How does SMS/text message participation work?

Learn all there is to know about text message participation!

Updated over a week ago

If you'd like to use text message participation during one of your events, here's what you need to know.

  • How does SMS/Text message participation work?

Participants send @CODE to the number showed on the screen to connect to the event (CODE being your event’s code). When a question appears on the presentation screen (usually a projected screen or a big screen in a meeting room), they send a new text message with their answer to the same number.

  • You can use text message participation only with these questions:

Fill in the Blanks, Brainstorming, Guess a Number, Matching, MCQ, Poll, Prioritization, Rating, SCT Concordance, SCT Judgment, Sorting, OpenQuestion and the Message Wall.

  • Answering different types of questions

Text message answers to a particular question must be sent in the corresponding format. For example, answers to an MCQ and an Open question won't have the same format.

Every time you ask the audience a question, you can display the corresponding format by clicking the i button in the bottom right corner of the screen (or by pressing "i" on your keyboard).

The second step of the SMS explanations ( next to 2 hereunder in orange color) shows the format the answer must respect.

You can remove these explanations by clicking Close in the top right corner (or by pressing "i" on your keyboard again).

  • Can participants ask questions on the Message Wall through SMS text?

Yes, participants can send questions to the message wall by SMS text. SMS text messages which are sent while you are displaying the Message Wall or while there is no vote in progress will be displayed on the Message Wall.

  • Which number do participants need to send a text message to to answer questions?

The number to which answers must be sent depends on the country you have selected in your account settings. You can display that number by starting the "How to participate?" question, or by clicking the i button when displaying a question.

You can change the number to a different country's in your Account settings.

We currently have a phone number for the following countries:

  • Australia

  • Belgium

  • Canada

  • France (except overseas territories)

  • Germany

  • Netherlands

  • Spain (except overseas territories)

  • United Kingdom (except overseas territories)

  • USA

Note that the text messages will be sent at the normal rate with no additional charges. The American/Canadian numbers are toll-free, even without a phone contract.

If you'd like to use text message participation in another country, do get in touch with the team!

  • Can you answer a "participant pace" questionnaire by SMS text?

No, SMS text participation is limited to real-time votes. Since participants do not receive the questions by SMS, they require a shared screen (such as a projector used in classrooms and conference halls) to read the questions before sending their answers.

  • Will participants receive unwanted text messages?

No, the audience will not receive any kind of spam or unsolicited texts after voting on Wooclap. The participants’ phone numbers will never be shared with speakers or third parties of any kind.

Note that text message participants won't receive a text confirming they are connected either.

  • I want to use Wooclap via text message several times in a single day. Do I need to reconnect every time?

If you're participating in the same event, you only need to connect to it once, and you will be connected to the event until it is reset or until you connect to another event.

If you're participating in different events, you do need to connect to the new event every time.


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The Wooclap Team

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