Session tools are the two light tools a meeting needs: a timer for time-boxing an item, and a quick vote (dot-voting) for deciding as a group. Anyone who can edit the Space can run them (or only the facilitator, once someone takes that role), and they sync to everyone in real time, so they pair naturally with a stand-up, a brainstorm or an all-hands.
Built for running a meeting live
The tools live in the bottom bar: Timer and Vote sit together in one group, right after Undo and Redo. Every tab has both.
Each button opens its tool in a popover above it. While a tool is idle its button is just an icon, and pressing it opens the set-up. Once it is going the button shows what is happening: the Timer shows its clock, and the Vote button shows how many dots you have left. Visitors on a Participant or Viewer pass see the Timer and Vote buttons only while those tools are running.
On a desktop, a running vote's popover stays open while you work on the canvas: only pressing its button again puts it away, and it closes by itself when the vote ends. The timer's popover, and any set-up popover, closes as soon as you click elsewhere: the clock stays on the Timer button.
While someone else is facilitating, the set-up, and a running timer's controls, say who at the top and are greyed out.
The timer and the vote are scoped to a single tab, so different tabs can run different activities, and they ride the same live sync as everything else on the canvas. That means people who join late or reload simply see what is happening now: a timer mid-countdown, or the votes cast so far, with nothing to set up again.
- Timer time-boxes an item, as a countdown or a stopwatch counting up from zero (one runs at a time), shown on its button in the bottom bar. See The Timer.
- Dot-voting lets each person spend a budget of dots on the sticky notes, images and link cards they care about, with live tallies and a results reveal. See Dot Voting.
To point everyone at the same spot before you start, press Bring Focus.
Who can do what
Session tools follow the Space's roles automatically. Anyone with an Editor pass (and the owner, and team members) can run the controls and take part: starting the timer, casting votes. Visitors on a Participant pass take part but never run anything: they cast dots, while starting, revealing and clearing stay with editors. Visitors on a Viewer pass can still watch, they see the timer ticking and the tallies, but they cannot control the session or cast a dot, and they only get a tool's button in the bottom bar while it is running. Typically the facilitator holds an Editor pass, the team shares a Participant pass, and observers follow a Viewer pass.
A vote is narrower still. Anyone who can take part (an Editor or a Participant) can cast dots, but only the person who started the vote (or the facilitator) can end it, reveal the results, clear it, or drive the results walkthrough. Ending a vote can't be undone, so it isn't something a participant should be able to do by accident. See Dot Voting.
What a viewer actually sees during a vote also depends on its privacy settings: with Hide running counts on, nobody sees anyone else's dots until the results are revealed.
What does and does not get recorded
Neither tool adds to Undo: starting a timer or placing a dot is not the kind of thing you would want to Ctrl+Z. A space in This Browser has no live room to share them with.
Share a Participant pass with everyone who should vote and add stickies, and a Viewer pass with anyone who only needs to watch. The roles do the gating for you, with no extra setup.
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