Assistants run the logistics nobody else wants to chase: when the leadership team can meet, what everyone eats, who is coming, which venue. Most of that used to be a thread of forty replies you had to tally by hand. A poll tallies it for you and gives the thread a deadline.
These polls have one thing in common: you need an answer from specific people by a specific
time. That makes close after and reminders (Premium) the settings that do the most work.
Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.
Choice poll. Offsite dates for the leadership channel, with a nudge before it closes.
/poll "Leadership offsite: which windows work?" "In three weeks" "In four weeks" "In five weeks" close after 2 days remind 3 hours before closing
Premium: closing automatically, reminders
Close automatically: after 2 daysReminder: 3 hours before closing
Choice poll. Posts tomorrow morning, closes before the catering cut-off.
/poll "Team lunch today: pick one" "Thai green curry" "Chicken burrito bowl" "Falafel wrap" "Mushroom risotto" limit 1 close after 3 hours schedule tomorrow 9am
Premium: vote limits, closing automatically, scheduled posting
Limit votes: 1 per personClose automatically: after 3 hoursScheduled: posts tomorrow 9am
Q&A. All-hands questions, anonymous, sorted by upvotes.
/poll "Questions for the all-hands. Upvote the ones you want answered." q&a anonymous
Free
Anonymous
Choice poll. A headcount without a Maybe option.
/poll "Summer party: are you coming?" "Yes" "Yes, plus one" "No" limit 1 close after 7 days
Premium: vote limits, closing automatically
Limit votes: 1 per personClose automatically: after 7 days
Post the date options in a private channel with just the attendees, with multiple choice
on, so each person ticks every window that works. A
private channel keeps the
conversation out of the wider company. Add close after 2 days and a reminder a few
hours before it closes. Executives answer polls the way they answer email: in batches,
when nudged.
Once you have dates, a second poll picks the venue. See the offsite location template.
For catered lunch, schedule the poll (Premium) to post in the morning and close an hour
or two before your restaurant order is due. Set limit 1 so you get one meal per person,
and keep it to the options the caterer actually offers. A dietary-needs question belongs
in a separate, standing list, not in the daily poll. The
team lunch template has variants for a team pick and individual
orders.
"Are you coming?" with "Yes", "No" and "Maybe" sounds fine and gives you a useless number, because Maybe is where everyone hides. Ask for a yes or no by a date and make the deadline the poll close. If you need a plus-one count, ask it as a separate option: "Yes, plus one". For a bigger event, the holiday party planning template covers dates, venue and dietary questions.
A q&a poll posted two days before the all-hands lets people submit questions and upvote
each other's. Hand your executive the top of the list in the order the company voted it.
Turn on anonymous if you want the hard questions. See the
all-hands questions template.
When you need to find a slot that works for a group and calendars alone don't tell you who can really make it.
/poll "Which of these times can you make for quarterly planning next week?" "Mon 10:00 UK / 05:00 ET" "Tue 15:00 UK / 10:00 ET" "Wed 16:00 UK / 11:00 ET" "Thu 14:00 UK / 09:00 ET" "None of these work" close after 1 day remind 2 hours after posting
Premium: closing automatically, reminders
When you are planning a team offsite and want the team to weigh in on where and when before you book anything.
/poll "Where should we hold the spring offsite?" "Lisbon, 2.5h flight" "The Lake District, 3h train" "Berlin, 1.5h flight" "Stay local, rent a venue" ranked close after 3 days
Premium: closing automatically
When you are organising a team lunch or a food order and need a decision before someone has to book or order.
/poll "Where should we go for team lunch on Friday?" "Pizza" :pizza: "Tacos" :taco: "Sushi" :sushi: "Ramen" :ramen: limit 1 close after 2 hours
Premium: vote limits, closing automatically
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.
/poll "Questions for Thursday all-hands. Ask anything, upvote what you want answered." q&a anonymous
Free
When you are organising an end-of-year party and want the date, format and details settled by the people who will be there.
/poll "Which dates could you make for the holiday party?" "Thursday, second week of December" "Friday, second week of December" "Thursday, third week of December" "None of these" close after 3 days remind 1 day before closing
Premium: closing automatically, reminders
Yes, with schedule (Premium) at the end of the poll text, for example
schedule tomorrow 9am. See how to schedule a poll.
Leave it out. Offer "Yes" and "No" with limit 1 (Premium) and a close date, and treat
anyone who has not voted by the close as a no.
Yes, on Premium. The poll's creator can export results as a CSV; see the export article linked below.
When you are organising a team lunch or a food order and need a decision before someone has to book or order.
When you are planning a team offsite and want the team to weigh in on where and when before you book anything.
A scheduled poll is written now and posted later, at a time when people will see it: Monday at 9am rather than Friday at 6pm. Simple Poll can schedule a poll from the /poll text or from the poll form. Scheduling is a Premium feature, though it also works on Free for the whole of December.
By default, a Simple Poll lets each person pick as many options as they like. That's right for "which days can you make?" and wrong for "which date should we pick?". A vote limit caps how many options each person can choose: limit 1 for single choice, limit 2 or more for "pick your top two". Vote limits are a Premium feature.
On a remote team, Slack is the office, and a lot of what an office does for free has to be asked for on purpose: who is around when, how people are doing, where to meet up once a year. Polls are how you ask without scheduling another call.
Simple Poll is the #1 polls and surveys app for Slack. 945,000+ teams use it. Free to start: type /poll and your first poll is live.