Host controls
The Host controls are available when Meeting mode is active, and they help you run a productive collaboration session.
- Turn on private writing to hide sticky notes
- Decide which tools your participants get
- Prevent participants from unlocking the board
- Set a timer
- Enable "Hide Identities"
- Run Polls
- Start a 'Ready Check' of your participants
- Use 'Everyone to Me' to bring people to you
- Pause the meeting
- Add co-Hosts
To become the Host, switch into Meeting mode from the button above the left toolbar, or from the top of the board:
Everyone on the board sees the broadcasted message:
Everyone sees the announcement message.
The Host has access to meeting controls from the header:
Click on the Meeting name at the top to get the facilitator controls.
Hide Identities allows you to make all participants anonymous, and to stop Metro Retro tracking what they wrote or where they voted. When Hide Identities is on:
- you can’t tell who is who
- you can’t tell who wrote a sticky note, ever!
- voting is anonymous
Hide Identities is a mode that you can turn on and off, to use whenever you need - whether for the whole session or just one activity.
Enable Hide Identities from the Host controls when you have a meeting active.
From then on, anything written or voted on when Hide Identities is active stays that way, forever. Nothing can ever be tied back to an individual.
When you’re done, turn Hide Identities off to go back to regular mode, where all new contributions and votes are tracked again.
Regular mode | Hide Identities on |
|---|---|
Everyone has an avatar | All avatar pictures replaced with a single question mark |
All sticky notes show the author | No authors |
Individual handwriting for each person | Everyone’s handwriting is the same font |
Can spotlight a person’s stickies and votes | Spotlight disabled in anon mode |
Can spotlight a person's votes | All votes are anonymous |
Can Follow other people | Following is disabled during anonymous mode |
Export contains who wrote and voted | Export does not contain who wrote and voted while in anon mode |
In short - we don’t believe anonymity should be default for team sessions, but we recognize that anonymity can be a useful tool in certain scenarios:
- helping newer teams raise awkward issues
- reducing bias like zombie groupthink, or the HIPPO effect
- is another useful tool in a facilitators toolbox
Last modified 19d ago