Using Notes, Chat, Q&A, and Poll Pods

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Learn how to use the various Adobe Connect pods to collaborate better in your virtual meetings and remote sessions.

In a virtual session, the participants collaborate and share content. Adobe Connect enables collaboration in a myriad of ways; for example taking notes, chatting, question-answer sessions, polling, sharing content, and so on.

You can share many supported file types, documents and presentations. You can also share your desktop screen, whiteboards, weblinks and files. For more information, see Share content in a meeting. Take notes in a meeting.

Hosts and presenters use the Notes pod to take meeting notes that all attendees can see. The meeting notes remain visible in the pod throughout the meeting or until a presenter edits them or displays different notes. A host can hide the notes pod or switch to a different room layout that does not include the notes pod.

When you type a message in the notes pod in a particular layout, the same text appears in other layouts that contain the same pod. With the add new notes option, you can create a unique instance of notes pod that appears only in one layout.

Hosts and presenters can use the Notes pod in several ways:

• Create a single, persistent note that is visible to attendees during the entire meeting.
• Create multiple notes pods to display different notes.
• Share the contents of a Notes pod through email or export to a text file.

Create a Notes pod

A host can create and display multiple Notes pods, each with its own text. You can use different Notes pods for different layouts and meetings.

1. From the menu bar at the top of the stage, select pods > note > Add New Notes or choose 'New Note' from the Notes pod options menu.
2. If necessary, rename, move, and resize the Notes pod.

Add a note the notes pod

1. As a host or presenter, click anywhere inside the Notes pod.
2. Type the text that you want to appear in the Notes pod.

Edit note text

A host, presenter, or participant with enhanced rights can edit the text in a Notes pod. (See Assign enhanced participant rights.) All changes are immediately visible to attendees.

1. Click in the Notes pod to select the text that you want to edit.
2. Edit the text, change size, style and color using the options at the top of the pod.

Select which Notes pods to display

A host or presenter can choose which notes to display.

1. Do either of the following:
   • Choose Pods > Notes. Select the name of the note that you want to display.
   • Click the menu icon in a Notes pod, click Select Notes, and select the name of the note you want to display.

Rename a Notes pod

If you are a host, you can rename a notes pod after creating it.

1. Do either of the following:
   • Double-click the note name in the pod and enter a new one.
   • Choose Pods > Manage Pods, select the Notes pod, and click Rename.

Delete a Notes pod

1. Choose Pods > Manage Pods.
2. Select the Notes pod and click Delete.

Export notes to a text file or email

Hosts can export the contents of a Notes pod.

1. Click the pod menu icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Select Export Note, and then select Save As RTF to export the contents in a text file. Alternatively, select 'Email Note' to send the contents to recipients over email.

Chat in meetings

Use the chat pod to communicate with other attendees while a meeting is in progress. If you have a question and do not want to disturb the meeting flow, you can send a chat message to another meeting participant. For example, when you first enter a meeting room you can introduce yourself by sending a chat message to everyone in the room.

As a presenter, you can use multiple Chat pods simultaneously. Chat pods can display content either to everyone or only to presenters (in the Presenter Only area).

Chat pod content persists in a meeting room until deleted. If you want to preserve the content for future use, send the content through email. 

Send public or private chat messages

Use the Chat pod to compose a chat message and address it to a specific participant, to all presenters at the meeting or to all attendees.

1. By default, everyone can view chat messages. To do a private chat with a few participants, click the menu icon in the upper-right corner of the Chat pod. Choose Start Chat With, and then select Hosts, Presenters, or specific attendees.

At the bottom of the Chat pod, tabs appear that let you view different conversations.

In the HTML client, to privately chat with a few participants, click the menu icon in the upper-right corner of the Chat pod. Choose Hosts, Presenters or specific attendees.

At the top of the Chat pod, tabs let you view different conversations.

2. Click the text box in the chat pod and compose your message.
3. Do one of the following:
   • Click Send Message to the right of the text box. In the HTML client, click Send. 
   • Press Enter or Return.

Your name, the addressee's name and your message appear in the Chat pod.

Use sound alerts for new chat messages

The Chat pod can generate a sound to alert a user, if two chat messages are more than five seconds apart. This option is available individually for each chat pod and is specific to a meeting room. It is remembered across all the meeting sessions of a meeting room.

Enable sound alerts in the Chat pod for new messages.

