Live sessions in Ballpark let you connect with participants in real-time for interviews, moderated usability tests, and any research where conversation adds value. Everything happens directly in Ballpark – no need for separate meeting apps or plugins. Watch a video tour of Ballpark Live
Live sessions are in private beta: Press the chat icon at the bottom right to speak to our team about getting access to this feature
Creating your study
You start by creating a study exactly as you normally would in Ballpark. Press Create project and put together all the steps you need – survey questions, usability tasks, preference tests, whatever works for your research goals.
The key thing to understand is that there's no separate "live session" project type. Every study in Ballpark can collect responses as either live sessions or self-guided sessions. You make that choice later when you're ready to share.
Setting up your live session
Once you've built your study, you'll see a new Sessions tab alongside your usual study tabs. This is where all your active sessions will appear, making it easy to keep track of who's participating and when.
To invite participants to a live session:
Click the Share button on the top-right corner of your study
Toggle from Self guided to Live session and copy
Send this link to your participants however you normally would – email, Slack, or your participant management tool
That's it. Each participant gets the same link, but they'll join individual sessions that you can moderate separately.
Recruitment & scheduling: Live sessions don't include Ballpark recruitment or scheduling just yet. We're focused on getting the core experience of right first – joining, moderating and observing right first. For now, you can handle recruitment and scheduling through your own methods.
What participants experience
When participants click your live session link, they'll go through a quick setup process:
First, they'll set up their screen recording and audio
Then they'll enter a waiting room where they can see they're ready to start
The waiting room is important because it means participants can join when they're ready, but the session doesn't start until you're there too.
Getting notified when participants are ready
As soon as a participant enters the waiting room, you'll get both an email notification and an in-app notification in Ballpark. This means you'll know immediately when someone's ready to start, even if you're not actively watching the Sessions tab.
You can then choose how to join the session.
Upcoming waiting room changes: The flow for joining the session will soon be changing so that moderators and observers can enter the main room and choose to let the participant in once they're ready.
Joining as a moderator
When you join as a moderator, you're in control of the session. You can:
Start the session when you're ready
Guide participants through the study steps
Ask follow-up questions
End the session when you're done
You can have multiple moderators in the same session. This is perfect for tag-teaming interviews or having a colleague help with note-taking while you focus on asking questions.
Joining as an observer
Sometimes you want to watch without participating directly. When you join as an anonymous observer:
Participants can't see or hear you
You can watch everything that happens in real-time
You won't accidentally interrupt the flow of the session
This is perfect for stakeholders who want to see research happen live, or for team members who want to learn from watching experienced moderators work.
Running the session
Everything happens within Ballpark. The participant shares their screen, you can see their reactions through their camera, and the conversation flows naturally. There's no switching between different apps or worrying about recording setup – Ballpark handles all of that automatically.
The recording starts as soon as the session begins, so you can focus entirely on the conversation rather than managing the tech.
After the session
Once the session ends, you'll find the recording and transcript in your usual study results. It gets the same analysis features as self-guided sessions – structured transcripts, AI summaries, and key topics pulled out automatically.
Insights & analysis: Our upcoming Insights report uses AI to analyse video feedback with task and question responses to give deep context and highlight reels. Contact us via the chat button do discuss beta access.
Managing multiple participants
Your Sessions tab will show all active sessions, so if you're running back-to-back interviews or have multiple team members moderating different sessions, you can see everything that's happening at a glance.
Each session is independent, so participants never interact with each other – they just get their own private session with you and your team.
The live session flow is designed to be as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Participants get a clear, simple experience, and you get all the tools you need to run great research sessions without any technical hassle.