Strong exchange participation is one of the best indicators that the topic resonates with participants. 

The Overview tab shows how many people participated in your exchange as well as how participation breaks down across the initial survey or demographic questions.

This article covers:

• Interpreting participation numbers
• Exploring demographics and survey questions
• Tips for using the Overview tab

Interpreting participation numbers

Thoughtexchange breaks down your participation numbers so you can understand how engaged participants are across each step in the exchange.

• The participant count at the top of the page includes people who took part in one or more of the following exchange activities: reading the introduction, sharing thoughts, rating thoughts, or exploring thoughts in Discover. 
• The graphic below shows who took part in sharing, rating or exploring.  (image)

While it’s ideal for all participants to take part in each step of an exchange, some will choose to just share ideas or rate ideas shared by others.

Another consideration when looking at your overall participation numbers is whether registration is turned on or off. If registration is turned off and participants return to the exchange on a different device, they could be counted as a unique individual when they re-enter the exchange.

Exploring demographics and survey questions

Below the exchange participation numbers, are a set of graphs that explore how participants answered the demographic or survey questions at the beginning of the exchange. 

• Open up each question by clicking on the ‘+’ sign and consider how the responses fit with your expectations.

Tips for using the Overview tab

The most straightforward approach to using this tab is for tracking participation over time to understand how engaged participants are in the questions you ask. Some other ways to use this page include:

• Looking at the total number of participants versus those who took part in one of the steps. If you see a high drop-off rate, your topic might not be compelling to participants.
• Considering how many participants are sharing thoughts versus rating thoughts. If participants are jumping straight to the rating step, this might signal that the question is too complex.
• If you use demographic questions, looking at how participation aligns with the breakdown of your organization. If some groups are not participating, you will know to target them specifically.

Strong exchange participation is one of the best indicators that the topic resonates with participants. If you need support to improve your exchange design or planning process, check out How to Design a Great Question and Top 5 Tips for Getting the Most out of your Engagements. You can also reach out to our support team at help@thoughtexchange.com or your Client Success Manager for more tips and tricks.