Slido at KAUST
Slido is an audience interaction tool that helps make meetings, workshops, lectures, and events more engaging. It allows presenters to collect live questions, run polls, gather feedback, and encourage participation in a simple and interactive way.
Slido is especially useful when you want to involve your audience in real time instead of relying only on one-way presentation.
When should you use Slido?
Use Slido when you want your audience to participate actively during a live session.
Good uses for Slido
- Collecting audience questions during a session
- Running live polls
- Gathering feedback in real time
- Making large sessions more interactive
- Running quizzes or knowledge checks
- Encouraging participation from people who may not want to speak aloud
Do not use Slido when
- A normal meeting chat is enough
- You need a formal survey with more complex branching or structured data collection
- You need a long-term form rather than live interaction
- The session does not need active audience engagement
What can you do with Slido?
Q&A
Collect questions from the audience during a live session and review them in one place.
Polls
Gather quick responses, opinions, or votes from the audience during a meeting or event.
Quizzes
Add a more engaging or game-like element to a session, especially for learning or training.
Word Clouds
Collect short audience responses and display common ideas visually.
Rating and Ranking
Ask participants to rate an experience or rank options based on preference.
Open Text
Gather longer written responses or free-text input from the audience.
Surveys
Gather lightweight feedback during or after a session, or collect questions for Q&A.
Best uses for Slido at KAUST
Slido can be particularly useful in:
- Town halls
- Training sessions
- Workshops
- Academic talks and lectures
- Leadership Q&A sessions
- Department or team meetings where feedback matters
How to sign in to Slido at KAUST
Slido at KAUST uses your KAUST account for sign-in.
- Open www.slido.com in your browser
- Select Log In in the top-right corner
- Select Login with Webex
- Enter your KAUST email address and continue
- Complete sign-in through the KAUST Login Service using your KAUST username and password
- Once signed in, you will arrive at the Slido home page or Hub
If you see an option for the newer version of Slido in the top-left area, use that version for the updated experience.
How participants join a Slido session
Participants do not need a Slido account to take part in a session.
- Scan the QR code shown by the presenter
- Use the direct link shared by the presenter
- Go to slido.com and enter the event code
Typical participant flow:
Presenter shows the event code, link, or QR code
Audience joins from a phone or browser
Audience submits questions or answers polls live
Anonymous participation
Slido can support anonymous participation, which can help audiences feel more comfortable asking questions or sharing honest feedback. This is especially useful in large sessions, leadership Q&A events, or settings where people may hesitate to speak publicly.
Before your session
A little preparation makes Slido much easier to use during a live session.
Prepare these items before you begin:
- Define the purpose of the interaction
- Decide whether you need Q&A, polls, quizzes, or a mix
- Prepare your questions in advance
- Test how participants will join
- Decide whether moderation is needed
- Run a quick practice session if possible
- Plan when during the session you will use Slido
Creating a Slido event step by step
- Sign in to Slido
- From the Hub page, select Create a slido
- If needed, create a space for a project or shared collaboration area
- Enter the event details, including the date range and event name
- Confirm the space where the event should be created
- Once created, you become the Host of that event
- You can now add interactions and prepare the event for participants
Populating your Slido event
After creating your event, open the Interactions area from the left menu to add audience activities.
| Feature | How It Helps |
|---|
| Multiple Choice | Quickly learn audience preferences, opinions, or understanding |
| Word Cloud | Visualize repeated audience responses as a word cloud |
| Quiz | Test knowledge or add energy to a session |
| Rating | Gather quick feedback on an experience or presentation |
| Open Text | Let participants submit longer written responses |
| Ranking | Help participants prioritize options |
| Survey / Q&A-style collection | Collect audience questions live or in advance, including anonymous questions |
A simple presenter workflow
Slido works best when it is used intentionally, not dropped into the session at random.
- Introduce Slido at the start of the session
- Show the event code, link, or QR code clearly
- Run a simple warm-up poll if appropriate
- Present your content
- Pause at planned moments to collect input or review questions
- Use Q&A to collect and prioritize audience questions
- Close by reviewing results or identifying next steps
Running Slido during a session
During the session, keep the experience simple and clear for participants.
Helpful tips:
- Explain how to join before expecting people to respond
- Use clear and short poll questions
- Give people enough time to respond
- Pause to review results instead of rushing past them
- Use Slido at planned moments instead of overwhelming the session with too many interactions
Moderation and managing questions
If your session includes live Q&A, especially with a larger audience, moderation can help keep things organized and appropriate.
Why moderation helps
- Review questions before displaying them
- Filter out duplicate or inappropriate questions
- Highlight the most useful questions
- Keep the Q&A session more focused and manageable
For large sessions
Consider having one person present while another person moderates questions and monitors audience input.
Sharing your Slido event
Hosts can share a Slido event from the top-right area of the event screen.
Sharing methods include:
- Copying and sharing a link
- Generating and sharing a QR code
Hosts can also change the event code and password if needed.
Slido can also be launched directly with PowerPoint or Google Slides, which can make live presenting smoother.
Live results and audience feedback
Slido responses update live as people participate. This allows presenters to react in real time, understand the room better, and adjust the discussion based on what the audience is thinking or asking.
After the session
After your event or meeting, take a few minutes to review the results and capture anything useful.
- Review poll responses
- Look at the questions that were submitted
- Follow up on unanswered questions if needed
- Use what you learned to improve future sessions
Exporting results
After a session, Slido results such as poll responses, Q&A questions, and engagement data can be exported when needed. This can be useful for documenting feedback, capturing event outcomes, or reviewing participation later.
Best practices
Do
- Introduce Slido clearly at the start of the session
- Use short, clear poll questions
- Plan where Slido fits into the session flow
- Use moderation for larger audiences
- Test the audience join process before the event
- Use Slido to support the session, not take it over
Avoid
- Launching a session without testing it
- Using too many polls in one session
- Writing unclear or overly complex questions
- Forgetting to explain how people should join
- Ignoring moderation in large or sensitive sessions
- Rushing through results before the audience can respond
Slido etiquette
Setting simple expectations can improve the quality of audience interaction.
- Ask participants to submit clear questions
- Encourage people to vote for similar existing questions instead of repeating them
- Keep comments respectful and relevant to the session
- Use Slido to support meaningful participation, not distract from the purpose of the session
