Presenter Best Practices for Location-Based Attendance

In this article:

Poll Everywhere’s location-based attendance feature allows presenters, instructors, and event organizers to track attendance using safe, on-device, privacy-preserving geofences. While these geofences are generally accurate, some participants may experience difficulty depending on building structure, device type, or network conditions.

The following best practices will help ensure smooth and reliable attendance check-ins.

Helpful Tips: Location-based check-in depends on a participant’s device, network conditions, and the physical environment. Accuracy can be affected by room size, building materials, Wi-Fi and cellular coverage, and device location services.

We recommend starting with a larger check-in area and narrowing it after testing to ensure reliable check-ins for participants.

We have instructions on Attendance with Rotating Codes (For Presenters) here: 2.0 Attendance with Rotating Codes (For Presenters) 

Best practices for creating check-in areas

• Use a generous radius in large or dense buildings.
  Buildings made of concrete, steel, or with limited window access can interfere with GPS accuracy. When working in large lecture halls or interior rooms, create a geofence that covers the entire building rather than the specific room.

• Allow for margin in areas with poor GPS reception.
  Some construction styles create cellular or GPS dead zones. In these cases, participants may only be able to check in if the geofence radius accounts for these limitations.

• Use multiple check-in areas when needed.
  For very large buildings or campuses, consider creating overlapping check-in areas around the same structure to reduce edge-case issues.

• Avoid room-level geofences unless the room has clear sky access.
  Lecture halls located deep inside buildings, underground, or in older structures often cannot support accurate room-level GPS positioning.

• Ask participants to check device and network settings.
  If a participant cannot check in, ask them to temporarily disable Wi-Fi (if cellular is available), Privacy-preserving VPNs, iCloud Private Relay

These services may route network traffic in ways that interfere with precise location detection.

Known limitations of location-based attendance

Location-based attendance works well in most environments, but is affected by predictable constraints:

• Vertical (floor-level) location cannot be distinguished.
  The system cannot tell whether someone is on a higher or lower floor if the classrooms occupy the same horizontal location in the building.

• Older devices or laptops may struggle with precise location.
  Laptop GPS is often limited. For best results, participants should check in using mobile devices (iOS or Android) that support precise location or built-in GPS, even if cellular service is not active.

• Underground or obstructed spaces may not work reliably.
  Basements, sub-levels, and heavily shielded rooms may produce inaccurate or unavailable locations.

• Network filtering systems may cause inaccurate locations.
  iCloud Private Relay, Tor, university firewalls, and certain VPNs can obscure or replace true device location. Presenters should test the environment in advance when these systems are in use.

• External factors may impact location services.
  GPS blocking, cellular outages, or proximity to government, military, or geopolitical boundaries can affect accuracy. Network congestion may also cause general connectivity issues.

Affordances and accommodations

Poll Everywhere supports offering alternative attendance methods for students who cannot reliably check in with their devices.

• Manual check-in should be available.
  Students with accessibility accommodations or temporary device issues (battery failure, broken device, or similar) should be allowed to check in manually.

• Resolve anomalies promptly.
  If a student experiences a check-in failure, record the issue immediately after class or the event. It becomes difficult to verify attendance once the student has left the venue.

• Maintain accurate records.
  Keeping a note of technical issues or exceptions ensures attendance data remains accurate and defensible, especially for courses or events with strict tracking requirements.

Still need help? Please contact the Technical Support team for assistance.