The right (way) to vote – part 1

right way to vote: photograph of conference attendees sitting in front of tables, raising their hands to vote

The right way to vote

When and how did you first learn to vote? Probably in school by raising your hand. This time-honored method of polling an audience may seem straightforward, but I frequently see presenters who don’t use this simple participation technique correctly. Here’s how to do it right.

  1. Make sure you list all the possible choices you’re offering before you poll. If you’re asking an “only-one-of-these-answers-is-right” question, providing all options in advance helps to reduce the natural hesitation to pick the early “correct” answer when you haven’t heard all the alternatives.
  2. Next, ask if the alternatives you’re giving are clear and complete, and give the audience a chance to clarify the choices you’ve provided or incorporate additional potential answers you’ve overlooked.
  3. Now it’s time to ask for a show of hands. Remember that because you’re at the front of the room you can see the response better than anyone in the audience except, perhaps, the people in the back row. It’s frustrating for audience members to take the trouble to vote and not be informed of the group’s response. Present each answer in turn and give people time to respond. After each answer, estimate the proportion of the audience that has hands raised and give that feedback to the audience, e.g. “About half of you prefer bacon.”

Yes-No voting with no abstentions

If you need a yes-no vote with abstaining not an option, use stand voting. Ask everyone in favor/agreement to stand. (If any audience member is unable to stand, have them raise their hand.) Then say “Everyone standing sit, everyone sitting stand.” If you’re looking for unanimity, ask anyone now standing to explain what they feel they can’t commit to, and, if necessary, the group can work on an agreement as to how to proceed.

In part 2 of this post, I’ll describe another right way to vote: Roman voting.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *