Live Group Chat Setup
Live Group Chat Activities enable you to build a chatroom-style Activity that opens at a specific date and time and typically closes after an hour or two of live conversation. Live Group Chat can support text-based chats, as well as live video chats. During the Activity, participants can interact directly with the chat moderator(s) via video, typed messages and live polls.
The Live Group Chat activity is limited to 200 attendees for text-based setups, and Live Group Chat with Video activities are limited to 50 attendees.
Activity Date and Time
As part of a Live Group Chat Activity's setup, you must set its date. You'll be required to choose a Start Date and Start Time (i.e. the day and time of the live chat) as well as Duration (in minutes). The Activity's time zone will also be displayed on the setup page directly above the date field.
Once the setup is complete, participants will see the Activity card from their Activities page and be able to click into it. They can then use the Add to Calendar option to schedule the Activity in their preferred external calendar application:
- Google Calendar
- Yahoo Calendar
- Outlook Office 365 Calendar
- Outlook Live
- iCal (ICS)
Chat Mode
When configuring a Live Group Chat activity, two Chat Modes will be available:
- If the Text Chat option is selected, your group chat activity will be a text-only synchronous discussion.
- If the Video Chat option is selected, you will be able to schedule a synchronous live group video meeting, or focus group, with participants.
Once your Chat Mode is defined, you will have the option to define Activity Access settings for Text and Live group chats, as well as Video Chat-specific Activity Behavior settings, such as: Start with participants muted, Start with participant cameras disabled and Disable backroom audio and translator support.
Activity Access and Description
Like any Activity in a Recollective Study, you'll need to determine who it's visible to using the Activity Access settings. Will the Activity be completed by All participants or just a subset of Study participants (e.g. Only select segments)?
Live Group Chat Activities can also be limited in access for Client-role accounts. By default, the Activities will be visible to All clients, however, by selecting the desired option from the Client Access menu, you can make the Activity accessible to only select clients or hide the Activity from clients entirely, if desired.
At the bottom of the Activity Setup page, you can then prepare an Activity Description (similar to the instructions in a Journal Activity's setup) that lets people know what the Activity is about. Any text entered in this Description field will appear on the Meeting page when participants join the Activity and will also be visible if they click on the card from the Activities page.
Notifications
Each Activity in a Recollective Study can have customized notifications tied to it. These notification options can be found by clicking on the Notifications tab next to Basic Settings towards the top of the Activity Setup page, or by clicking the More options... link towards the bottom.
For Live Group Chat Activities, the notification options are:
- Activity starts tomorrow (24 hours before start)
- Activity starts soon (1 to 2 hours before start)
- Activity started (actual start time)
Point Customization
If you have chosen to enable the point tracking feature for your Study, you will see a Points tab on the Activity Setup page with the option to Customize points awarded for activity completion. This is an opportunity to depart from the default point allocation for a Live Group Chat Activity as configured in Study Settings: Points.
Prepared Content
After saving your Live Group Chat Activity, you will have the option to create any Prepared Content Items.
Backroom Access
Clients will only be permitted to join a Live Group Chat if the Client Permission to Collaborate in backroom is enabled. If you'd like for a Client to participate in the chat directly with participants, then you'll need to enable the Interact with participants permission as well.