The scheduled video discussion workflow

A scheduled video discussion is ideal if you are engaging many participants with varying availability. You can invite participants to schedule themselves by choosing from several timeslots.

For more information about both types of video discussions and which one is right for you, see Video discussions.

Note: You must be an Admin, or a Power User, Author, or Video Discussions User with the following permissions to complete the video discussion workflow:
  • Can view the Video Discussion projects and moderate interviews
  • Can create new Video Discussion projects
  • Can schedule Video interviews and manage projects
  • Can schedule distributions
  • Can access sensitive data

Step 1: Create a screening survey

This step is optional but recommended. Before you create and distribute a video discussion, create and distribute a survey that screens for eligible and willing participants. The survey can ask:

  • For participants' consent to appear on video.
  • If participants are available during proposed dates and times.
    Tip: Check your personal calendar and ensure that you are also available at these dates and times.
  • Project-specific questions.
  • Profiling questions.
Tip: Add survey logic that disqualifies participants who do not consent, are not available, or do not meet eligibility criteria. This way, you only have to focus on completed responses in reporting to identify eligible participants.

After distributing the survey, look at the results in reporting:

Step 2: Create a video discussion

Open the Surveys app and create a new video discussion activity. You can specify the name of the activity and who has access to it.

Set the Meeting Type to Schedule an Interview.

Step 3: Set up your video discussion

On the Set Up tab, click the Set Up button to open the Overview page in a new browser tab. From there, you can set up the basic details of your video discussion.

You can do this in one of two ways:

Set up a video discussion for each date/time. Afterward, you can add the invites to your calendar. On the Scheduling tab, you can see a summary view of your scheduled sessions and make quick edits to the event names, descriptions, quotas, and whether to include the sessions as available timeslots for participants to select. For more information, see Manage scheduled video discussion interviews.

You can also return to the Overview page to manage upcoming sessions, manage project settings, or set your default timezone.

Step 4: Set up video discussion content

If you have supplementary materials and activities that participants need access to during their session, prepare them in advance. You can also take this time to prepare follow-up discussion points that moderators and observers will need after the session.

  • Create a discussion guide that lists questions and sections. Discussion guides can help moderators stay focused during the session and let observers know what is coming next.
  • Polls can add an interactive element to your video discussion and help you gather quantitative data during the session.
  • Upload stimuli that participants can refer to such as images, videos, and documents .
  • For moderators and observers, create takeaway questions that you can share at the conclusion of a video discussion.

Step 5: Manage project settings

Refine the smaller details of the video discussion experience for participants. Specify meeting room and privacy settings, like whether the participants' video should be blurred in the session recording, or if pseudonyms should be used in the meeting room. For more information, see Manage project settings.

Step 6: Test the video discussion experience

Use your personal meeting room to see how stimuli will be displayed to participants. For more information, see Personal Meeting Room.

Step 7: Distribute the video discussion

Invite or remind participants to choose a scheduled timeslot. After they have scheduled themselves, you can send follow-up interview communications to update participants on any changes. The interview communications also allow them to re-schedule or cancel. For more information about these steps, see Invite participants to a scheduled video discussion.

If you need to grant access to third party moderators and observers who don't have Alida login credentials, now is the time to do it. For more information, see these topics: .

Tip:
  • If you used a screening survey, there's an easy way to enter the emails you've already identified as your participant group. On the Recipients tab, from the Add Recipients menu, select Enter recipients email and enter the email addresses of the Complete responses from your Excel export as a comma-separated list.
  • If you are creating or editing a member filter:
    • Click the Select Participants tab to select individual participants to invite.
    • Clear the Community Engagement Rule check box. Otherwise, participants' recent participation in the screening survey may prevent them from receiving the video discussion invitation.
Tip: Want to know what accepting an invitation is like from the participants' perspective? See Choose a scheduled video discussion time.

Step 8: Conduct the video discussion and track participants

When the scheduled time for your video discussion arrives, join the session as a moderator or an observer.

As a moderator, you may have to do the following tasks during the session:

Tip: Want to know what video discussion participation is like from the participants' perspective? See these topics:

When the session is over, share the takeaway questions with moderators and observers. Take the time to review key insights and observations.

Step 9: Review video

After you conduct your interview, review and analyze the video and transcript of the video discussion. As part of this process, you can: