Having colleagues or stakeholders observe a LiveShare or Interview is a great way for them to hear user feedback and understand their experience of your product first hand! Or, it can even be helpful just to invite a colleague to take notes during your session while you moderate so you can concentrate on the participant.
For most of our users it's equally important to keep content private and secure, so there are different ways you can invite someone to a session as an observer. Both methods can be used for sessions that are live and sessions that have already been completed.
🚀 Pro tip: while there is some overlap between the Observer Lobby & Public Links, the method you choose depends on what you're inviting observers to:
If you are inviting observers to live sessions, we'd recommend using the Observer Lobby as it's the fastest and easiest way for both team members and external stakeholders to join sessions. In addition, Observer Lobby links can be generated ahead of time so they can be used in calendar invites, Slack messages, etc.
If you are inviting observers to review a single session after it's completed, you could use either Public Links or the Observer Lobby. Note that using the Observer Lobby will also allow them to access any other sessions conducted in the same round
If you are inviting observers to review a Highlight Reel, you'll need to use a Public Link
Go to section:
1. Inviting someone to observe a session or multiple sessions in the same Round by using the Observer Lobby
The observer lobby allows you to invite your observers to your research session(s) ahead of time and can also be used to invite observers to review any sessions from the same round that have already been completed. You can invite both team members who have been added to your Lookback organisation or external stakeholders.
Please note: for team members to join using their Lookback user account, make sure they accept your invitation and finish signing up in advance of the actual session.
🚀 Pro tip: Stakeholders may not want to watch hours of raw research footage so if you're planning to share research from multiple sessions, we'd recommend using our Highlight Reel feature to collect insights from multiple sessions into one video.
To invite observers to your round of research:
Click into the project
Click the Observer Lobby button next to the relevant Round you want to invite your observers to
Under Observer Lobby access, choose who you want to be able to access the Observer Lobby
Organisation members only: they will need to have a user account associated with your Lookback organisation. This option is recommended if all of your observers are colleagues/employees at the same company.
Anyone with the link can enter: they do not need to have a user account to access the Lobby. This option is recommended if you are inviting external stakeholders to your sessions and don't want to add them to your Lookback organisation.
Click Copy link
Share the link with your team members you want to invite to the session via calendar invite, email, Slack, etc. Be sure to include any other relevant details (e.g., date and time of the session, tips on observing live sessions, etc.)
2. Joining a session as an observer using the Observer Lobby
If you've been invited to observe a live session or review previously recorded sessions using an Observer Lobby link, here's what you need to do!
Click on the link you've been sent or copy & paste it into your browser. The link will look something like this:
Please note: make sure you are using Google Chrome or another Chromium-based browser, such as Microsoft Edge or Brave
Joining the lobby: how you join the lobby will depend on how it's been configured and whether or not you have a user account and are logged in to Lookback
Jump to:
Scenario 1: You have a user account with any Lookback organisation and you are already logged in to Lookback
Scenario 2: You have a Lookback user account for your Lookback organisation but are not logged in
Scenario 3: You do not have a Lookback user account and have been invited to observe a session as a guest, OR you prefer not to use your Lookback user account
Scenario 1: You have a user account with any Lookback organisation and you are already logged in to Lookback.
You will automatically be taken to the Lobby, where you will see any sessions that are currently in progress along with any sessions that have been completed.
To join a live session in progress, click the Join button to the right of the session name
To review a past session that's already been completed, just click on the name of the session on the left
Scenario 2: You have a Lookback user account for your Lookback organisation but are not logged in
Click on the I'm ready button
Click on Log in
Enter your email and password & click the Log in button on the bottom (or click on Use Single Sign-On if your organization uses SSO)
You'll be taken to the Observer Lobby and can now join a session!
To join a live session in progress, click the Join button to the right of the session name
To review a past session that's already been completed, click on the name of the session on the left
Scenario 3: You do not have a Lookback user account and have been invited to observe a session as a guest OR you prefer not to use your Lookback user account
Click on the I'm ready button
Enter your name and email address, then click View Sessions
Please note: if you enter an email address that is associated with a Lookback user account, you'll be given the option to log in instead. If you'd prefer to continue as a guest, click Continue as guest
You'll be taken to the Observer Lobby and can now join a session!
To join a live session in progress, click the Join button to the right of the session name
To review a past session that's already been completed, click on the name of the session on the left
3. Inviting someone to observe a single session/highlight reel using public links
By using Public Links, you can invite external stakeholders or anyone who you don't want to add as a user to your Lookback organisation. This method can be used for single sessions or highlights and will allow the observer to see and hear the conversation between the moderator and participant. In addition, they will also be able to take notes and chat with the moderator and any other observers in the session.
Please note: Public Links can only be generated after a session has started. Therefore, we recommend using Public Links primarily for sharing single sessions that have been completed or highlight reels. For live sessions, we recommend using the Observer Lobby.
To generate a public link from a session (the process is the same whether it's live or after it has finished):
Click on the "Share" icon in the upper right-hand corner of the session feed
Click Create Public Link
Hover over the link and click the "Copy" icon
Share the Public Link with your observer via email, Slack, etc. You'll also want to share the following instructions with them for using the Public Link
4. Joining a session/highlight reel as an observer using a Public Link
Click the Public Link URL you received from the Moderator
You'll be presented with two options
Click "Log In" to authenticate yourself using your Lookback account (if you have one - it can be from any Lookback organisation)
Click on "Guest" to authenticate yourself using any email address not associated with a Lookback organisation:
Once logged in, you will have access to a limited version of the Player, where you can only participate in research in that particular session.
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