Step 1: Open Your Invite
You'll receive a link to join the session, shared via email, message, or another channel.
One link. No logins, no downloads, no stress. Just click and you're in.
This link works for all observers, so go ahead and share it with your team.
⭐ Tip: Save the link somewhere easy to find. You'll thank yourself when the session starts.
Step 2: Getting Set Up
Click the link and you'll land on the welcome screen. Before you jump in, take 30 seconds to get sorted:
Enter your Name so everyone knows who's in the room.
Pick your Language from the dropdown. This changes the platform interface language so everything feels natural to you.
Select your Speakers from the dropdown. Headphones, computer speakers, whatever works for you.
Hit Test Speaker to make sure your audio is actually working. Seriously, don't skip this.
When you're ready, click Join Meeting and you're in.
🎧 Find a quiet spot, grab a drink, and settle in. You're all set.
Step 3: Waiting in the Lobby
You won't go straight into the session. First you'll land in a virtual lobby, a short holding area while the moderator gets things ready on their end.
If you need to reach the host before things kick off, you can send them a private message here.
Don't close the tab. Just sit tight and you'll be let in when it's time.
Think of it like showing up a few minutes early. We'll get started soon.
Step 4: Entering the Session
Once the moderator kicks things off, you'll be moved into the live session automatically.
You can watch and listen to everything happening in real time.
You're completely invisible to participants. No camera, no mic, no trace. Pure observation mode.
Your Toolbar, Explained
Once you're in the session, you'll notice a toolbar at the bottom of your screen. This is your control center. Here's everything it does.
Settings
The first button on the left is Settings. Click it and a pop-up appears with two options:
Update your name if you need to change how you're showing up in the session.
Change the platform language if you want to switch things up mid-session.
Simple, clean, done.
Close Captions and Bookmark
Right in the middle of the toolbar you've got two buttons that are easy to overlook but genuinely useful.
Close Captions: Turns on live captions so you can read along as the conversation happens. Great if the audio quality isn't ideal or you just prefer reading along.
Bookmark: This one is a gem. The moment something interesting happens, hit Bookmark and that exact point gets pinned in the session timeline. You can give it a short name too, so when you're reviewing later you know exactly what you were flagging. It's like dropping a Post-it right inside the session.
Attendees
The first button on the right side of the toolbar is Attendees. Click it and you'll see a full list of everyone in the session: participants, the moderator, and any other observers. Good to know who's in the room.
Chat
Click Chat and the chat panel opens up. There are three tabs inside, and each one does something different:
General: This is the main chat that everyone in the session can see. You can read everything here, but as an observer you're in read-only mode. No typing in this one.
Backroom: Your team's private space. Observers and the moderator can chat freely here and participants won't see a thing. Use it to react to what's happening, flag something worth following up on, or just stay in sync with the team. You can also turn any message into a probe by clicking the three dots on it and selecting Make it a Probe.
Private: A one-on-one chat between just you and the moderator. Use it when you want to say something without the whole backroom seeing it.
Probe
Click Probe and a panel slides in from the right. This is where you'll see all the probes sent to the moderator during the session.
A probe is a private message that goes directly to the moderator with a pop-up notification, so they actually catch it. It's the cleanest way to suggest a follow-up question or nudge the conversation in a direction, without anyone else knowing.
Example: "Can we ask more about how they first discovered the product?"
Task
Click Task and a panel slides in from the right showing every task scheduled for the session, plus the results of anything that's already been launched. It's a great way to follow the flow of the session and keep track of what's been covered.
Transcript
Click Transcript and you'll get a live, running transcript of everything being said, with a timestamped activity log so you can track exactly when things happened.
If there's a translator in the session, a dropdown will appear in the top right corner of the transcript panel. Use it to switch to the translator's live transcription whenever you need it.
Translator Audio
This button only shows up if a translator has been added to the session. Click it and a small pop-up appears at the bottom of your screen where you can pick which language you want to hear.
📣 Heads up: switching to a language here will mute the audio of the other one. Just keep that in mind before you click.
You're Done!
When the session wraps up, you'll see a Meeting Complete message on your screen.
That's it. You showed up, stayed sharp, and caught everything worth catching.
Final Thoughts
At Bello, we build for people who take research seriously. That's you.
The observer experience is designed to be invisible, simple, and completely distraction-free.
No noise. Just the good stuff.
Got questions? We're always around. Don't hesitate to reach out.
At Bello, we make observing feel less like tech... and more like watching real people share real stories.