This brief guide will provide instructions on how to manage your project using Discuss
Confirm Project Settings
On the Settings page, review your privacy settings and review important settings.
- "Require Respondents to Participate via Computer" setting will prevent respondents from entering the meeting room on their mobile devices and tablets.
- This setting will not block observers from entering from a mobile device. Observers will always be able to enter on any device of their choice, as long as it meets the system, browser, and device needs.
Manage Project Members
On the Overview page, Project Members.
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- If you will be working with colleagues, end clients, or 3rd party recruiters, give them access to your project.
- Recruiters can only see the Respondent Hub & Self Captures page where they can manage respondent scheduling for the interviews to which they are assigned & manage surveys.
Fast Fact: Recruiters can only see the Respondent Hub when assigned to a project. They cannot see any project materials, recordings, or other project data. Additionally, they can only see the interviews to which they are assigned and the respondents to which they have added.
Schedule Sessions
You have 2 ways to schedule sessions from your Project portal :
- Schedule Interview button on the Overview tab
- Calendar tab
Each method to schedule an interview has the following fields:
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Date & Time
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Interview Duration
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Video Host Country: Improve the meeting room experience by selecting the location closest to the majority of your respondents. If Germany is selected, names and phone numbers will appear anonymized in the meeting room (due to data/privacy restrictions)
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Interview Language: Select to ensure a more accurate transcription. See our supported languages for transcription.
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Translation on/off, type, and languages—if you will have a translator, distinguish between Simultaneous (moderator and respondent speak the same language) or Consecutive (moderator and respondent speak different languages) and what languages are the original and translated
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Invite Observers right from your calendar event to send them a calendar invite with the session link and helpful information about the browser and network requirements. Our observer invites are compatible with Microsoft and Google calendar programs.
- Disable Recording
Manage Respondents
Managing respondents is a breeze with our Respondent Hub. If you are working with a 3rd party recruiter, first make sure to add them to your project on the Overview.
On the Respondent Hub, you will see all upcoming interviews in your project. Assign recruiters to specific interviews to grant them access to manage that interview. You can add multiple recruiters to the same interview.
From here, recruiters can add respondents, assign them to interviews, and send optional, but recommended, tech check links to prevent technical issues in an interview. Project owners. editors and collaborators can see the status of recruitment in real-time and provide feedback to the recruiter if necessary.
If you are managing recruitment yourself, follow these steps.
1. Add respondents
Add your respondents using the Add button on the Respondent Hub. First name is required, but all other fields are optional. If you choose not to include emails, we cannot automate the sending of tech check links or interview invitations.
2. Schedule respondents
As you add your respondents to the platform, select their interview date and time and their role as main or backup.
3. Send optional tech check links
We recommend that you request respondents take a tech check to confirm that their camera and microphone are working properly and that their bandwidth is sufficient for an online video interview. Respondents should take the tech check on the same device and internet connection they will use for the interview.
A tech check is a short, recorded video response to a question of the project owner’s choice.
To request a tech check, click the Notify and Invite button and select Tech Check Requests.
Review and customize the email content and select your recipients. CC yourself on all emails if you also wish to receive each link. You will receive one email per respondent, as each respondent has a unique link.
If you have not provided us with email addresses for your respondents, we cannot email them their tech check instructions. In the Send to column, you with see "No Email Provided"
You may manually send them links by copying each person’s unique tech check link from the grid and emailing it to them.
All About Tech Checks
Tech checks are optional, but recommended, steps to ensure that your respondents won’t experience technical issues that could slow down your interview. Respondents should take the tech check on the same device and internet connection they will use for the interview.
A tech check is a short, recorded video response to a question of your choice. Leave it with our default “Tell me about yourself in 15 seconds,” or customize your question here:
4. Send interview links
Interview links are available on the grid for each session for easy copy/paste. You can also automate sending by clicking the Notify and Invite button and selecting Interview Invites.
Review and customize the email content and select your recipients. We will automatically include the session date and time, as well as the respondent link to the session.
CC yourself on all emails if you also wish to receive each link. You will receive one email per respondent.
You can resend emails anytime using these same steps if needed.
