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This article is part of a three-part series on empathy sessions:

This article discusses functionality that is included in Ideas Advanced. Please contact us if you would like a live demo or want to try using it in your account.

Aha! Ideas | Prepare an empathy session (Advanced plan)

Since your empathy session will be a live experience, you need to prepare for it. In this article, we will talk through how you can help focus the conversation, make sure you are asking questions that will spark insightful answers, and give your contacts orienting information.

Empathy session in Aha! Ideas with description tab open.

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Description

In the Description tab, you can edit the Topic you entered when you created the session. You can also include files. Your contacts will see what you put here.

You can also create a discussion Guide for yourself. Your contacts will not see this but any session organizers will. Organizers are Aha! Ideas users who will be leading the session with you — you can add them in the right sidebar.

Click Open session in the top-right corner of the empathy details view to see what your empathy session will look like when you run it, including your Topic and discussion Guide.

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Branding

Make this session a familiar experience for your contacts by customizing it to match your company's brand. You had the chance to input some of this information during the session builder but you can customize your session further on this tab.

Theme

  • Theme color: Select a color for your empathy session. Use a hex color code to select a custom color. This color will be used as a background color in emails and in the empathy session itself.

  • Logo: Upload your logo to the empathy session. This logo will be used in the empathy session header and in emails relating to the session. Logos should be at least 480px by 300px with a preferred aspect ratio of 1.6:1.

  • Favicon: Upload a favicon to the empathy session. This favicon will be used in the left side of everyone's browser address bar and next to your profile picture within the session itself. Favicons should be 16px by 16px and can be .png, .gif, or .ico.

  • Welcome message: This is the message your contacts will see when they first join your session. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

    If you have scheduled a multi-day empathy session, it is a good idea to adjust this welcome message so that your contacts are aware that they might be joining a conversation already in progress, especially if you would like to make sure they respond to polls you have already posted or want to mention that you might not respond to their posts immediately.

Emails

  • Email reply-to name: The name you enter here will be used as the "From" name for emails sent to your empathy session's contacts.

  • Email reply-to email: The email address you enter here will be used as the "Reply-to" email address for emails sent to this empathy session's contacts.

Invitation email

This email will be sent to your contacts when you first invite them.

  • Subject: Edit the subject of the invitation email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

  • Introduction: This is the first paragraph of the invitation email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

Confirmation email

This email will be sent to your contacts after they have RSVPed for your session.

  • Subject: Edit the subject of the confirmation email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

  • Introduction: This is the first paragraph of the confirmation email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

Reminder (24 hr) email

This email will be sent to your contacts 24 hours before the session begins.

  • Subject: Edit the subject of the reminder email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

  • Introduction: This is the first paragraph of the reminder email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

Reminder (1 hr) email

This email will be sent to your contacts 1 hour before the session begins.

  • Subject: Edit the subject of the reminder email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

  • Introduction: This is the first paragraph of the reminder email. You can see the default text and edit it if you need to.

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Contacts

Session contacts are the ones giving you feedback — and the people you are developing empathy for.

At the top of the tab, you can choose to Add additional contacts that you did not add during the session builder. If you created your empathy session from an idea or linked it to multiple ideas, anyone who has subscribed to the idea is automatically added to the Add contacts modal when you navigate to Contacts and click Add.

You can also check a box allowing anyone with access to the session link to register. Find that link by clicking Copy contact link in the top-right corner of the session details view.

In the middle of the tab, some data will give you a quick idea of how many people are planning to — or did — attend your session.

At the bottom of the tab is a list of each individual participant. Click the More options button by an individual participant to Re-send their invitation.

Click Open session in the top-right corner of your empathy session to see what your session will look like when you run it, including your Contacts.

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Insights

In an empathy session, you need to be fully present for your contacts — and you need to keep track of insights they share. This tab is where you list Learnings from the session and where you can review any messages you have starred for later and the results of any polls you have created. Create related ideas directly from those messages. Everything you star or write down here (as well as the results of any polls) is only visible to you and your Aha! Ideas users with access to your workspace, not the contacts.

Click Open session in the top-right corner of your empathy session to see what your session will look like when you run it, including the Insights tab.

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Comments

Like any other record in Aha! Ideas, users in your Aha! Ideas account can comment on an empathy session.

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To-dos

Like any other record in Aha! ideas, users in your Aha! Ideas account can also assign each other to-dos related to an empathy session. These can be related to the empathy session preparation or for insights you glean during the session itself.

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Use the Related tab to link your empathy session to other records in your account. Click Add from the related tab to link a record. Select a relationship type — like relates to, depends on, or blocks. Then select the record type of the related record and use the search bar to find the record you want to link.

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History

Like any record in Aha! Ideas, you can track the full history of an empathy session.

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Though this is not a tab, it is still part of the empathy session's detail view and worth discussing as you prepare for your session.

  • Status: Select your session's status.

  • Assigned to: Select the Aha! Ideas user who is managing this empathy session.

  • Watchers: Like most Aha! Ideas records, empathy sessions can have watchers. These are users who want to receive updates on the session as it progresses through its workflow.

  • Session date: The date(s) your empathy session will take place. You can schedule a single- or multi-day empathy session.

  • Session time: The start and end times your empathy session will take place.

    Empathy sessions will not start until you click Start session now and do not end until you click End session. This means that you can start a session early or extend it past its end date if you are in the middle of a great conversation. The Date and Time fields you enter here will be copied into the welcome email your contacts receive, to help them budget time for your session.

  • Time zone: The time zone your Session time is in. This information is included in your participant's emails.

  • Organizers: Organizers are the Aha! Ideas users who are leading the empathy session. You can have multiple organizers or just one, depending on your session's needs.

  • Ideas to discuss: If you linked your empathy session to an idea (or created it from an idea), those ideas will appear here. Click on any idea to go to its detail view. Or click in the space after an idea to open a list of ideas in your workspace and link additional ideas to your session. Remember, linking an idea to your session populates that idea's subscribers in the Add contacts modal when you navigate to Contacts and click Add. You can choose to invite them to your session.

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