1. To activate the chat notifications, click chat sounds from context menu of the chat pod.
2. In the HTML client, use the Sound Off/On toggle option from the context menu.

Enable sound alerts in the HTML client Chat pod for new messages.

Clear messages from a Chat pod

Chat pod messages are persistent and are available in different instances of the same meeting room. When an empty Chat pod is required in a meeting, a Host can irreversibly clear all messages for all attendees. Hosts can also hide a Chat pod and create a new pod. You cannot retrieve the cleared chat messages.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Chat pod, click the menu icon.
2. Select Clear Chat.

Disable private chat between participants

By default, two participants can chat privately. As a host or presenter, you can disable this option and prevent private chat.

1. Choose Meeting > Preferences.
2. Select Chat Pod from the list on the left.
3. Deselect Enable Private Chat For Participants.

Use chat notifications for presenters and hosts

If you are a host or presenter using the Adobe Connect application for desktop, chat notifications let you communicate with your audience while you are presenting. The meeting window is minimized or maximized to full screen, concealing the Chat pod. If an attendee sends a message while you are presenting a notification appears in the lower-right corner of the screen. You can see the sender’s name and the first few words of the message in the notification window. By default, chat notifications are enabled. However, you can disable the display of notifications during presentations.

1. Choose Meeting > Preferences.
2. Select Chat Pod from the list on the left.
3. From the pop-up menu, choose either disable or a time duration to display each notification.

Format chat text

1. In the upper-right corner of the Chat pod, click the menu icon , and select any of the following:

Text Size

Changes size in your view only.

My Chat Color

Changes your text color in the view of all participants making your remarks stand out.

Show Timestamps

For hosts only, displays the date and time of chat entries.

2. If you are an attendee, you have the following formatting options when you click the menu icon:
   • Text Size
   • My Chat Color

If you are attending a meeting using the HTML client, these options are available in the context menu.

Email and save chat messages

Hosts and presenters can email a chat history for future reference.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Chat pod, click the menu icon.
2. From the menu select email chat history.

Reverse the order of reading messages by a screen reader

For users that use JAWS or some other accessibility tool, they can read the messages in the reverse order by selecting Reverse order of messages. Messages in the Chat pod are read starting from the latest to the first, instead of the other way round.

Questions and answers in meetings

You can use a Q&A pod to answer questions posed by attendees. When a presenter answers a question, the question and answer appear as pairs in the Q&A pod.

Note:  Hosts can give participants enhanced rights, letting them answer questions as well. See Assign enhanced participant rights.

Here are some examples in which the Q&A pod is helpful:

• During a large meeting, questions are added to a queue on the Q&A pod while the speaker presents. After completing the presentation, the speaker reviews the messages, applies a filter, and begins answering the questions.
• A meeting moderator answers logistical questions but forwards technical inquiries to an engineer, who is presenting.
• A meeting moderator returns certain replies to the sender only. Replies that are relevant to all attendees are sent to everyone in the meeting.

The Presenter view of a Q&A pod.

The Participant view of a Q&A pod.

View the Q&A pod as participants do

By default, Hosts and Presenters see the Q&A pod with extra controls, but you can quickly see questions with answers as participants do.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Q&A pod, click either of the following:

Presenter View displays extra filtering and assignment controls visible only to hosts and presenters.

Participant View displays the simple list of questions and answers that participants see, and the ones received from individuals.

Move the Q&A pod presenter view to Presenter Only Area

1. In the upper-right corner of the Q&A pod, click the menu icon.
2. Choose Move Presenter View to POA.

Note:

To return the Q&A pod to the Share area, in the Presenters Only Area click and choose Hide.

Submit a question in the Q&A pod

1. In the Participant View of the Q&A pod, type your question in the text box at bottom.

You can add clickable hyperlinks in questions.

2. To the right of the text box, click the Send Question button, or press return. In the HTML client, click send or press return.

Answer questions using the Q&A pod

1. Select an incoming question from the list.
2. Type your answer in the text box at the bottom of the pod.
3. Click one of the following buttons in the lower-right corner of the Q&A pod:

Send to all 

Sends the answer to all meeting attendees.

Send privately 

Sends the answer only to the attendee who sent the question.

Answered questions appear in italics with a check mark. Icons, in the top bar and besides the names, indicate that a question is assigned to you.

When answering questions, you can include clickable hyperlinks in the answers.

