Word Clouds for Open Response (Free Text) Polls

Updated April 4, 2016, with new ideas for live word clouds

Make a live word cloud with the audience

People have been using Poll Everywhere to make word clouds for years. And now, it couldn’t be easier! Ask your audience or class an open-ended question and watch the results appear in a beautiful, dynamically updating word cloud.

The words move (they dance!), and the most commonly submitted words appear largest. It’s a moving piece of art that you and your participants create together. In fact, some Poll Everywhere users have actually printed and framed their word clouds… no joke.

Some ideas for what to ask…

In one word, describe how you’re feeling about the training.
What word in our Mission Statement most resonates with you?
What one word would you use to describe the main character in the novel?

More ideas below, but first…

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create an Open-Ended poll question, and select Word Cloud as the display you’d like.

2. That’s it. (Optional: Of course, as with all Poll Everywhere charts, you can change the colors and background image and font to your liking. It can get really pretty on a Word Cloud.)

Create word clouds with Poll Everywhere. Type a question and choose Word Cloud. — Create a question and choose Word Cloud for your answer display.

Word clouds as a fun corporate training activity

A live word cloud makes the perfect employee training activity to focus attention, break the ice, or get a Level 1 reaction to the session. Here are some ideas for word cloud questions you can use in corporate training situations:

What word best describes your working style?
In a word, what was the highlight of today’s training?
In one word, what will you do differently after this session?
Summarize what you learned today in only one word.
How are you feeling about your future in the company, in one word?

Find more ideas for training activities you can design with a free Poll Everywhere account.

Word clouds for a class activity or student orientation

Help everyone relax, focus on the material for the day, or reflect on what they’re learning with an in-class word cloud activity. A few questions to get you started:

In one word: What’s the best way to succeed academically?
Which character added the most conflict to the story?
What’s your one-word goal for this semester?
Problem on the board: Solve for X.
Which ancient philosopher inspires you most?

Learn more: Ten learning activities with word cloud polls

Word cloud activity for a large audience

This is an inspiring way to start any presentation, or to get raw reactions from the audience at a key point in your presentation. Here are a few examples:

One word only: How’s it going?
In a word, how does this statistic make you feel?
Name a one-word mantra for your entire career.
Who inspires you the most?
Give your one-word reaction to the growth mindset principles.

Best practices for word cloud success

Pro-Tip

When you ask your audience to participate, suggest they submit just one word. That way the word cloud doesn’t end up with orphan words separated from larger phrases.

Pro-Pro-Tip

If your audience really, truly wants to submit multi-word phrases, suggest they link the words with an underscore. For example, “cat_in_the_hat” rather than “cat in the hat.” That way the phrase shows up together as one piece of your word cloud.

Brad Gessler

Brad is Poll Everywhere’s CTO, co-founder, and head of coffee quality. Before creating the magic of live polling for the masses, Brad did a stint at Deloitte Consulting and graduated Indiana University at the ripe age of 19.