More than Q&A: the full facilitation toolkit Slido doesn't offer
Slido (now owned by Cisco) is a solid Q&A and polling tool for large conferences and webinars. But when your work is workshops, training and facilitation — not just managing audience questions — you need SparkQuiz, ranked collective voting, whiteboards, slides, forms and break countdowns. MentorSparks is EU-hosted and purpose-built for that entire session.
Conference Q&A tool vs facilitation workspace
- Acquired by Cisco in 2021 — now deeply integrated with WebEx ecosystem
- Originally designed for large conference Q&A and audience polling
- Free plan: 3 polls per event, 100 participants max
- Paid plans from ~€12–€50+/organizer/month depending on features
- Strong: live Q&A with upvoting, word clouds, quizzes, polls
- No whiteboard, no collective ranked voting, no break countdowns, no decision wheels
- Cisco GDPR compliance via SCCs; US-routed data flows
- EU-hosted (Systementor AB, Sweden) — no Cisco, no US data flows
- Built for workshop and training facilitation from the ground up
- Free tier for real sessions — no 3-poll limit or participant cap surprises
- Flat plan pricing — not per-organizer escalation
- SparkQuiz, Slides, Collective Voting, Whiteboards, Forms, Wheels, Countdowns
- Borda-method collective ranked voting — for real group decisions
- No WebEx account, no Cisco dependency
MentorSparks vs Slido: the full table
Where Slido shines for conferences — and where MentorSparks goes further for workshops and training.
| Feature / Capability | MentorSparks | Slido |
|---|---|---|
| Audience Interaction | ||
| Live Q&A with upvoting | Not yet | Yes — core strength |
| Audience upvotes on questions | No | Yes |
| Live multiple-choice polls | Yes — core feature | Yes |
| Word clouds | Not yet | Yes |
| Rating / scale questions | Via poll options | Yes — native |
| Ranked / prioritization voting | Full Borda collective voting | Basic ranking |
| Quiz & Game Features | ||
| Quiz with correct answers & scoring | Yes — SparkQuiz | Yes — quiz polls |
| Kahoot-style timed game rounds | Yes — SparkQuiz with podium | No game mode |
| Live leaderboard & streak bonuses | Yes | No |
| Podium moment / winner reveal | Yes | No |
| Presentations & Content | ||
| Built-in slide presentations | Yes — synchronized display | PowerPoint/Google Slides embed only |
| Speaker notes | Yes | No |
| Polls embedded in slides | Yes | Yes — via PowerPoint add-in |
| Audience display separate from presenter | Yes | Yes |
| Collaboration & Facilitation | ||
| Collaborative whiteboard | Yes — built-in | No |
| Break countdowns with pixel canvas | Yes — unique feature | No |
| Decision wheels / random picker | Yes | No |
| Structured multi-field forms | Yes | No |
| Session workspace (mix activity types) | Yes — core design | Separate polls per event |
| Privacy & Data Sovereignty | ||
| Servers physically in the EU | Yes — Sweden | Cisco US infrastructure |
| No parent company in the US | Systementor AB, Sweden | Cisco Systems, San Jose CA |
| GDPR sovereign (no Schrems II risk) | Yes | SCC & Cisco DPA dependent |
| No third-party tracking scripts | Yes — zero trackers | Cisco analytics stack |
| No dependency on vendor ecosystem (WebEx) | Standalone product | Deeply integrated with WebEx |
| Integrations | ||
| Microsoft Teams integration | Not yet | Yes |
| Google Slides / PowerPoint add-in | No — own slide system | Yes |
| Zoom integration | No | Yes |
| Standalone browser-based (no integrations needed) | Yes — works anywhere | Yes — but optimal via integrations |
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes — real sessions | Yes — 3 polls max, 100 participants |
| Entry paid tier | Flat rate (planned) | ~€12/organizer/month |
| Enterprise pricing model | Flat, not per-seat | Per-organizer seat pricing |
When you use Slido, you're buying into the Cisco data infrastructure
Slido was an independent Slovak startup until Cisco acquired it in 2021. Since then, Slido has been integrated into Cisco's WebEx platform and subject to Cisco's data handling, US jurisdiction, and corporate strategy. Data processed via Slido flows through Cisco's infrastructure — a US company with all the CLOUD Act implications that brings for EU organizations.
MentorSparks has no acquisition story. It's built by Systementor AB in Sweden, hosted in the EU, and will not route your session data through a US technology corporation. For schools, public sector, healthcare organizations and any EU entity where data residency matters, that is a meaningful difference.
Conference Q&A vs active workshop facilitation
- A full session workspace: quiz, polls, slides, whiteboard, voting, wheels, forms
- EU data sovereignty with no US parent company
- Kahoot-style competitive quiz rounds (SparkQuiz) built into your session
- Ranked collective decision-making with Borda scoring
- Workshop, training and facilitation sessions — not just conference polling
- Break countdowns with group engagement during pauses
- No WebEx or Cisco ecosystem dependency
- You run large conferences or webinars where live Q&A with upvoting is the primary need
- Your organization already uses Cisco WebEx and seamless integration is a priority
- Word clouds and native PowerPoint/Google Slides add-ins are a hard requirement
- You need Microsoft Teams integration built into your tool
- Slido's enterprise GDPR DPA satisfies your organization's compliance team
Slido is built for large audiences watching a stage. MentorSparks is built for rooms that participate.
Slido's core interaction pattern is the Q&A upvote — hundreds of people in an auditorium submitting questions that the audience then surfaces by liking. It is excellent for that format. But in a workshop of 10–60 people where the goal is collaborative decision-making, skill-building and real group engagement, Q&A upvoting is rarely what you reach for.
MentorSparks is designed around the facilitator's actual session arc: knowledge check, temperature poll, ranked group priority, open brainstorm on a whiteboard, timed break, structured close with slides. Each of those moments has a dedicated tool in the same workspace. No tab switching, no re-sharing links, no participants downloading additional apps.
- Designed for 5–200 active participants, not passive conference audiences
- Every tool is active, not passive Q&A collection
- Real-time host control of every interaction type
- Participant join link stays constant across all activity types
Collective ranked voting: what Slido's basic ranking can't do
Slido has a ranking question type. It records individual rankings. MentorSparks Collective Voting uses Borda count — a proper group decision method — to aggregate individual rankings across all participants into a single group priority order, complete with rank distribution visualization.
For retrospectives, strategic planning workshops, team priority setting and any session where "what does this group actually agree on" matters, Borda scoring surfaces genuine consensus rather than just listing "here are everyone's individual top picks."
- Participants drag-to-rank in real time
- Borda-method group aggregation
- Rank distribution heat-map on reveal
- Host-controlled reveal timing
- Works anonymously — no participant accounts
Slido per-organizer pricing vs MentorSparks flat plans
Slido's pricing escalates with organizer count. As your facilitation team grows, the bill grows with it — and you still don't get whiteboards, game quizzes or collective voting.
No whiteboard, no game quizzes, no break countdowns, no collective voting — at any tier. Plus US/Cisco data handling.
SparkQuiz, Slides, Collective Voting, Whiteboards, Wheels, Countdowns, Forms — all included. No Cisco. No US data flows.
Start FreeFrequently asked when comparing with Slido
Move beyond Q&A polling. Run sessions where the whole room participates.
EU-hosted. No Cisco. No per-organizer pricing. SparkQuiz, slides, collective voting, whiteboards, forms and countdowns — free to start, full workshop toolkit from day one.