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Running a session

Practice a workshop before you run it with your team

6 min read

A practice run lets you see the facilitator controls and the participant experience at the same time, so nothing is a surprise on the day. You can run it solo with two browser windows, or walk through it with a teammate.

This guide uses Letting Go of Old Ways as the worked example, but the same steps apply to any workshop in the catalog.

  1. 1

    Before you start

    You only need three things to run a practice round.

    • Your facilitator access to the workshop
    • Two browser windows on the same computer, or a teammate to help
    • About 15 minutes
    Workshop toolkit homepage showing facilitator and participant entry points
    Keep one window logged in as the facilitator and use a private window for the participant link, so the two roles do not interfere with each other.
  2. 2

    Pick a workshop

    Start in the Knowledge & Collaboration section of the Toolkit Catalog and choose the workshop you want to practice — for this guide, Letting Go of Old Ways. Selecting the card opens the workshop's own page, where you start a new session.

    Finding the workshop in the catalog and opening its workshop page.
  3. 3

    Create a new session

    The workshop page is your facilitator entry point — there is no separate sign-in step. Select Start New Session and name it so it is obvious this is a test, for example "TEST – Do not use – Letting Go of Old Ways". Leave the default settings in place for your first run. Each real team should get its own session so responses stay separate.

    Letting Go of Old Ways workshop homepage showing the Start New Session button
    The workshop homepage. Select Start New Session to create your practice session.
  4. 4

    Rename your test session

    Once the session exists, open the facilitator hub, choose Past Sessions, find your test session and rename it there. You do not have to do this first — running the practice round and tidying the name afterwards is fine.

    Past Sessions list showing a renamed test session
    Rename the test session so it is easy to recognise later.
  5. 5

    Copy and share the participant link

    The facilitator view shows a shareable participant link or session code. Participants do not need a login — anyone with the link can join while the session is open.

    • Select the copy button next to the link
    • Paste it somewhere you can reach quickly, such as a note or a message to yourself
    • Leave the facilitator window open
    Facilitator session view highlighting the shareable session code
    The facilitator session view shows the session code and the session controls.
  6. 6

    Join your own session as a participant

    Open a private or incognito window and paste the participant link. Enter a test name like "Practice Participant" so your test responses are easy to spot later. If you open the link in a normal tab while logged in as facilitator, you may be treated as the facilitator and skip the participant view entirely.

    Participant join screen asking for a name and showing the session code
    You should now have two windows side by side: facilitator controls on one, the participant view on the other.
  7. 7

    Run the workshop end to end

    Start the session from the facilitator window and watch how the participant window responds as you advance. Do this for every activity type — reflection prompts, polls, group exercises and closing activities — so you know what participants see before they see it.

    • Reveal the first prompt in the facilitator window
    • Submit a response in the participant window
    • Check the facilitator view to see the response appear
    • Advance to the next activity and repeat
    Facilitator view of an activity showing submitted responses grouped into categories
    During an activity the facilitator view shows submitted responses and the facilitator script alongside them.
  8. 8

    Review results and reset

    At the end, the facilitator view shows the results page — the same one you will use with a real team. Use the practice run to learn which responses are shown to the group, which stay private to you, and how to export the outputs. Then end or archive the test session and create a fresh one for the real run.

    Reviewing the results page so you know what to expect on the day.

Facilitation tips

Run it once to learn the buttons and again to learn the pacing. Name test sessions clearly so you never invite a real team into one. Read the activity prompts in advance so you can paraphrase rather than read from the screen, and test your screen share during the practice round so participants only see what you intend.

Common questions

Do participants need an account?
No. Anyone with the participant link can join. They enter their name or a nickname when they open the link and go straight into the live session.
Can participants see each other's answers?
It depends on the activity. Most reflection activities show aggregated responses to the facilitator only. Any activity that surfaces individual answers is clearly labeled before participants submit.
Can I reuse the same session link?
You can, but for a clean run create a new session for each team. A fresh session keeps reporting tidy and avoids leftover responses from your practice round.
Does a test session affect my reporting?
A practice session counts as a normal session while it is open, but you can archive or delete it once you are done.
What if I close my facilitator tab by accident?
Reopen the session from your facilitator hub. The session stays active until you explicitly end it.

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