PSA: You can use animated GIFs in polls

There’s a special monitor at Poll Everywhere HQ that shows publicly-shared, live polls from all over the world.

Some polls are simple (“What is the capital of Yemen?”), others are strange (“Give me two reasons why Batman looks like a superhero.”), but all of them give us a tinge of pride when we see the questions you’re asking.

There’s just one thing missing: GIFs, animated GIFs. These video snippets can illustrate ideas too complex for mere words, and you can use them anywhere you’d use static images. This includes the background, response options, or even in the question bar. Here’s how you can add some extra, animated pizazz to your questions.

How to use GIFs in your polls

Add GIFs to a new poll:

  • Sign in to Poll Everywhere
  • 1. Click Create in the top-left corner
  • 2. Enter your question
  • 3. Choose Multiple Choice (or Ranking)
  • 4. Click the camera icon in any answer field

After clicking that camera icon, select the GIF file you wish to upload. And that’s it. Poll Everywhere automatically adds it to your poll as one of the response options. Finish by clicking Create and you’re off to the races. You can use GIFs (and other images) as response options for multiple choice and ranking polls. You can also use them as clickable images by selecting Clickable Image when making your poll.

See Poll Everywhere’s different question types

Add GIFs to an existing poll:

  • Sign in to Poll Everywhere
  • 1. Click the title of any previously-created poll
  • 2. Click the paintbrush icon in the top-right corner
  • 3. The Visual settings menu will appear, from here you can…
    • Select Background to change the background (see below)
    • Select Title to display an image in the title bar
    • Select Instruction view settings to display an image to participants

In each of the sections listed above, you’ll see a button labeled Choose. Click that button to upload an animated GIF or other image to your poll. If you don’t like your selection, no problem, just click Delete to undo your choice.

Adding and removing images takes just a few clicks, and your changes are automatically saved, so feel free to experiment with different styles until you find one that’s perfect for your question. Going the extra mile for your polls won’t go unnoticed; people love cracking a smile, even while they’re polling.

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See the questions people are asking with Poll Everywhere.

Animated GIFs courtesy of GIPHY