FLO Tech Tool Tip: Mentimeter

Have you found yourself struggling to pay attention in a presentation? Or, as a presenter, have you struggled to engage participants? Most of us have been in these situations. An easy solution, and this month’s FLO Tech Tool Tip, is Mentimeter, an interactive presentation software that allows presenters to engage their participants in real time. If you can type, you can build a Mentimeter interaction!

Post by Deb Nielsen, curriculum developer, College of New Caledonia

The base version is free and provides lots of options and access to templates you can edit. For a fee, you can upgrade to access more features and integrate your institution’s branding.

It’s so easy! No need to download any software. Participants can access Mentimeter activities online using a smartphone and the Mentimeter code. It can also be easily integrated to Microsoft PowerPoint and Zoom. You can export activity results to a Microsoft Excel or .pdf file with the click of a button, then share with participants.

Some of the ways I use Mentimeter are for pre- and post-assessment, polling the class on what they know about a topic before we begin or when we end a session. This helps me target the content where the most learning is needed and see areas where we may still need to review. Mentimeter is also great for brainstorming. Participants can see the suggestions in real time either in a word cloud or text on the screen. Anonymous sharing offers a non-threatening platform for quiet voices that are hard to hear or too shy to share.

Adding a Mentimeter interaction into your presentation engages participants and encourages thinking, moving the focus from the presenter to the participant. The addition of visual data enhances the audio information, and having participants type in responses allows for kinesthetic learning.

Watch this three-minute video of how to create a Mentimenter presentation:

Note: Any tools recommended in this series should first be reviewed by your institution to ensure student privacy and protection.