Slido at the SC Forum: A Tool Is Only as Good as How We Use It

The SC Forum weekend was an awesome opportunity to learn, share ideas, and work with people from different backgrounds and perspectives. One tool that helped bring participants into the conversation was Slido.

Slido is an audience participation platform used at meetings and events. Participants can submit questions, respond to live polls, and vote on questions or comments. Depending on how an event is set up, people can also post anonymously. That can make it easier for more voices to be heard, especially from people who might not want to speak in front of a room. Slido’s live Q&A features include anonymous questions and audience upvoting.

For much of the weekend, Slido was used as intended: to ask thoughtful questions, share relevant comments, and take part in votes. The screenshots also show a few moments when the tool was used for jokes or off-topic remarks. Those comments may have seemed harmless to the people posting them, but they pulled attention away from the work and the forum's purpose.

Anonymity can help people participate more freely, but it also asks us to take personal responsibility for what we contribute. A useful question to ask before posting is: Does this help the conversation move forward?

I also used Slido to thank the team for the opportunity and for a meaningful weekend. I chose to attach my name to that comment. I wanted the appreciation to be personal and direct.

The best tools make participation easier. How we use those tools best depends on the people in the room. Slido gave us a way to ask, respond, and vote; each of us had to use that opportunity with care.