Assign a question to a specific presenter

You can assign questions to presenters with specific expertise, including yourself, preventing others from answering.

1. In the Presenter View of the Q&A pod, select the question from the incoming messages list.
2. Select a presenter name from the 'assign to' pop‑up menu.

Note: Presenters can reassign questions to other presenters or choose none to cancel assignment.

Indicators for assigned questions.

Show questions with different statuses

As a host or presenter, you can add a filter to the queue of questions in a Q&A pod to view specific questions while hiding others. You can also forward a question to another presenter to answer.

1. In the Presenter View of the Q&A pod, click the pop‑up menu in the upper-left corner.
2. Select one of the following:

Show All Questions

Displays all questions that you have received starting either with a new pod or from the last time the pod was cleared.

Show Open Questions

Displays all unanswered questions not assigned to anyone.

Show Answered Questions

Displays all questions that have been answered.

Show My Questions

Displays only unanswered questions that have been assigned to you. A question answered by someone else, can still be reassigned to a user and then shows in their list.

Delete individual questions

You can delete questions to clean up the Presenter View. (Deleted questions and associated answers remain in the Participant View.)

1. In the Presenter View of the Q&A pod, select a question.
2. Click the Delete icon.

Clear all questions

To remove all content from the presenter and participant views, do the following:

1. In the upper-right corner of the Q&A pod, click the menu icon.
2. Select Clear All Questions.

Hide attendee names for questions

By default, attendee names appear next to submitted questions and provided answers. Hosts and presenters can hide those names in Participant View.

1. Choose Meeting > Preferences.
2. In Q&A pod preferences, deselect show submitter name or show presenter name options or both.

Save or email Q&A contents

1. In Q&A pod, click the menu icon.
2. Choose Export Q&A Log, and then select either Save As RTF or Email Q & A.

Send message from the Q&A pod

From the Presenter view of the Q&A pod, you can send a message to specific attendees or groups. This message appears in the participant view of the Q&A pod and is visible only to the specified attendees or groups.

The message has a different format that distinguishes it from the regular Q&A messages that are visible to all attendees.

To send a message to specific attendees or groups, select send message and then select appropriate attendees or groups to send the message.

Poll attendees

Hosts and presenters can use the Poll pod to create questions or polls, for participants and to view the results. Only hosts and presenters control poll management and how polls appear to other meeting participants. Hosts can also cast votes.

Polls are useful during a meeting if you want instant feedback on what is being presented. Polls can also be used at the end of a meeting to find out if participants felt the meeting, content, and presenters were high quality.

Create a poll

1. If the Poll pod is not displayed, click the Pods menu and select Poll > Add New Poll.
2. In the upper left of the pod, choose Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers, or Short Answer.
3. Enter a question into the Poll pod. Then enter one or more answers if your choice is Multiple Choice or Multiple Answers. If your choice is short Answer, you need not enter any answer.
4. Click Open.

Close the answer period for a poll

1. At the upper right of the poll pod, click End Poll. (Results are sent to Adobe Connect server).
2. To restart the poll, click reopen.

Edit a poll

Note:  If you edit an open poll, current results are lost.

1. Click Prepare in the upper-left corner of the Poll pod.
2. Edit the text.
3. Click Open.

View poll results

As a host or presenter, you can view poll results. These results are updated in real time as participants continue to cast or change their votes.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Poll pod, click the menu icon.
2. Select Results Format, and choose a display option: percentages, numbers or both. The overall responses appear in the Poll pod. To view responses from individual participants, click View Votes.

Show poll results to participants

By default, only hosts and presenters can see poll results, but you can show them to all participants by doing the following:

1. In the upper-right corner of the poll pod, click the menu icon.
2. Select Broadcast Results.

Navigate among polls

You can create multiple polls and navigate among them quickly and easily.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Poll pod, click the menu icon.
2. Choose select poll and select a poll name.

Clear poll answers

1. In the upper-right corner of the poll pod, click the menu icon.
2. Select clear all answers.

Remove or delete polls

Hosts can either hide a poll for a meeting instance or delete it completely. The polls you create in a meeting room are persistent and are available across all instances of the meeting. To re-use a poll in a later meeting, hide the pod and clear the results before re-using.

Follow these steps to delete a poll:

1. In the meeting room, click Pods > Manage Pods.
2. Select one or more poll pods and click Delete.

(Information last reviewed on 27 June 2023)