Live Group Chat with Video Setup
The Live Group Chat activity type has recently been upgraded to support Live Video. It provides an opportunity to schedule group video meetings with all or a subset of the participants in a study. Group chats with live video are limited to 25 participants, and administrators in attendance are also limited to 25, with a total maximum attendance of 50 people.
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 below 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 calendar application:
- Google Calendar
- Yahoo Calendar
- Live Calendar
- iCal (ICS)
Enabling Live Video
If not enabled, your group chat will be a text-chat only.
Once Live Video is enabled, the following sub-options appear:
- Start with participants muted: If selected, participants will join the meeting with their microphones muted until they unmute themselves.
- Start with participant cameras disabled: If selected, participants will join the meeting with their camera disabled until they enable the camera themselves.
- If this option is selected, an additional sub-option of Do not allow participants to enable their camera appears below. When this sub-option is enabled, participants will be blocked from using their cameras during the meeting, but will still have access to their microphones in order to participate using audio in addition to utilizing the text-based chat feature.
- Do not enable backroom audio and translator support: If selected, the dedicated backroom audio channels for observers and translators will be disabled. Client observers may still join the Activity if they have been given permission to do so, but will have access to observe and access the backroom text-chat feature only.
Activity Visibility and Description
Like any Activity in a Recollective Study, you'll need to determine who it's visible to. Will the Activity be completed by All participants or just a subset of Study participants (e.g. Only select segments)?
Tip: If you are holding multiple Live Group Chat meetings with a subset of participants in each meeting, consider labelling your Segments to correspond with each meeting Date and Time
Live Group Chat Activities can also be limited in visibility for Client-role accounts. By enabling the Limit visibility by clients option, you can make the Activity visible to only select clients, or hide the Activity from clients entirely.
You have the option to prepare an Activity description (similar to the instructions in a Journal Activity's setup) that will let people know what this Activity is about. This description will be displayed 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 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.
Other Important Considerations
Live Video Minute Consumption
Usage of video in a Live Group Chat will consume Live Video Minutes (sold separately). Please contact us to learn more.
The rate at which Live Video Minutes are consumed does not relate to the number of people in the meeting. For example, a 90-minute meeting with 25 participants will consume only 90 Live Video Minutes. Consumption of minutes is tracked in the Subscriptions area with meeting-level details recorded in the Site Log.
System Requirements
Please also review System Requirements for Live Video Meetings to learn about browser and bandwidth requirements.