PULTEVENT
Association congress polling: 6 member polls for congresses and AGMs
Association congress polling is how a board finds out what several hundred members in a hall actually think, before the formal business and after it. Which initiatives should get next year's attention, whether a proposed policy has support, what members want to ask the chair. This page covers opinion polling from phones. One thing first, stated plainly: none of this replaces the formal, legally binding vote.
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An association congress or annual general meeting has two layers. The formal layer is governed by your articles and by law: quorum, proxies, eligibility checks, counted ballots, minutes. The informal layer is everything around it: sessions where the board wants a read of the room, debates on proposals, questions members were never going to ask at a microphone, a sense of priorities for the coming year.
PULTEVENT is built for that second layer. Members scan a QR code on the hall screen and answer in the phone browser, with no app and no registration. The organizer runs it from a laptop and shows results on the projector. The polls are non-binding by design. For resolutions that need a quorum, verified voters and a protocol, use your formal voting procedure and treat these results as a strong advisory signal.
6 member polling formats for a congress day
1 Priority setting with a points budget
The board lists five to eight candidate initiatives for the coming year: a training program, a lobbying campaign, a new regional chapter, a revised membership fee structure. Each member receives, say, 100 points and spreads them across the cards. The initiatives rank by total points.
How to run it. Name the currency something sober, like priority points. The organizer sets the name and starting amount in the control panel.
A yes or no on each item produces a wall of yeses. A limited budget shows where members would really put their weight.
2 Straw poll on a proposal
Before a formal motion goes to the statutory vote, put two positions on screen, for and against, each with the photo and name of a member who will speak for it. Members choose a side and the split updates live during the discussion.
How to run it. Say on screen and out loud that this is an indicative poll. Put it on the slide title too, so nobody mistakes it for the vote in the minutes.
The board sees early whether a proposal will pass or needs rework, before members commit on the formal ballot.
3 Questions to the chair and the board
Members pick the addressee from a list (the president, the treasurer, the committee chairs) and send a question. The organizer chooses whether names are required, optional or hidden. Others upvote questions they share.
How to run it. For an AGM, requiring a name often suits the culture: members ask on the record. For a sensitive topic, allow anonymity and switch on pre-moderation.
The open floor stops being dominated by the same three members at the microphone, and the board answers what the majority wants to know.
4 Reactions to the annual report
While the president or the secretary general presents the year, members tap reactions: learned something, good result, agree, unclear. The side screen shows the mix growing as bubbles, without numbers.
How to run it. Replace the default reactions with your own set, for example well explained, need detail, support this, concerned. The organizer edits labels and turns individual ones on or off.
Long reports lose the room. Reactions keep members involved and show the board which sections raised doubts.
5 Committee report-back comparison
Each committee or working group presents in turn. Run a fresh reaction session for each one, and after the congress compare the charts side by side.
How to run it. Start the new session at the moment the next committee chair takes the stage, not after, or the reactions blur together.
Committees get honest, low-stakes feedback from the membership, which is hard to collect any other way.
6 Closing pulse before the formal vote
Right before the statutory business, ask one or two quick questions through the debate format: is the proposal clear, do members feel they had enough information. The result helps the chair decide whether more explanation is needed.
How to run it. Hide the result from phones until you close the round. Members answer for themselves rather than following the trend.
It gives the chair a factual reason to take ten more minutes on a point instead of rushing a vote the hall is not ready for.
Opinion, not resolution
Polls show how the hall leans. Binding decisions stay with your statutory voting procedure.
One phone, one voice
Each device counts once, and repeat attempts are refused by the server.
Questions to the board, moderated
Members send questions from their seats, and the chair's office approves which ones go to the screen.
Results you can file
Export the results after the congress for the board papers, then clear the data.
Why these polls are not a legal vote
An anonymous or semi-anonymous poll from phones cannot verify that each voter is an eligible member in good standing, that proxies are counted correctly or that the quorum is present. That is not a flaw of this particular tool; it is simply a different job. Binding resolutions, elections and amendments to your articles need a procedure that checks eligibility and produces a protocol.
What these polls give you is speed and reach. In two minutes you learn how a room of several hundred leans, which is exactly what a board needs before it drafts a motion, and what members appreciate when they feel heard between formal agenda items.
How the count stays fair
Each phone counts once in a round, and the server blocks repeat attempts. If a member's phone drops off the Wi-Fi, it returns to the same session with the choice intact. For the priority budget, members see capital, allocated and remaining, cannot overspend, and confirm a summary before submitting. They can adjust until the round is closed; after that the result is fixed.
Winners in the budget format are decided by the total number of points, and the number of members who backed each item is shown for reference. Both figures are worth putting in the board papers.
Running it in a large congress hall
You need a laptop at the tech desk connected to the main screen, with the stage window in full-screen mode, and a moderator on the control panel. Members need internet on their phones, so publish the guest Wi-Fi details on the same slide as the QR code. If the congress runs over two days, keep the QR code on the welcome slide both mornings.
The chair's script matters more than the technology. A good line: "This is a quick opinion poll, not the formal vote. Scan the code, choose, and we will look at the result together."
Mistakes to avoid
Calling a poll a vote in the program or on the slide, which invites a procedural objection. Leaving Q&A without pre-moderation at an AGM with a heated agenda item. Forgetting to close the round before reading out the result. Not testing the screen after the lunch break, when the AV team has often switched inputs for a sponsor video.
Branding and access
The member page carries the association's logo, colors and wording, which the organizer changes in the control panel without a developer. Results can be exported for the minutes of the board meeting that follows, and then cleared. Access is a monthly plan or a single payment for lifetime access, and the free demo runs for 72 hours with no card, long enough to rehearse with the secretariat.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who hosts forums, association congresses and corporate conferences. He has run over 500 events since 2014 and was named best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He built it for his own stages first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run polling at an association congress
- 1
Agree with the board which sessions get polls and label them as non-binding.
- 2
Enter the board members, debate positions and priority cards in the control panel.
- 3
Brand the member page and set name rules for questions to the board.
- 4
Rehearse with the secretariat on the hall screen and on two phones.
- 5
At the congress, show the QR code with the Wi-Fi details and explain the poll.
- 6
Close each round before announcing, then export results for the board papers.
FAQ
Can we use this for the formal AGM vote?
Do members need to install anything?
Can questions to the board require a name?
Can one member vote twice?
Can results be kept for the minutes of the board?
Where is the data stored?
How much does it cost?
See also
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