Creating Sessions

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Overview

As a session creator, you can set up and manage Harmonica sessions to gather insights, facilitate discussions, and coordinate with groups. This guide covers everything you need to know about creating effective sessions.

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Creating your first session

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Session configuration

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Objective

The objective summarizes what you are trying to achieve through the interviews. Be clear and specific:

• ✅ Good: “I want to understand user preferences on our new product features and identify which features are most valuable.”
• ❌ Vague: “Get feedback”

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Critical to gather

Critical to gather specifies what kind of information or details you need from participant responses:

• ✅ Good: “Participants should provide examples of their workflows or describe challenges they face when using similar products.”
• ❌ Vague: “Their thoughts”

This helps guide the conversation to focus on gathering the qualitative insights you need from participants.

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Context

Context provides background to help the AI understand the purpose of your session (this step is optional):

• Relevant history or previous discussions
• Current state of the project or topic
• Any relevant constraints or considerations
• Company or product background

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Session name

Choose a clear, descriptive name that will be shared with participants. This helps them understand what the session is about before they join.

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Using templates

Templates provide pre-configured session setups for common use cases:

• Product feedback sessions
• Team retrospectives
• Research interviews
• Planning sessions

Browse available templates when creating a session to save time and ensure you’re asking the right questions.

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Inviting participants

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Sharing the session link

Once your session is launched, you’ll get a unique session link in the format: /chat?s={sessionId}. You can:

• Copy the link - Click the “Copy link” button to copy the full URL to your clipboard
• Generate QR code - Click “QR code” to generate a QR code that participants can scan
• Share via email, messaging, or other channels

The link takes participants directly to the conversation interface where they can start their guided conversational survey.

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Participant pre-session form

Before participants start chatting, they’ll fill out the pre-session form you configured:

• Default fields: Name and Email (optional)
• Custom questions you added during session creation
• Questions are shown in the order you configured

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Best practices for invitations

• Provide context: Let participants know what the session is about and why their input matters
• Set expectations: Mention how long the session might take
• Give a deadline: If there’s a time limit, communicate it clearly
• Follow up: Remind participants if needed, but don’t be pushy

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Managing active sessions

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Monitoring participation

While a session is active, you can:

• See who has joined
• Monitor participation levels
• View real-time contributions (depending on settings)

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Adjusting settings

You can modify some session settings while it’s active:

• Update visibility settings
• Add or remove participants
• Adjust goals or context if needed

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Reviewing session results

After participants have contributed, Harmonica generates:

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Summary

An overview of key insights synthesized from all participants’ contributions.

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Session recap

A detailed breakdown of the conversation, including:

• Individual responses
• Common themes
• Unique insights

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Custom insights

Additional analysis based on your session goals and the data collected.

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Similarity scores

If enabled, you can see how similar or different participants’ responses are.

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Organizing sessions into projects

Sessions can be organized into projects or workspaces to:

• Group related sessions together
• Track progress over time
• Maintain context across multiple sessions
• Share access with team members

See our Managing Projects guide for more details.

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Best practices

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Troubleshooting

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Participants can’t access the session

• Check the link: Verify the invitation link is correct and hasn’t expired
• Visibility settings: Ensure the session isn’t set to private if you want external participants
• Contact support: If issues persist, reach out to [email protected]

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Low participation

• Remind participants: Sometimes a gentle reminder helps
• Clarify the value: Make sure participants understand why their input matters
• Make it easy: Ensure the session is accessible and the topic is clear

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Results not as expected

• Review your goals: Make sure your session goals are clear and achievable
• Check context: Ensure participants had enough information to provide useful responses
• Iterate: Consider running another session with adjusted questions or context

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Next steps

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Need help?