I Built a Free Live Q&A Tool for Events — Here's What I Learned
👨💻 Hey, I'm Nanda! Power Platform Developer by day, AI enthusiast by night 🚀. With 8+ years of crafting cool, user-friendly solutions with PowerApps, Power Automate, and a sprinkle of Azure magic, I'm here to bring processes to life! From automating workflows to building apps that keep businesses running smoothly, I’ve led projects across industries and even helped teams embrace AI tech. 🌟
When I'm not building apps, I'm mentoring developers, diving into new tech (like Generative AI and Microsoft CoPilot), and always on the lookout for the next challenge. If you’re into low-code solutions, automation, or just love solving complex problems with tech, you’ve found the right place. 🎯
Feel free to drop a message or connect with me as we explore the ever-evolving world of Power Platform together! 💬
I've sat through enough bad Q&A sessions to know the pattern.
Someone gets the mic, spends 90 seconds giving context before asking anything, and the actual question gets lost. Meanwhile half the audience has a better question but won't stand up to ask it. The host wraps up with "we're out of time" and the most important conversation never happens.
So I built AskStage — a free live Q&A tool for presenters and event hosts.
How it works
The flow is intentionally simple:
Host creates a session and gets a shareable link + QR code
Audience scans the QR from their phone and submits questions — no app, no account
Host sees all questions in real time on their dashboard
Host picks which question goes on the display screen for everyone to see
After the session, download the full transcript as CSV
That's it. No friction for the audience. Full control for the host.
The tech stack
Next.js 16 (App Router + Turbopack) for the frontend and API routes
Supabase for the database and real-time subscriptions
Tailwind CSS for styling
Deployed on Vercel — zero config, auto-deploys on every push
The real-time piece uses Supabase's postgres_changes subscription so the host dashboard updates instantly when a new question comes in. I also added a polling fallback every 15 seconds as a safety net for environments where WebSocket connections are flaky.
A few things I'm proud of
The QR splash screen — when a session has no questions yet, the host sees a large QR code to share with the audience. The moment the first question arrives, it transitions to the full dashboard. Small detail, but it makes the tool feel alive.
Pause submissions — the host can pause new questions mid-session without ending it. Useful for structured segments where you want to hold questions until the right moment.
Post-session recap — after ending a session, the host can optionally go to a recap page, add response notes to each answered question, and export everything as a CSV. Good for sharing follow-up notes with attendees.
What's next
Right now AskStage is fully anonymous and doesn't require authentication. That's a deliberate MVP choice — the fewer barriers to entry, the more likely people actually use it at their events.
Things I'm thinking about:
Upvoting so the audience can surface the best questions
Scheduled sessions with a link that activates at a set time
A proper landing page
Try it
It's free and live at askstage.vercel.app
If you run meetups, town halls, workshops, or panels — give it a try and let me know what you think. I'd love feedback from anyone who actually uses it at a real event.
The code is straightforward if you want to see how the real-time layer or the host dashboard is built — happy to share more details in the comments.
