Example polls
Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.
Q&A. Anonymous, upvoted questions for an all-hands, collection closing two days later.
/poll "What questions do you have for the leadership team before the all-hands?" q&a anonymous close after 2 days
Premium: closing automatically
AnonymousClose automatically: after 2 days
Q&A. A named AMA to introduce a new leader.
/poll "Ask our new VP of Engineering anything" q&a
Free
Q&A. A focused AMA on one change, open for a day.
/poll "Questions for the security team about the new laptop policy" q&a anonymous close after 1 day
Premium: closing automatically
AnonymousClose automatically: after 1 day
What makes an AMA work
- Collect questions ahead of time. A live thread favours the fastest typists. Opening questions a day or two early gives everyone a chance, across time zones too.
- Let people vote questions up. The group decides what matters, and the host can't quietly skip the hard one at the top.
- Allow anonymous questions for leadership AMAs. The questions people most want answered are often the ones they won't put their name to.
- Answer the top questions in order, including the uncomfortable ones. Skipping them is noticed.
- Post answers back for people who missed it.
Running an AMA in Slack
Simple Poll has a q&a poll type for this. People post questions and upvote each other's,
and the most upvoted rise to the top. It takes no options. Add anonymous so questions
aren't attributed, and close after (Premium) to stop collecting questions at a set time
before the session.
During the session, work down the list from the top. For a Slack-only AMA, answer each question in the thread. Large AMAs work best in their own channel, so the questions don't get buried.
Questions
Can AMA questions be anonymous in Slack?
Yes. Add anonymous to a q&a poll and questions aren't shown with names.
How long should questions stay open?
One to two days before the session is usually enough, and lets people in other time zones add questions.
Related
- How to run an AMA in Slack
An AMA, short for "ask me anything", works best when questions arrive before the session and the team decides which ones get answered first. Simple Poll's q&a poll does exactly that: people post questions, everyone upvotes the ones they want answered, and the most upvoted rise to the top. Add anonymous and people ask what they actually want to know.
- All-hands questions poll for Slack
In the days before an all-hands, town hall or leadership AMA, so the questions people actually care about get asked, including the uncomfortable ones.
- What is an anonymous poll?
An anonymous poll records votes without showing who cast them: everyone sees the totals, and nobody can see which person picked which answer. In Simple Poll that includes the person who created the poll.
- What is a slash command?
A slash command is a message that starts with a forward slash, like `/poll`, and runs an app or a built-in Slack action instead of posting text to the channel.