# What is “Participation points”?

Participation points are leaderboard points awarded for taking part in an activity — answering a poll, attending a session, giving feedback — regardless of whether the answer was right or the participant won.

Also called: activity points, points for taking part

SSociana team·19 Oct 2026·2 min read

## Participation points in detail

Winning is rare; participating is the behaviour organisers actually want. Participation points reward showing up and doing the thing: answering a live poll, completing session feedback, checking in to an activity, posting to the timeline. They are distinct from performance points, such as those from a quiz, where correctness or speed decides the score. Setting values is a design decision. A modest, consistent value per action keeps the board from being dominated by a few highly competitive players, and caps stop a single behaviour from running away. In attendance rules, points on completion can be reversed if a check-in is later removed, so the points total stays consistent. Because participation points feed the unified leaderboard and can be mirrored into wallet points, they create the link between ordinary engagement and visible recognition. Communicate the point values in the app, since people respond to rules they can see.

## How Sociana uses it

Participation values are set per module when configuring points. Attendance, polls and feedback are common sources, each recording the person and the time.

## Example

A conference gave points for completing session feedback, which lifted response rates without rewarding correctness.

[Unified leaderboard & team boardsWhere this term lives in the Sociana app.See how it works](https://sociana.in/features/unified-leaderboard/)

## Questions

What earns participation points?

Taking part in an enabled activity, such as answering a poll, checking in, giving feedback or posting, at a value the organiser sets. Participation points are leaderboard points awarded for taking part in an activity — answering a poll, attending a session, giving feedback — regardless of whether the answer was right or the participant won.

How do they differ from quiz points?

Participation points reward taking part. Quiz points depend on correct or fast answers, so they reward performance rather than presence. They are distinct from performance points, such as those from a quiz, where correctness or speed decides the score. Participation points reward showing up and doing the thing: answering a live poll, completing session feedback, checking in to an activity, posting to the timeline.

Can points be reversed?

Yes. For attendance, points on completion can be reversed if the check-in is removed, and administrators can adjust with a recorded reason. Participation values are set per module when configuring points. Attendance, polls and feedback are common sources, each recording the person and the time.

## Keep reading

[Unified leaderboard & team boards](https://sociana.in/features/unified-leaderboard/)[Feedback forms & session feedback](https://sociana.in/features/feedback-forms/)[QR attendance & activities](https://sociana.in/features/qr-attendance-and-activities/)[Conferences & summits](https://sociana.in/event-types/conferences/)[Recurring employee programmes](https://sociana.in/event-types/employee-programmes/)[Leaderboard points](https://sociana.in/glossary/leaderboard-points/)[Engagement score](https://sociana.in/glossary/engagement-score/)[Unified leaderboard](https://sociana.in/glossary/unified-leaderboard/)

[Back to Glossary](https://sociana.in/glossary/)

## Want points that people chase?

Our team designs the scoring with you and runs the leaderboard through the event.

[Book a demo](https://sociana.in/contact/)[Talk on WhatsApp (opens WhatsApp in a new tab)](https://wa.me/919145897433?text=Hi%20Sociana%2C%20I'm%20looking%20at%20Participation%20points%20%28%2Fglossary%2Fparticipation-points%2F%29%20and%20would%20like%20to%20know%20more. "WhatsApp · replies Mon–Sat, 10:00–19:00 IST")

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Canonical: https://sociana.in/glossary/participation-points/
Publisher: Sociana by Alien Brains Private Limited (https://sociana.in/)