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This glossary defines the terms AhaSlides Docs rely on, using the names you see in the product. Each entry links to the page that covers it in full.

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Presentation and slide terms

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Presentation

A presentation is the set of slides you build in the editor and keep in My Files. It holds your content and settings, and it stays the same each time you run it. A single presentation can be run many times, and each run is a session.

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Slide

A slide is one screen of a presentation. Every slide has a slide type, such as Poll, Word Cloud or Pick Answer, and participants answer each interactive slide on their phones.

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Slide type

A slide type is the kind of activity a slide runs. The slide type picker groups them into four sections: Quiz, Gamification, Unscored and Content. See What is AhaSlides for an overview.

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Template

A template is a ready-made presentation you can add to your account and edit, or run as it is. Browse them in the Template Library.

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Survey

A survey is a multi-question form that lives in its own Surveys area, separate from your presentations. You can share a survey as a link for people to complete in their own time, or run it live inside a presentation. See Using the Surveys tool.

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Scored and unscored terms

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Scored slide

A scored slide asks a question with a correct answer and awards points. Scored slides are the quiz slide types, found in the Quiz section of the slide type picker, and they feed the leaderboard. Start with How to make and run a quiz.

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Unscored slide

An unscored slide collects opinions, ideas or reactions without points, correct answers or a leaderboard. A poll, a word cloud and Q&A are unscored slides, found in the Unscored section of the slide type picker. See Creating a poll question.

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Leaderboard

A leaderboard ranks participants by the points they earn on scored quiz slides. It works only with quiz slide types, not with unscored slides such as polls. See Add and delete a quiz leaderboard.

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Team quiz

A team quiz is a quiz where participants join teams you set up and compete for points against the other teams. See Running a team quiz.

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People and roles

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Presenter

The presenter is the person who runs the presentation and controls the slides. Several people can present the same presentation independently when you invite them with the Presenter role.

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Participant

A participant is a member of your audience who joins on their own device and responds to your slides. Participants do not need an AhaSlides account to join. See Invite participants to your presentation.

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Collaborator

A collaborator is another AhaSlides user you invite to work on a presentation or folder with you, as an Editor or a Presenter. See Collaborate on presentations and folders.

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Joining terms

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Access code

The access code is the unique string that identifies your presentation for participants. It is the part of the join URL after ahaslides.com/, and participants can also enter it at audience.ahaslides.com. It appears on the joining instruction bar at the top of every slide. See Invite participants to your presentation.

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Join URL and QR code

The join URL is ahaslides.com/ followed by your access code. The QR code is a scannable version of the same link. Participants use either one to open your presentation on their phones.

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Private mode and public mode

Private mode stops your audience from interacting with a presentation, and public mode lets them join and respond. Keep a presentation private while you edit and switch it to public when you present. See Turn on Private mode.

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Running a presentation

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Session

A session is one run of a presentation, together with the responses participants gave during it. Resetting a presentation’s results starts a new session, so a presentation can have many sessions. The report lists them separately.

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Presenter-led

In a presenter-led presentation, the presenter moves through the slides and the audience follows. It is the default, shown as Presenter under Who takes the lead? in Settings.

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Self-paced

In a self-paced presentation, participants move through the slides on their own, without a host. You turn it on by choosing Audience (self-paced) under Who takes the lead? in Settings. It suits homework quizzes and surveys. See Set up a self-paced presentation.

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Backstage and Remote Control

Backstage is a private presenter window for controlling slides, previewing what is next and viewing notes while you present. Remote Control lets you advance your slides from a phone or tablet. See Using Backstage and Remote Control.

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After you present

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Results

Results are everything participants submitted to a presentation, such as poll votes, Q&A questions and reactions. Your own content is not part of the results. See Resetting the results.

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Presentation Report

The Presentation Report shows engagement statistics, participant interactions and written feedback for a presentation, and you can view it for each session. See Presentation and participant reports. Have a question? Contact our support team — if you’re logged in, use the chat bubble in the bottom-right of your dashboard; otherwise contact us here or email hi@ahaslides.com. Want to connect with other users? Join the AhaSlides community to share tips, request features, and see how others engage their audiences.