Facilitation

Send instructions to workshop groups live

Push a formatted message or a live poll to a table's phone screen, or turn on live captions and translation, without leaving the facilitator workspace.

Updated Aug 29, 20265 min read
Screen text, write a message shown full-screen on the group phones.

Every table's phone is more than a microphone, RoomRadar can use its screen too. From the live workspace you can send instructions to workshop groups live, run a quick multiple-choice question, or turn the phone into a captions display, all without breaking the conversation to walk over.

Open Group actions

Open the ... menu in the live header and choose Interact with groups, or open the same panel from the sidebar tool "Send text to groups." Both land on the same four tabs: Screen text, Question, Timer, and Live captions. Only groups connected by link or QR code can display anything, a table using the host's local microphone has no phone screen to show it on.

Send a formatted message

1
Pick Screen text
Write a message shown full-screen on the group's phones, instructions, a prompt, a time check, anything you would otherwise announce out loud.
2
Format it
The toolbar above the message has a size stepper (minus, a number, plus, and you can type a size into it) and a B for bold. With text selected it formats the selection; with nothing selected it formats the whole message, which is usually what you want. Sizes run from 6 up to 80, so a heading can be huge and a footnote small on the same screen.
3
Choose who sees it
The send button carries its own group picker: click the arrow on its right edge and tick the tables you want, or Select all. Groups on the host's own microphone are listed but cannot be picked, they have no screen.
4
Show it
Click the send button, which spells out what will happen: Show on Bord 1 for a single table, Show on 3 groups for several. The screen updates instantly; a Showing now badge confirms it is live. Clear screen removes it, and Revert undoes an edit you did not mean to make.

Run a live question

Switch to the Question tab to ask a multiple-choice question and watch the answers come in live, useful for a quick temperature check without derailing the discussion. Type the prompt, add two to six options, and send it to as many groups as you like. Sending a new question automatically closes the previous one, and results stream into a Results panel as groups respond.

Put a countdown on every table

The Timer tab starts a countdown that fills the group's phone screen: big digits with a ring draining smoothly around them, so anyone glancing at the table can see how long is left. The tab is one big dial: tap 5, 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, or type any time straight into the dial itself (7 for seven minutes, 7:30 if you want the seconds). Add a line of text above it if you like, such as "Wrap up your discussion", and start it. The last ten seconds turn red, and when it hits zero the phone plays a short chime and shows Time is up until you clear it.

Every group is preselected, so one click puts the same countdown on every table at once. While timers are running the tab shows a chip per group with the time left, and Stop the timer ends them early for the groups you have selected. The timer counts from the moment you start it, measured on RoomRadar's clock, so a phone with the wrong time set still counts down exactly the right number of minutes, and a phone that joins halfway through picks up the countdown already in progress.

Turn on live captions and translation

The Live captions tab is a single dropdown: it streams a live transcription of the group's own discussion back onto their phone screens, to follow along by reading, or translated for multilingual groups. Choose a language to translate into, or leave it on No translation to show the spoken language as-is. The translated text lags the live line by a few seconds since it only translates finished sentences, not partial ones.

Turn captions on for a group before the workshop starts if some participants are more comfortable reading along, especially in a second language. Turning it off later is one click: Turn off in the same tab.
A screen text and a question replace each other on a group's phone, whichever you sent last. A running countdown is separate: sending a question does not cancel it, the timer shrinks to a pill at the top of the phone and keeps ticking, and once the group answers it expands back to the full dial. Captions do not have to give way to it. With captions running, whatever you send sits on a white panel across the top of the phone and the subtitles keep scrolling underneath, fading in from below it, so a table reading along never loses the thread while a countdown is up. The panel takes only as much height as its content needs, and text shrinks to leave the subtitles most of the screen.

FAQ

Which groups can I broadcast to?

Any group connected through a phone link or QR code, and digital groups joining by Zoom/Meet/Teams (they get the content posted into the meeting's chat). A table using the host's own local microphone has no screen, so it cannot receive anything.

Can I go back to an earlier message I sent?

Yes. History in the bottom left lists what has been on that group's screen, newest first, with the time it went up. Pick one and it drops back into the editor, ready to send again or edit first.

Does translation replace the live captions or run alongside them?

The original spoken-language text streams live; the translated line is added to each finished sentence a few seconds behind it, so participants see both.

What happens when a timer runs out?

The phone plays a short chime and the screen shows "Tiden är slut", so a table that looked away still sees that their time has gone. A Stäng button appears under it, which hides the finished countdown on that phone only. It does not clear the timer for anyone else, and it does not affect what you see in the workspace.

Do participants lose their subtitles when I send something?

No. The message, question or countdown appears on a panel across the top of the phone and the subtitles keep running underneath it. Both stay readable at the same time.

Can different tables have different countdowns?

Yes. Select only the groups you want before starting, then start a second countdown for the others. Each group's phone shows its own remaining time.