Google Slides Q&A: a live sidebar without leaving your deck

Google Slides is great for building decks. It's not great for running live audience Q&A mid-presentation. There's no native question panel, no upvotes, no moderation. Here's the fix.

The 5-minute setup

1. Open your deck in Google Slides (normal edit view).
2. Install TA pilot from the Chrome Web Store. One click. No refresh

needed — the sidebar docks the next time you open any tab.

1. Click the TA pilot icon in the sidebar. Hit + Create New Session.
2. Fill in a title, password, and language. Hit Create.
3. A QR code and a short code appear in the sidebar. Drop the QR on an

opening slide.

You're live. Questions stream in as your audience scans the QR.

Why a sidebar beats tab-switching

The biggest problem with bolt-on Q&A tools (Slido, Mentimeter, etc.) is that they live in a separate tab or window. That means you constantly alt-tab between your deck and the Q&A tool. The audience notices, and your delivery suffers.

A sidebar is always visible. Your deck stays in focus. You answer the top-voted question with a glance to your right, not a context switch.

What you gain vs. Google Slides alone

• Upvote-sorted question queue
• Inline screenshot attachments (audience points at the confusing slide)
• Voice-triggered polls and timers
• Ambient background music for transitions
• Live captions in 20 languages

Setup gotchas

• Sharing in Google Meet: Pick "A window" and select your Slides

window specifically. The sidebar is part of that window, so it will travel with the share.

• Tab audio: If you want voice-triggered polls to work on the

remote audience's side, include audio when you share the window.

• Presenter View: Slides' "Presenter view" runs in a separate

window — the sidebar docks on the main edit tab. Keep the sidebar on your laptop screen, Presenter View on the projector screen.

Free vs. paid

TA pilot is free for any session size. Slido's free tier caps at 100 attendees. For conference-scale events the free option is hard to beat.