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Talking Tiles
Updated over a month ago

Talking Tiles turn audience responses into a dynamic visual experience by displaying their messages as falling tiles on the screen, inspired by the classic Tetris gameplay. This feature brings conversations to life, making engagement more interactive and visually appealing.

As participants type their responses in the chat, their messages appear as individual tiles that fall onto the screen, stacking dynamically just like in Tetris. Talking Tiles work seamlessly across platforms like Zoom, YouTube, and Teams, ensuring that every response is captured in real time.

This feature works best when you want responses that are longer than just a few words or a sentence, making it ideal for capturing detailed thoughts, brainstorming sessions, or storytelling activities.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to set up Talking Tiles, customization options, how to run them, and frequently asked questions.


Frequently Asked Questions

How Do Talking Tiles Collect Responses?

Talking Tiles automatically pulls audience responses from the chat on platforms like Zoom, YouTube, and Teams. As participants type their messages, each response is converted into a falling tile that appears on the screen in real time.

How Does It Work in the Presentation Live Screen?

Once Talking Tiles is active, it appears on the Presentation Live Screen, visible to both the presenter and the audience.

  • As the audience types their response in the chat, they are displayed as animated tiles that fall and stack dynamically.

  • The tiles continuously drop, creating a visually engaging effect inspired by Tetris.

  • Longer responses remain fully visible, ensuring audience contributions are easy to read.

  • Responses are displayed for as long as you are on the Talking Tiles interaction in the Presentation Live Screen. When you move to a different slide, StreamAlive stops collecting responses for that interaction.

Can You Customize the Tile Display?

Yes! You can adjust the tile colors, fonts, and backgrounds to match your presentation’s theme. This allows you to create a visually cohesive experience while keeping the interaction fun and engaging.

What Type of Responses Work Best with Talking Tiles?

Talking Tiles is ideal for capturing responses that are longer than just a few words. It works well for storytelling, brainstorming sessions, or gathering audience insights that go beyond simple one-word answers.

Can You Pre-Set Answer Choices?

No, Talking Tiles is designed for open-ended responses rather than predefined options. Unlike Power Polls, which categorize and count specific answers, Talking Tiles focuses on displaying audience messages in a dynamic, visual format.

What Happens if a Lot of Responses Come in at Once?

If multiple responses are submitted at the same time, the tiles will continue to drop and stack naturally, ensuring all messages are displayed.


Creating a Talking Tiles Interaction

To run a Talking Tiles interaction during your session, you can choose to:

  1. Add it to your presentation before the session

  2. Create an ad-hoc interaction during the session

  3. Using Quick Interaction Links


Adding Talking Tiles to your presentation

  1. Go to My Presentations

  2. Click on New Presentation

  3. Click on New Slide

  4. Add Talking Tiles

    To learn more about how to create a presentation, click here

  5. Once Talking Tiles is added, customize the interaction using the tabs on the right hand side.

    Edit the heading, and configure its settings in the Content tab.

    You can also edit the design of the interactions like the visualization colors of the tiles, background color, heading color/font, and so on.

    For a more in-depth guide on how to edit your presentation, click here

    Alternatively, try our pre-designed Themes to completely change the look of your word cloud.

  6. Click on Preview to see what it will look like during a session

  7. Now that your presentation is complete, you can present it immediately or schedule it with a future session

    Follow the instructions on how to connect StreamAlive to your preferred meeting or streaming platform, or even use it for in-person events.


    Click here to get an in-depth guide on connecting to your preferred platform


Creating an Ad-hoc Talking Tiles Interaction

What’s the Purpose of Creating an Ad-Hoc Talking Tiles Interaction?

An ad-hoc interaction in StreamAlive allows you to set up and run audience engagement features instantly, without pre-planning them. This is perfect for moments when you want to capture real-time audience input in a dynamic and visual way. (If you’re new to ad-hoc interactions, check out this help article for more details.)

Why Use an Ad-Hoc Talking Tiles Interaction?

