000 participants. |
| Breakout sessions | Not supported at all. |
| Free plan | Meetings of up to 40 minutes with up to 100 attendees. |
How to do it
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Check your version
Cisco supports Slido in Webex Meetings on sites at version 41.6 or later, and in Webex Webinars on sites at version 41.9 or later. Older sites simply do not carry the panel, so no amount of clicking will make it appear.
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Schedule or open the meeting
A free Webex account can host meetings. Schedule from User Hub by selecting Schedule, filling in the meeting information, and confirming, or use the Webex App calendar. Add invitees by name or email address so they receive the invitation.
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Open Slido from Apps
During a meeting or webinar, go to Apps and choose Slido. In the Webex Suite meeting platform, the same entry sits behind the three-dot More menu instead.
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Add a new interaction
Click the button labelled Add new interaction and choose the type of poll you want: multiple choice, quiz, ranking, or another format Cisco lists in the panel.
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Write the question and answers
Type your question, and for a multiple choice, quiz, or ranking poll enter the answers participants should choose from. A survey works the same way when you need open feedback rather than a vote.
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Launch it, then lock it
In My interactions, click Launch beside the poll to activate it; results update as people answer. Closing voting locks responses while the poll stays active, so nobody can vote again or change their mind.
Common questions
How do I use polls in Webex?
Through Slido, Cisco's built-in integration. Open Apps in a meeting, choose Slido, add an interaction, and launch it. Cisco documents the flow for Webex Meetings and Webex Webinars, with results updating live while people answer.
Is there a way to build a survey or poll inside Webex Teams?
Yes. Cisco's current documentation describes the Webex App rather than the old Teams branding, and says Slido can be launched and managed from the Meetings desktop app or full-featured Webex App meetings. Surveys and polls can be created before or during a session.
How do we create and conduct a poll during an event?
Open Apps, choose Slido, click Add new interaction, and pick the poll type while the event runs. You do not have to prepare it beforehand, because Cisco says polls or surveys can be created during a meeting or webinar as easily as before one.
Do you need to be the one presenting to launch the poll?
Cisco's pages address the host when they describe creating and launching polls, so the host controls the panel. The documentation does not describe a presenter role launching Slido, and it grants attendees no such switch either.
How do you set up a meeting without this limitation?
Most limits are version and context limits. Host on a current site, stay out of breakout sessions, and schedule the session in advance from User Hub or the Webex App calendar so attendees receive invitations with everything ready.
Can polls work like a quiz and get marked as correct?
Quiz is one of the poll types in the Add new interaction list, capped at 5,000 participants. Cisco's help pages do not spell out a separate scoring view, so treat marked answers as a quiz-type feature and read the outcomes from the live panel.
Is it a bug when the option never shows?
Usually it is a condition rather than a bug. The panel needs a supported site version, a meeting outside breakout sessions, and an account set up to host; Cisco even notes that the scheduling option hides itself when the account is not host-ready.
Where these facts come from
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/article/007u2c/Create-a-poll-in-Slido.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/article/007u2c/Create-a-poll-in-Slido.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/en-US/article/o8hygt/Known-issues-and-limitations-for-polls-and-Q&A-in-Slido.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/article/007u2c/Create-a-poll-in-Slido.
- help.webex.com. help.webex.com/en-US/article/b3l3kc/Activate-or-deactivate-a-poll-in-Slido.
No page here teaches anything about skewing a poll count, and no workaround exists for the real gaps: Slido does not run in breakout sessions, older site versions never show the panel, and the free plan caps meetings at 40 minutes with 100 attendees. Cisco's documentation does not describe a grading view for quizzes, and no setting changes who is allowed to host.
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.