Live word clouds: 20 questions that make a great one

A word cloud takes everyone's short open-text answers and sizes each word by how often it appears — so the room's mood or theme jumps out instantly. The trick is the question: it has to invite a one- or two-word answer. Here are 20 that work, by setting.

Icebreakers

1. In one word, how's your week going?
2. What's one word you'd use to describe our team?
3. Where are you joining from?
4. What's your favourite season?
5. One word for what you want from today.

Event & session feedback

1. In one word, how was this session?
2. What's the main thing you'll take away?
3. One word for the speaker's energy.
4. What topic should we add next time? (1–2 words)
5. Describe the event in one word.

Team & retro

1. One word for how this sprint felt.
2. What slowed us down? (1–2 words)
3. What's our biggest strength right now?
4. One word for our team mood today.
5. What should we do more of? (1–2 words)

Classroom

1. One word that sums up today's topic.
2. What's still confusing? (1–2 words)
3. How do you feel about the exam? (one word)
4. One word for what you learned today.
5. What's one thing you'd like more of?

How to run a great word cloud

• Ask for one or two words — long answers don't cluster into a readable cloud.
• Allow multiple submissions off unless you want a few power-users to dominate.
• Read it out loud — the biggest words are the room's consensus; name them.
• Follow up on a surprising word with a quick open-ended or Q&A round.

PollsLive renders word clouds live with no login for the audience — a flexible Mentimeter word-cloud alternative. Build one in the survey hub or from a template.