While you can add Talking Tiles to your presentation in advance, running it as an ad-hoc interaction gives you the flexibility to gather spontaneous audience responses as your session unfolds.

For example, if a conversation sparks an unexpected discussion or brainstorming session, you can launch Talking Tiles on the spot to display participant responses as falling tiles in real time. This Tetris-inspired effect makes the responses engaging while ensuring longer messages remain visible.

By using an ad-hoc Talking Tiles interaction, you can focus on capturing responses from a specific moment in your session rather than pulling messages from the entire chat history. This keeps engagement relevant and creates a visually engaging way to highlight audience contributions in the moment.


  1. Connect StreamAlive to your session

    To learn how to connect to your required platform, click here

  2. Once you’re connected and on the Presentation Live screen, click on the "+ New Interaction" button

  3. Click on the Talking Tiles interaction

  4. Customize your Talking Tiles

    Here, you can edit the heading, and configure the tiles settings.

    Remember: Everyone can see your screen at this point so don’t spend too long on it. Alternatively, you can plan your talking tiles question and settings in advance using the presentation builder method discussed in the section above.

  5. Choose a theme [Optional]

    This step is optional but if you choose to continue without choosing, the interaction will use your default theme.

    Remember: Spending time customizing your tiles design in the middle of your live session is likely to be an attention killer, so consider using the presentation builder to create your interactions in advance if you plan on customizing them.

    Once ready click on Go

  6. Share the StreamAlive window to your audience

  7. Ask your audience to start typing in answers in the chat

  8. StreamAlive picks up these answers and powers the interaction in real time


Using Quick Interaction Links for Talking Tiles

What’s the Purpose of Using Quick Interaction Links for Talking Tiles?

Quick Interaction Links in StreamAlive allow you to instantly launch audience engagement features without needing to pre-set them in a presentation. With Talking Tiles, this means you can activate the interaction with a single click, letting audience responses cascade onto the screen in real time. (If you’re new to quick interaction links, check out this help article for more details.)

Why Use Quick Interaction Links for Talking Tiles?

While you can plan interactions in advance, Quick Interaction Links offer the flexibility to launch Talking Tiles on the fly—perfect for moments when you want to visually capture audience input without disrupting your session’s flow.

For example, if you're hosting a live Q&A and want to emphasize key takeaways, you can instantly trigger Talking Tiles to display audience responses in a visually dynamic way. As participants share their thoughts, the responses will fall onto the screen like Tetris pieces, creating an engaging and interactive summary of the discussion.


By using Quick Interaction Links for Talking Tiles, you ensure that audience contributions are captured and showcased in real time, keeping the session interactive, engaging, and visually dynamic.


  1. Go to the Quick Interactions Links tab and click on “Show link” next to Talking Tiles.

  2. Copy the link.

  3. When ready to use, open the link in a new tab or you can paste it into your presentation file or Google Slides and so on.

    A pop-up will appear where you can choose your required platform. Learn more about connecting to your preferred platform.

  4. Enter your session details and click on Present when ready

  5. A pop-up asking you to admit the bot will appear (In cases like Zoom with the waiting room disabled, or YouTube/Twitch and similar platforms, it will join automatically)

    Go to your live session and admit the bot.

  6. Customize your Talking Tiles

    Here, you can edit the heading and configure the tiles settings

    Remember:
    Everyone can see your screen at this point so don’t spend too long on it. Alternatively, you can plan your talking tiles in advance using the presentation builder method discussed in the section above.

  7. Choose a theme [Optional]

    This step is optional but if you choose to continue without choosing, the interaction will use your default theme.

    Remember: Spending time customizing your tiles design in the middle of your live session is likely to be an attention killer, so consider using the presentation builder to create your interactions in advance if you plan on customizing them.

    Once ready click on Go

  8. Share the StreamAlive window to your audience (if you haven’t already done so)

  9. Ask your audience to start typing in answers in the chat

  10. StreamAlive picks up these answers and powers the interaction in real-time


Learn how to use the Presentation Live screen to manage your interactions during your live session.

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