Get started as a host
Here, the host is the quiz host: the person who presents the quiz to the room. This page takes you from the sign-in screen to your first game. It assumes someone has already installed QuizDock and given you its address. To try QuizDock without installing anything, open the live demo: it shares one host account between every visitor, has media uploads turned off and is wiped every hour.
Sign in
Section titled “Sign in”How you sign in depends on how the instance was set up. The sign-in page shows which mode you are in.
Local mode: the host seat
Section titled “Local mode: the host seat”In local mode there are no accounts. One person at a time holds the host seat, and everyone else joins rooms with a PIN.
- Open the instance and choose Host area.
- The page shows Seat free and One host at a time here, or Held by {name} when someone else holds it.
- Type Your name.
- In Keep the seat, choose how long the seat stays yours: After 1 hour, After 4 hours (the default), After 24 hours or Never (until I log out).
- Choose Take the host seat.
Your name is your key: typing the same name again, on any device, brings you back as host with Sign back in. Anyone who types it gets the seat too, so local mode belongs on a network you trust.
While you hold the seat, its remaining time shows next to your name. You can Extend the seat for another period, or Release the seat to give it back (you stay signed in as a participant, and Undo takes it back). The seat is also released when you choose Log out or when it expires. When someone else holds the seat, the sign-in page offers Join a room as a participant instead.
OIDC mode: sign in with your organisation
Section titled “OIDC mode: sign in with your organisation”In OIDC mode, choose Sign in and sign in with your organisation’s identity provider. To create and present quizzes, your account needs the Host role. There is no seat: any number of hosts can work at the same time.
The role comes from your identity provider, or an administrator of the instance grants it. If you sign in and cannot create a quiz, ask whoever runs your instance for the host role. Participants also sign in before joining, unless the instance allows open access and you choose it when you launch the room (see Start a room).
My account shows your roles:
| Role | What it lets you do |
|---|---|
| Participant | Join rooms with a PIN. |
| Host | Your own bank: create, edit and present quizzes, and offer templates. |
| Manager | Read the whole instance and administer it. |
Managing is not hosting: a manager without the Host role cannot create, edit or present quizzes. A role cannot be changed from My account; see Accounts and roles for how administrators grant them.
The top bar shows Quizzes (with its tabs My quizzes, Selections, Templates and Themes), Sessions and Administration (for managers only). Your name, at its right, opens the account menu: Appearance, Language, My account and Log out. See Language and appearance.
Start from a sample quiz
Section titled “Start from a sample quiz”QuizDock ships twelve sample quizzes in English, one per country: Discover China, Discover France, Discover Germany, Discover India, Discover Italy, Discover Japan, Discover Poland, Discover Russia, Discover Spain, Discover Taiwan, Discover Türkiye and Discover the United Kingdom. Each one uses every question type, with pictures and slides, and every media is credited. They live in Templates.
- Open Quizzes → Templates (or, on an empty bank, Browse the templates).
- Open one of the samples and choose Create a quiz from this.
- An independent copy lands in My quizzes as a draft. Choose Publish (ready), then Present, or change it first.
An administrator can also add the sample quizzes directly to an account’s bank from the administration.
From your first quiz to your first game
Section titled “From your first quiz to your first game”- In My quizzes, choose New quiz → Blank quiz. A draft opens with an intro slide and a first question.
- Write your questions. See Create a quiz and Question types.
- Choose Publish (ready). A quiz must be ready to be played.
- Choose Present. A room opens with a 6-digit PIN.
- Choose Projection window and move it to the big screen.
- Players open the address shown on the screen, or scan the QR code, type the PIN and a nickname. See Invite players.
- When the players are in, choose Start the quiz.
To play several quizzes in a row, line them up in a selection and present it in one go.
For a first test on your own, join from your phone, or from a private window of another browser, as a player.
Questions
Section titled “Questions”Can two people host at the same time in local mode?
Section titled “Can two people host at the same time in local mode?”No. Local mode has one host seat. Others can join rooms as participants. With an identity provider (OIDC mode) there is no seat and no limit on the number of hosts.
Is the host seat a security boundary?
Section titled “Is the host seat a security boundary?”No. Anyone who types the seat holder’s name gets the seat. Use local mode on a network you trust; for named accounts, the instance needs an identity provider. See Configure an identity provider.
Why can’t I present, even though I can see the administration?
Section titled “Why can’t I present, even though I can see the administration?”The Manager role administers the instance; it does not include hosting. Ask for the Host role as well.