Reviewing Tech Check Responses
Keep track of respondent tech checks in the TC Status column of the grid.
You will see one of the following statuses:
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Not Sent - you have not chosen to send tech check links from the platform, or you have not provided email addresses to us
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Sent DATE - we sent the tech check email on the indicated date, but the respondent has not yet attempted their tech check. You may want to follow up with them if their interview is coming up
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Attempted - Mobile Blocked - the respondent started the tech check on a mobile device, and mobile is not allowed on this project. We have shown the respondent instructions on how to complete their tech check on a laptop or desktop computer
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Attempted - Wrong Browser - the respondent started the tech check on an incompatible browser. We have shown the respondent instructions on our supported browsers so they can retry
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Attempted - Not Submitted - the respondent started the tech check but did not complete it. You may want to follow up with them if their interview is coming up
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Weak Connection - the respondent completed the tech check successfully but had a lower-than-average connection score and may experience issues in the interview, especially if it is a group. Share best practices for a good connection with your respondent.
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Good! - the respondent completed the tech check and their a/v and connection look good.
Respondents who have completed the tech check will have a video icon next to their status, which allows you to watch their video response.
Upload Stimuli (Optional)
If you will be using stimuli in your project, use our Document Hub to organize documents and make them available in every meeting room.
On your Overview page, scroll down to the Documents section. Select Stimuli and upload your materials. See our supported file types and file sizes.
Create a Discussion Guide (Optional)
When you check off discussion guide questions in our meeting room, we automatically annotate the transcript and the video timeline so you can quickly go to the most interesting part of the conversation.
Export all answers to the same question across interviews to identify patterns and next steps.
Learn how to make a Discussion Guide.
Customize your Takeaways Questions (Optional)
Collect learnings immediately after an interview from everyone involved. View or export for easy theme identification and make debriefs a breeze. Use our default prompts or customize your own.
Learn how to customize Takeaways questions.
Get Familiar with the Meeting Room
Watch this short video to get to know the meeting room functionality.
One-click in the meeting room lets you bookmark important moments and gives you automated video clips of your most compelling soundbites. See your moments on the video timeline to jump straight to that point in the video.
Prep your observers by sharing this article explaining how to join as an Observer and what features are available for this role.
We recommend using your computer for audio, but we do support joining a session by phone. If you or your team need to join via phone, follow these steps.
Please make sure all participants understand the technology requirements for joining a Discuss session.
Prep Your Translator (If Applicable)
We support two types of translation in our platform, Simultaneous and Consecutive.
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Consecutive:
In this setup, the Moderator is not aware of the local language and needs a translator to communicate between him/her and the respondents. You can find more details about this here.
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Simultaneous:
In this setup, the Moderator is aware of the local language and the main discussion happens in the local language. The translator can hear the local conversation and then translate the discussion live in the backroom where the Observers who selected to listen in to the English translation can hear him/her. You can find more details about this here.
You are responsible for sharing session links with your translator from the calendar page.
Get to Know our Key Features
Make the most of your project by getting to know the features that make us the only platform designed for structured video interviews that help inform business decisions large and small.
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Your Project Overview - Get to know your project’s landing page.
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Stimuli Management - Upload stimuli for your project to have them available in every meeting room.
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The Meeting Room - Read about the meeting room functionality.
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Whiteboard and Screenshare - Learn the tools of our whiteboard and supported file types.
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Saved Moments - One click in the meeting room lets you bookmark important moments and gives you automated video clips of your most compelling soundbites. See your moments on the video timeline to jump straight to that point in the video.
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Make or Edit a Video Clip - Highlight a section of the transcript or use the video timeline to make a new clip. Edit an existing clip or Saved Moment to get the perfect verbatim.
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Make a Highlight Reel - Easily drag and drop video clips to create a highlight reel to share with colleagues or download for a presentation.
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Discussion Guide Answers - Our interactive discussion guide annotates the transcript and the video timeline when you check off questions in an interview. Export all answers to the same question across interviews to identify patterns and next steps.
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Key Takeaways - Collect learnings immediately after an interview with everyone involved. View or export for easy theme identification and make debriefs a breeze. Use our default prompts or customize your own.