In-person Q&A

Summary

In-person Q&A sessions can be created in order to be accessed by participants via the app.

By "in-person Q&A", we are referring to a Q&A session that takes place in an in-person event, without having a live stream attached to it.

The in-person Q&A option will need to be enabled at the organization level to use this in your event. Please contact SpotMe support to have this enabled. The workspace will also need to have the latest version of the Live streams module installed.

In Backstage, the in-person Q&A needs to be created and then associated to an agenda session.

In the app, the participants will navigate to that session in order to access the Q&A and ask their questions. They can do this before and during the session.

Back in Backstage, the host or moderator will moderate the questions that are received in order to control what questions the attendees will see in the app and when they are to be addressed by the speakers.

Speakers have their own tailored access to the Q&A panel, where they can see and anticipate any upcoming approved questions, and keep track of the question that is currently being answered

Creating the in-person Q&A

Follow the below steps to create your in-person Q&A session:

1. To set-up an in-person Q&A session in your event, you will need to create a "mock" stream.
   Go to the Live streams module in the workspace, and create a new live stream in your event:
   
   
   
2. Configure the stream settings as follows:

- Enter a stream name. This will be the name of the Q&A session that will only be visible in Backstage. 
- You do not need to specify a scheduled for time, as this will not be used. You can leave this field as is.
- In the Steam type, select the None (in-person Q&A) option.
With this option selected, only the Q&A options (Moderated and Anonymous questions) can be toggled on or off depending on your needs for the in-person Q&A session.

Click on Save to finish creating the in-person Q&A. This stream will later be associated to the session where the in-person Q&A will take place.

Associating the in-person Q&A to an agenda session

Now that you have created the mock live stream that contains the in-person Q&A, you will need to associate it to the agenda session where the Q&A will take place, and where the attendees will be able to access it in the app:

1. Go to Content > Sessions, and open the session where you want to add the in-person Q&A.
   
   
2. In the Session view, go to the Live stream drop down, and add the mock stream previously created for the in-person Q&A. Remember to click Save changes to confirm.

The Q&A session is now enabled on the session in the app, and participants can navigate there and start adding questions (even before the session starts).

How do participants access the Q&A?

From the participant's perspective, once the Q&A is associated to the session, the attendees can post Q&A questions directly from the session in the agenda.

All attendee questions that are approved by the host/moderator will appear as a list in the Q&A tab in the app.

On mobile app:
                             

The question currently being answered in the session (when marked as "Answering now" by the moderator) will be pinned to the top of the list and have an "Answering now" status.

On web app:

In the web app, Q&A questions are displayed on the same page as the session, above the session details:

How does Q&A moderation work?

Q&A questions need to be moderated to determine which received questions will be visible to all participants in the app, and to choose when to pin a question currently being addressed to the top of the Q&A questions list for all to see.

This can be done:

• By the host via Backstage, by directly opening the Q&A mock stream, and moderating the incoming questions there directly.
  OR
• By a moderator that does not need to have access to Backstage, via a moderator permalink that can be shared by the host and provides a tailored access only to the Q&A moderation panel.
  The moderator permalink will allow access to the moderation panel via their browser. It can be found in the Q&A mock stream settings, and then copied and shared.
  

In the moderation panel, any incoming questions will appear in the Incoming tab once they are submitted by the attendees. In the screenshot below, one question has been submitted and is not yet approved or archived:

In the incoming tab, the questions can be:
- archived, so they will not be seen by the attendees in the Q&A, and will be moved to the Archived tab.
- edited, should the host or moderator wish to make any adjustments to the question prior to approving it.
- approved, i.e moved to the Discussion tab and immediately displayed to the attendees in the Q&A tab in the app.

Once a question is approved and added to the Discussion tab, when it is time to answer the question the host or moderator can click on Answer now for that question.


In the app, this will pin the question to the top of the Q&A list and mark it as Answering now for the attendees to see:

Once the question has been answered during the session, the host or moderator can the click on Done, and the question will no longer be pinned to the top of the list (it will return to its initial position in the Q&A list of questions).

How can speakers see the approved Q&A questions?

Speakers have their own tailored access to the Q&A panel, where they can see and anticipate any upcoming approved questions, and keep track of the question that is currently being answered:

Speakers cannot moderate any questions, the speaker access to the Q&A is a view-only access.

Access is provided to speakers via a speaker permalink that they can access via their browser. The permalink can be found in the Q&A mock stream settings in Backstage, and then copied and shared with the speakers by the host or moderator:

FAQ

• Does the in-person Q&A need to be enabled for the organization prior to a workspace being created, or can it be done retroactively?
  This option can be enabled after the workspace is created. Please contact SpotMe support to have this enabled. The workspace will also need to have the latest version of the Live streams module installed.
  
  
• Can organization admin’s change that flag themselves, or does it always have to be support?
  This can only be done by contacting SpotMe support.
  
  
• Can the Q&A panel be displayed on a large screen in a plenary or on a stage for all to see?
  For the moment this is an in-app feature, there is currently no specially designed screen for live display in a plenary.