In Webex Meetings, can a host not launch the poll (if another attendee is presenting)?

[yhsu]

We typically have a 'producer' in our meetings that manages the polls as the polling coordinator. The producer is typically not sharing their screen (there are separate presenters/panelists). In Webex Events, the producer was able to do this without issue. Is this not the case in Webex Meetings? Do you need to be the one presenting to launch the poll? 

[LD1_webex]

This issue, in particular, blows my mind. I was pretty sure already that what I was about to do was a bad idea....this highlights how ridiculous it is that the host can't start, run and monitor a poll.

We hosted a webinar through Meetings last month and the presenter was not familiar with Webex at all and aside from the usuals of sharing his presentation etc he was not overly confident or skilled with the video conferencing/IT side of things. He is a great to actually present webinars, deliver training though and more than outweighs his basic tech/IT skills, or lack thereof.
So, we had 180 people logged in and he's doing his thing, sharing a presentation and talking away.
He then announces he will have a quick poll, which he had not told me in advance....so I began to panic slightly, tried to open a new poll and OF COURSE it's all grey out. So I tried to switch our roles - he becomes Host, I become Presenter.....hoping stupidly that since he was already presenting, it could be a smooth background transition.......but I was wrong.

Immediately his presentation vanishes and we return to grid view.......though only 25 folk showed on that screen it felt like 25 hundred!

To make matters even worse....than a very flustered, unhappy host dropping an F-bomb and me feeling like 180 sets of eyes were firmly on me the host who I'd just unseated had his audio go bonkers.......can't describe it but it was not good!

WebEx....come ON!!! If you have to give just the Host or the Presenter permission to start a Poll in a meeting, which is stupid in the first place....is it not more likely the host is going to be more familiar and comfortable to handle such a thing?????

Can't believe this is still unresolved.......

Should point out though, I do like Webex quite a bit

[BGR]

Hi - there is a request made by someone that addresses this issue, please vote for it as it would be so much easier if the Host could start the polls. https://ciscocollabcustomer.ideas.aha.io/ideas/WXCUST-I-2989

A good work around to your situation is to download the Webex Poll Editor from your Webex website and make the poll there and then grab the presenter ball and go to File > Open and Share Poll then select the poll file from the popup window and load it quickly.

[ADKCourage]

If there is a place to make a suggestion, I highly encourage this to become one. As a trainer, I also have the same issue. I have others presenting frequently and I would like to moderate chat and facilitate attentiveness with polls. I can't stop the presenter's presentation for a poll. It would be distracting to the presenter and show poorly on the recordings.

Thanks!

[Pete_Mc]

Yes, you can send your feedback here: https://ciscocollabcustomer.ideas.aha.io/ 

There are a number of comments in there about the Polls.  Be sure to vote for all of them.

[Kathy N.]

Someone else was speaking but we didn't have anyone sharing content.  I was only in the meeting to manage the poll so I should never have been the presenter.  I was also muted most of the time but did briefly unmute just before I made the poll live.  I had already uploaded the poll about 15 minutes before that though.

[Pete_Mc]

Yea, that's the catch. 

Next time you're in a room before or after a meeting, have someone share their screen.  Then see if your Polls still work. 

[Pete_Mc]

Was anyone else designated as the Presenter?  You may have been a Co-Host, but also the Presenter at that point.  This seems to be the issue. 

Unlike Events, in Meetings appears that to many functions are attached to the Presenter Roll.  So even the Host cannot do obvious functions like running Polls. 

We've also had issues with Annotating where we'd like the Host or C/H to be able to answer the pop-up for a Participant to be able to Annotate.  But ONLY the Presenter can do this function, similar to Polls.  10-15 years ago this may have made sense.  But even before everyone going virtual this year, that simplistic view of how a meeting is run now days is really out of touch. 

[Kathy N.]

In early November I ran a poll in a Webex meeting where the host made me the co-host.  As co-host I was able to open the Poll Panel, upload a poll I had pre-created with the Poll Editor application.  It let me open the Poll, monitor replies and close the poll as well as look at responses.  I noticed the comments above say this isn't available so I wonder if an update has disabled this ability.  

[Pete_Mc]

Thanks, but that's not actually a work around.  Won't the Presenters slides go away as soon as the Presenter Role is taken away from the person presenting?  Then they will have to open the Share again for their PPT when they are given the Presenter Role back again.  

Depending the meeting setting it might be okay to have the distraction of the changes.  But in most of the clients I work with, it would not be a good choice.

The best and quickest fix is to allow the Host/Co-Host to be able to show a Poll, the same as in Events.  Or to allow two Presenter Rolls and lock out the various functions to a single use.  So the system would know to only allow one Screen/App share at a time, but would allow another assigned Presenter to share the Polls or do some other function.

I hope the fix comes soon.  Since it exists in Events, it should be a no brainer to add to Meetings.  Who knows, maybe the same code from Events is in Meetings and just needs to be turned on??..... 

[Goswin Weemaes]

@Pete_Mc , there is currently no ETA for this...

For the moment I can only suggest the following workaround: when it's time to run the poll, the host of the meetings could take back the presenter role and open the poll from its PC. By doing this, nothing has to be done by external guest speaker.

[Pete_Mc]

Goswin...  Any idea when this issue will be resolved?  With all the virtual training going on these days, the Host/Co-Host really needs to be able to support the Presenter in all aspects of the meeting. 

Often the Presenter is a Guest Speaker and should not be asked to help with company Polls.  They may be aware of the Polls and have worked them into their presentation, but loading and running the Polls may be something they have never done before.  Also a bit of an ask of a Guest Speaker. 

I hope this oversight can be resolved quickly.

[Goswin Weemaes]

@yhsu , correct, with Webex Meetings it's the Presenter who can open a poll.