ThemeFacilitation & roles
CardCard 49 of 63
Questions5 to explore
StepOpen the session

Tech Introduction

Get people up to speed & introduce the tools

A brief tool introduction at the start of the session is the difference between participants who engage with the platform and participants who quietly give up on it.

Not everyone in your session is equally comfortable with the tools you are using. Even experienced video call users may not know how breakout rooms work, where the whiteboard is, or how to use a polling feature. Assuming they will figure it out is a reliable way to lose a portion of the group before the real session begins.

A tech introduction does not have to be long: three to five minutes at the start, covering the two or three features you will actually use, is usually enough. The goal is to give participants enough confidence that a prompt to use a tool does not create anxiety, and enough familiarity that they can follow without needing individual help mid-session.

Online, specificallyOnline, participants who cannot operate the tools will not ask for help in front of the group; a short working introduction at the start prevents silent dropout far better than a support contact in the pre-session email.

In a remote session

The same building block as it plays out online: how experienced facilitators tend to handle it when the room is a screen. Illustrations to react to, not rules to follow.

Show, do not tell

Walk through the feature on screen as you describe it: show where to find the chat, demonstrate the raised-hand button, or open a breakout room briefly. Seeing is faster than following a verbal description.

Do a low-stakes practice

Include one quick action that uses the tools you plan to use later, such as a check-in poll or a chat greeting, before the main session starts. This normalises the tools while the stakes are low and surfaces any access problems.

Name the support channel

Tell participants explicitly how to get help if something is not working for them: a specific person to message, a phone number, or a 'technical issues' chat thread. This gives stuck participants somewhere to go without interrupting the session.

Questions to plan around

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

Which specific features will participants need to use during this session, and have you covered each of them in the introduction?
Have you included a low-stakes practice moment that lets you spot access or navigation problems before the main work begins?
Who is available to help participants who cannot access a tool, and do participants know how to reach them?
How long is your tech introduction, and is it proportionate to the number and complexity of tools you are using?
Have you confirmed that all participants can access the main tools before the session date, rather than discovering problems on the day?

What trips people up online

Skipping the tech introduction to save time is a false economy: five minutes at the start prevents far more disruption than troubleshooting mid-activity.
A tech introduction that is only verbal, without showing the interface, leaves visual learners and those with slower processing behind.
Participants who encounter access problems and cannot find help will go quiet rather than raise their hand, and you will not know they are excluded until the session is over.