Interviews and group discussions

On the Interviews tab you plan video calls with participants: one to one interviews, and group discussions with 2 to 10 participants. Everyone joins in the browser, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install.

Owners, researchers and moderators of the study can plan and run sessions. See Roles.

Plan a session

1. Open the study and click Interviews.
2. Under Plan a session, choose Interview (one participant) or Group discussion (2 to 10 participants).
3. Choose the Participant, or tick the participants for a group discussion.
4. Choose the Date, the Time (in the study time zone) and the Length.
5. Add a Topic if you like. It is shown to the participants.
6. Optionally, add People from outside your team (see below).
7. Tick or untick Record the session and Send the invitations now. Both are ticked by default.
8. Click Plan the session.

Only participants who have agreed to take part are in the list. Those Zolensa cannot reach show "(no email or mobile)".

People from outside your team

You can invite people who have no Zolensa account, each with a name, an email address and a role:

• Moderator: seen and heard, and runs the session like your team: mute people, switch the chat off, take someone out of the call, record. For example a freelance moderator.
• Guest: seen and heard, without the controls. For example someone from the client who asks a question.
• Observer: watches from the observation room. Participants do not see or hear observers, and observers do not appear in the participants' list of people.

Each gets an email in English with a personal link. The link opens the session in their browser. Do not share it: anyone with the link joins as that person.

Your own team does not need an invitation. On the session page, click Join as moderator or Watch as observer.

Invitations and reminders

Participants get the invitation in their language, by email, WhatsApp or text message, as the study chooses. See WhatsApp and text messages. It gives the time in their own time zone, the length and the topic, and a button to join.

About an hour before the start, everyone whose invitation went out gets a reminder the same way.

If you did not send the invitations, participants still see the session in the study app, on the Today screen. On the session page you can send each invitation, send it again, or click Send the invitations not sent yet.

When the call opens

Participants and guests can join from 15 minutes before the start, until an hour after the planned end. Moderators can open the call earlier, for example to test the camera. The call closes when a moderator ends the session, or when it is marked as done or cancelled.

Run the call

1. On the session page, click Join as moderator.
2. Click the button to join, and allow your camera and microphone.
3. Wait for the participants. Everyone in the call shows as a tile with their name; the person speaking has a coloured frame.

The buttons at the bottom of the call:

• the microphone and camera, to turn them off and on
• Chat, with the number of new messages
• People (moderators): the people in the call, with Mute and Remove for each, Mute everyone, and Chat for participants to switch their chat on or off
• Full screen, and again to leave full screen
• Record and Stop recording (moderators)
• the red button to leave. Your team chooses Leave, keep the session open or End the session for everyone

A muted participant sees that a moderator muted them and can unmute when they want to speak. Someone you remove can join again with their link while the session is open; to stop that, remove them on the session page.

Next to the call, Notes are saved as you type, and Their answers lists the participants' recent entries.

Chat and the observation room

The chat has two parts for moderators and observers:

• Everyone: the chat of the call. Participants and guests write here while the chat is on. Observers can read it, but not write in it.
• Observation room: only moderators and observers. Observers use it to send questions and notes to the moderators. Participants never see it.

The whole chat is kept with the session and shows on the session page afterwards.

Recording

When the session is recorded, recording starts by itself when the first participant joins a team moderator. Everyone sees REC in the call. One moderator records at a time; their browser must stay open until the recording is saved.

The recording shows everyone in a grid with their names, with all voices. It is saved in pieces during the call, so little is lost if a page closes.

After the session

On the session page you find:

• the Recording, once it is converted, with a download link, and its transcript a few minutes later when transcripts are on for the study
• People: who was invited and when, and who joined
• the Chat, with the observation room messages marked
• your Notes

An interview's recording belongs to its participant. A group discussion's recording belongs to the session. When you run the AI analysis for all tasks, the transcripts of interviews and group discussions are included.

Change or cancel a session

On the session page:

• add a participant to a group discussion, or invite someone from outside, with Invite from outside
• Remove a person: their link stops working
• Mark as done closes the call
• Cancel the session cancels it. Zolensa does not tell the participants, so let them know in Messages. See Messages and follow-up questions.
• Open it again reopens a done or cancelled session