Live Q&A for hackathons

The rest of the event
Check-in, keynote energy, and demo-day reactions are on live engagement for hackathons. Screenshot setup is the hackathon how-to. This page stays on questions.

Asking from a phone

Participants already have a phone out. They scan the session QR code or open the link. There is no app to install and no account to create. On Ask they submit a question of up to 200 characters. If they skip the name, it shows as Anonymous.

The list under the form is sorted by votes. Someone can upvote a question once from that browser, which is how a repeated Wi-Fi problem outranks a single side comment. They can still ask their own question after voting.

What the mentor or speaker sees

While slides are up, the present view keeps a panel on the right titled Top Questions. It shows up to five unanswered questions, highest votes first. Dismissing one marks it answered so the next question can take the slot. A full Q&A tab opens in a separate window if you want the longer list.

For the room, project the live wall. That wall sorts the same questions by votes, with the current leader highlighted. People who are not on stage can follow which question is about to be answered.

Mentor hours and demo pitches

A mentor hour and a demo pitch are the same mechanism on different sessions. Run the mentor block as its own talk if those questions should not sit on top of the opening keynote. During pitches, the audience can ask from the same Ask tab while reactions run separately on React. Reactions are described in live emoji reactions for talks.

When you end the session, the questions are saved on the talk as Q&A history, with a question count. Attendees still on the link then see the feedback form. That handoff is how speakers get live audience feedback.