Join a Live Conversation

This article applies to: UserTesting 

On this page:

• Join a session
• Join with note taking
• Join by telephone
• Inviting colleagues
• Hidden observers

Join a session

• Moderators and colleagues will receive an email confirmation of the scheduled interview and a reminder email leading up to the interview.
• On the day of the Live Conversation, moderators will see a button on the UserTesting dashboard 15 minutes before the scheduled interview time.
  
  
   
• Anyone logged into the account can start the Live Conversation session and become the moderator.
• Sessions do not use a waiting room; participants can join automatically without moderator approval.
• The hidden observers live stream will start when the moderator joins the session.
• Screen sharing on Safari is not currently supported on Zoom.

Please visit our article on troubleshooting with Zoom if you encounter any obstacles.

Join with Note taking

• Live Conversation sessions are conducted over Zoom.
• You can download Zoom to your desktop or use the web/browser version.
• If you're a moderator and are using a Chrome or Edge browser, you will have two options: 
  • Join  
  • Join with note taking. (Note that if you're a colleague, you will only have the option to Join.)
    
    
     
• Moderators and colleagues can take notes, and notes are visible to any team member attending the session (but are not visible to the contributor). 

Notes

• Please be aware that if you enable the note-taking function for the session, you won't be able to give the contributor mouse control to show you how they would interact with an experience.
• Colleagues who join the sessions must be logged in to their UserTesting accounts to have the note-taking feature available.

Join by telephone

Using a traditional telephone, you can join the Zoom session via teleconferencing/audio conferencing.

Use this when: 

• You don't have a microphone or speaker on your PC/Mac.
• You don't have a smartphone (iOS or Android) while on the road.
• You can't connect to a network for video and VoIP (computer audio).

Inviting colleagues

• Once the moderator joins the Live Conversation, any colleagues can then join the session. 
• The option to invite colleagues is available for any scheduled session. 
• Once a session has been confirmed, you can add additional team members as colleagues. 
• Colleagues will default to appearing as a "black box" with the option to turn on their camera.

Option 1

1. Select Invite colleagues from the Actions menu
   
   
    
2. Copy the invite link
3. Send the invite link to your colleagues 

Option 2

1. Select the "^" symbol on the Participants button in your Zoom meeting
   
    
2. Copy invite link
3. Send the invite link to your colleagues 

Pro Tip: 

• If you don't want multiple colleagues to appear during a live session (to prevent the test contributor from feeling uncomfortable), they can log in on a single device and then broadcast the session in a conference room for additional team members to view.
• Only one colleague's black box will be displayed in this setup during the live session.

Note: To ensure contributors are who they say they are, ask them to describe their most recent related experience at the beginning of the test. 

Hidden observers

• You have the option to invite colleagues as Hidden Observers.
• Hidden observers will be able to watch the interview as a live stream, but they won't be visible to those participating in the interview, nor will they be able to interact with anyone in the session.
• The stream will end if there are no participants left in the Zoom meeting.
• If you need to rejoin the Zoom meeting, make sure there's at least one participant in it to keep the stream active for your hidden observers. 

To add a Hidden Observer that has a UserTesting account, follow these steps:  

1. During the Interview setup, select Anyone in [your account] from the dropdown list.
    
2. Toggle on Stream interview sessions for Hidden Observers.
   
    
3. Share the date, time, and link to join.
   

To add a Hidden Observer who doesn’t have a UserTesting account, follow these steps: 

1. During the interview setup, select Anyone with the link from the dropdown list. 
   
    
2. Toggle on Stream interview sessions for Hidden Observers.
   
3. Once a contributor has selected a time, you’ll be able to Invite Colleagues from the Sessions tab.
   

Note: After a Live Conversation has been launched, you can edit to add hidden observers.

To join a Live Conversation as a Hidden Observer, follow these steps:

1. Access the link provided by your colleague. 
2. Next, choose your role as Hidden observer.
   
    
3. You’ll be prompted to Continue as guest or Log in to watch.
   
    
4. Wait for the Moderator to start the Live Conversation.
   

Note: If you're using hidden observers, the stream will start when the moderator joins the session.

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