I Built LivePoll: An Open-Source Real-Time Polling Tool for Communities
I regularly work with webinars, training sessions, presentations, and community events.
One simple problem I kept noticing was audience interaction.
Sometimes you just want to ask a quick question, let everyone vote from their phone, and immediately show the results on the presentation screen.
That idea became LivePoll.
LivePoll is a free and open-source real-time polling tool built for webinars, classes, seminars, presentations, and community events.
π Demo: https://livepoll.mipdevp.com/en
π» Source code: https://github.com/mipdevp/livepoll
Why I Built It
There are already several great polling platforms available.
But for this project, I wanted something simple:
- participants shouldn't need an account
- joining should only take a few seconds
- polls should work well on a presentation screen
- results should update automatically
- it should support quizzes too
- and the project should be open source
The main goal wasn't to build another huge presentation platform.
I wanted LivePoll to focus on one thing:
making audience interaction easy.
How It Works
The basic flow is intentionally simple.
1. Create a Poll
The presenter creates a question and chooses the answer type.
LivePoll currently supports things like:
- Multiple choice
- Rating
- Quiz questions with correct answers
2. Share the Session
Participants can join using:
- a session code
- or a QR code displayed on the presentation screen
They don't need to create an account.
3. Vote From Any Device
Participants open LivePoll from their phones and submit their answers.
4. See Results Live
The presentation screen automatically updates as votes come in.
For quizzes, LivePoll can also calculate scores and display rankings.
Current Features
Some of the features available right now:
- β 100% free
- β No participant account required
- β Real-time polling results
- β QR code and session-code joining
- β Poll mode
- β Quiz mode with automatic scoring
- β Presenter-friendly display
- β Works on mobile and desktop
- β Open source
I also wanted the interface to stay simple enough that someone can start a poll without needing to learn another complicated tool.
Built for Communities
LivePoll originally came from a simple need around community sessions and presentations.
That is still one of the main use cases I have in mind.
For example:
- developer meetups
- webinars
- classrooms
- workshops
- training sessions
- internal company presentations
- community events
Instead of asking:
"Does everyone understand?"
You can quickly put a question on screen and actually see what the audience thinks.
Still a Work in Progress
LivePoll is still evolving.
There are plenty of things I want to improve, especially around the presenter experience, quiz functionality, and overall UX.
Rather than keeping it as a private side project, I decided to open-source it so other developers can explore it, use it, or contribute.
If you want to try it:
π https://livepoll.mipdevp.com/en
And if you're interested in the source code:
π https://github.com/mipdevp/livepoll
Feedback is very welcome.
Especially if you regularly run webinars, classes, workshops, meetups, or community events.
What would you add to a tool like this?
Top comments (0)