Pro Tips
Best Practices for Moderators, Observers, and Participants
Russ Troester avatar
Written by Russ Troester
Updated over a week ago

Preparing for your session

Moderator

  • Make sure you’re on good WiFi

  • If you are working from home and normally use a VPN, we'd recommend disconnecting from it while conducting the session. If your IT department has strict policies around this, you can ask them to make sure all traffic to/from Lookback will be allowed through.

  • Do a test of the session yourself before your session. If you're on a session-based plan (Freelance, Team, or Insights Hub), you can use our preview links & sessions to avoid using up any full sessions.

  • Leverage our email templates so your participants are set up for success

Observers

  • Make sure you’re on good WiFi

  • Invite team members the day before your session to account for any firewall issues & filters that can delay invites — in these work-from-home times

  • Establish how you’d like your observers to participate in the session with you e.g., take notes in the Notes section, @mention you during the session with questions, establish a coding system to help with synthesis, etc.

Participants

  • Make sure you’re on good WiFi (even with 5G cellular connections, bandwidth may not be enough)

  • Desktop tests - have the latest Chrome installed

  • Mobile tests - install the Participate app when you receive your invitation

  • iOS Tests - be on OS 12.2 or higher

  • Android Tests - refer to this article for Android OS compatibility

Troubleshooting during your session

  • 👥 Participant connection issues?

    • Make sure your Participant is on good WiFi, and not a mobile connection

    • Ask if they're on a VPN. If they are, we advise disabling it during the session.

    • Investigate if there are any potential firewalls

    • Ask they check their MacOS settings (desktop only) to allow camera, mic, and screen recording

  • 🎧 Participant audio issues?

    • Ensure bluetooth headsets are well-charged

    • Double check they haven't accidentally hit 'Mute'

  • ☎️ Participant received an incoming phone call?

    • Ask that the Participant goes onto 'Airplane mode' so any future incoming phone calls won't interfere with the session

    • Have the Participant close the Participate app, click on original Participate URL, click 'Resume' and they'll be brought back to the permissions flow and can rejoin the session

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