Why Real-Time Polling Beats Post-Event Surveys Every Time
You just delivered a presentation to 200 people. Two days later, you send out a feedback survey. Twenty people respond. That's a 10% response rate — and even those twenty are answering from memory, not from experience.
This is the fundamental flaw with post-event surveys: they measure memory, not reality.
The problem with "after the fact"
Post-event surveys are plagued by well-documented biases:
Recency bias — people disproportionately remember the end of the event
Selection bias — only the most satisfied or most dissatisfied tend to respond
Low response rates — typically 10-30%, leaving you with an incomplete picture
Memory distortion — how someone felt in the moment vs. how they recall it days later can be strikingly different
Real-time polling captures the truth
When you ask a question during the event — while the topic is live, while the energy is in the room — you get something fundamentally different: authentic, unfiltered, in-the-moment sentiment.
Response rates jump to 70-90% because you're not asking people to go out of their way. They're already there, already engaged, and the barrier is just a tap on their phone.
You can act on it immediately
Perhaps the biggest advantage: real-time feedback is actionable right now. If 80% of the room says they're confused about a concept, you can address it before moving on. If energy is dipping, you can see it in the data and switch gears.
Post-event surveys tell you what went wrong after it's too late to fix it. Real-time polling lets you course-correct in the moment.
It doesn't have to be one or the other
The smartest presenters use both — real-time polls for in-the-moment insights and engagement, and a brief post-event survey for reflective feedback. But if you had to choose one, the data is clear: real-time wins.
Making the switch
Getting started with real-time polling is surprisingly simple. With a tool like Glór, you:
Create your event and polls in minutes
Share a join code — audience members open it on any device
Display results live on your presentation screen
Download results afterward for analysis
No setup fees, no hardware, no app installs. Just genuine, real-time feedback from the people who matter most — your audience.
