PowerPoint doesn’t have a built-in polling feature. And trying to fake one with slide animations doesn’t cut it.
If you want real-time audience input during your presentation, here are two great (and simple) ways to add a live poll to your PPT deck:
Both options let your audience respond from their phones, and you’ll see the results live (though one is significantly easier).
Let’s get into it.
This involves 3 steps:
As they vote and engage with your slides, results appear live on screen. No app, no downloads.
Now, here’s how to actually set it all up, step by step:
Before you can turn your slides into a live poll experience, you’ll need a Slides With Friends account (signing up is free). Just go to slideswith.com and hit Start for free.
Heads up: Uploading PowerPoint files is a premium feature, but you can explore with 3 free uploads on a free plan before upgrading.
Slides With Friends will convert your static slides into the platform. You can re-order them, add new ones, or customize each slide further.
Tip: If you want a faster start, use one of the tons of pre-made deck templates and then replace the sample slides with your own imported presentation.
Now comes the fun part: adding interaction.
Each audience interaction is its own slide type in the editor. To add one:
Each of these slide types is placed like a normal slide. For example, if you want to poll your audience right after explaining something on Slide 5, just add a poll slide as Slide 6.
Each interactive slide is editable. You can drag it around, change fonts, colors, themes, or add media to keep everything on-brand.
Once your deck is ready, it’s time to go live with your poll!
Responses come in real-time. You’ll see them appear instantly on your screen as a colorful graph, word cloud, or rating display — whatever you chose when creating the poll.
There’s no switching tabs, no leaving PowerPoint behind. The experience feels seamless for your audience.
When your session is done, you’ll be able to review and save all the responses.
Slides With Friends saves:
You can download everything in a .csv format for recordkeeping or performance reviews.
It’s a great way to turn presentations into data-rich, interactive experiences, especially useful for educators, trainers, HR teams, and facilitators who need insights or evidence of participation.
Now know how to turn a standard PowerPoint into an interactive polling session that actually invites your audience to take part.
No more rhetorical “Raise your hand if…” moments. No more dead eyes on slide 4.
To use this method, you’ll need to be on Microsoft 365 (Business or Education), and you’ll need access to the Microsoft Forms add-in in PowerPoint.
To check if you already have it:
If it’s there, great. Skip to Step 2.
If not:
The Forms button should now appear under Insert.
Now that you’ve got the add-in, it’s time to bring your poll into the presentation.
Important: Start with a completely blank slide. Once you insert a form, it becomes “locked” to that slide and can’t be moved or deleted.
You can also reuse a form you’ve already made. It’ll appear in the Forms pane under My Forms.
If you want your poll to match your slide theme, Microsoft Forms lets you change the participant-facing style, including background colors, images, and branding.
Just note: This only affects how the poll looks to your participants on their phones; it won’t change how it looks on your slide.
Once your poll is ready, go back to PowerPoint.
Your form will appear embedded on the slide, complete with a QR code and a short URL for participants to join.
When you reach this slide in your presentation:
Make sure to use Presenter View and the arrow keys to navigate. Clicking inside the poll can freeze navigation or trigger scroll glitches.
Also, let the form take up the full slide to avoid bugs. Avoid placing logos, shapes, or text boxes on top of the embedded poll. They may interfere with its functionality.
Not sure which option fits you best? Here's the quick guide:
Whichever route you take, you’ll end up with a more responsive, participatory audience.
Want to try it out? Start with this sample live polling deck from Slides With Friends. Free to use, fun to customize, and ready to go.