When your community has urgent questions that need big answers, a poll can mean the difference between good information and the most useful information possible. Organizers at the Community Energy Congress used live polling to whittle down their message until it was exactly what the audience needed to know.

Polling Empowers Delegates at the Community Energy Congress

What if your town could own and run its own renewable energy system, and create enough power to not only get off the national grid, but produce a surplus to sell? A few communities in Europe and Australia are already doing just that.

The Coalition for Community Energy exists to help the movement spread. They hosted the 2014 Community Energy Congress at the National Library of Australia in Canberra, and brought together hundreds of delegates from communities across the continent. Each delegate represented a small city or rural community that wants to build a community-based energy system, to reduce reliance on the national grid, shrink carbon emissions, and harness renewable energy.

Geoff Brown (Rusty Brown Consulting) and Mark Spain (Global Learning), were called in to make the event a success for everyone involved. Geoff and Mark specialize in facilitating collaboration for long-term change. They use carefully chosen strategies and technologies to keep the conversation participatory and relevant.

This year, Geoff and Mark relied on polling software from Poll Everywhere, to make the Community Energy Congress a treasure trove of relevant help and inspiration for 300 community reps who showed up with lots of good questions and insights.

Dialing into the conversation

Geoff kicked off the first session of the congress with a text to word cloud poll. He kept the questions simple– “Where are you from?” and “Who are you here on behalf of?”

Geoff said, “We use the word clouds as a warm-up. It gets the code in their phones, and helps them join the conversation. Everyone can text.” These warm-ups help the audience feel confident and comfortable with responding to the more important polls to come. Plus, it’s fun to watch the top responses dwarf the others as the word cloud fills with answers from the crowd.

After the warm-up Geoff moved on to a multiple choice poll, asking how long each delegate had been part of the energy sector. He displayed the results as a bar graph:

That helped the facilitators and the three keynote speakers get a better idea of the knowledge and experience level of the audience in front of them. Then they got right to the heart of the issue.

Three experts target big questions

C4CE snagged three amazing leaders in renewable energy for the Community Energy Congress. One was Ivor Frischneckt, CEO of ARENA. Another was Arno Zengle, mayor of a German town of 2,600 residents that produces 300% more green energy than it needs. The third was Simon Holmes à Court, Director of Hepburn Wind.

Geoff knew the keynote speakers’ time at the congress was woefully limited, so he wanted to make sure they were speaking directly to the toughest issues the delegates faced. To help make that happen, he used one poll, maybe the most important poll of the entire conference. He displayed a simple polling code titled “Emergent questions”. Then he opened it up as a free response poll.

The audience texted in a steady stream of questions and insights for the presenters. As each speaker gave his presentation, more questions rolled in. Geoff said one would start talking, and the other two speakers would watch the poll and mentally prepare what they would say when their turns came.

Honing in on the number one problem

According to Geoff, “The key theme of the delegates’ questions was how to get around barriers– specifically how to finance a project and get capital.” The first speaker, Simon, completely changed course mid presentation to answer that problem, announcing, “I’m going to change what I was going to say, because what you’re really interested in is this. So here’s how you overcome that barrier.”

Geoff said, “The speakers were able to spend more time talking about what was important to the audience. They were able to sharpen their presentations in the moment, and hone in on the questions and topics they were seeing.”

That one poll effectively turned the keynote speakers into mind readers, who could turn on a dime to respond to the concerns of the crowd. Geoff said the keynote speakers were able to work as a team to help the delegates get the answers they needed. “You’re able to understand your audience, and deliver a story that resonates.”

And the presenters’ reaction? “That was terrific.”

Tapping the expertise of the crowd

Geoff and the keynote speakers ended up using the question poll to mine information from the crowd as well. “When somebody would ask a question about state or government policy, we were able to turn it around and find an audience member who could answer it.”

It made the crowd of 300 feel a little more like a round table discussion group, and a little less like a passive audience. It also opened up the possibility of a breakthrough idea from the people in the seats. “You’re always looking for those aha! moments and insights, getting feedback and stories and lessons learned,” Geoff said. “And when you use polling, even introverts get to have their questions surface, and their input gets validated.”

Geoff sums up his experience: “If you’re going to service the needs of a large group of people, you need something that allows them to have a voice. Poll Everywhere is just a small part of the facilitation approach, but it allows me to see what’s on the mind of a large group and respond in the moment.”