Running a usability test is part research method and part live event management. Once participants are scheduled and tasks are written, your team still has to decide who facilitates, who takes notes, who handles recording and timing, how the room (or video call) is arranged, what you say in the first two minutes, and what you do when something goes wrong mid-session. This topic covers those practical logistics and the interpersonal dynamics that surround them.
These skills matter in this course because the quality of your data depends heavily on how the session is run. A facilitator who nudges a participant toward the right button, a noisy observer who reacts to a failure, or a missing consent step can all cost you an entire session's worth of usable results. Clear team roles, a stable environment, a consistent opening script, and a disciplined debrief are what make results from different participants comparable.
As you watch, pay attention to sequence and wording: what gets done before the participant arrives, the exact phrasing used to set expectations, how facilitators stay neutral when a participant struggles or asks for help, and what happens at the close of a session. Note where each video gives you something you could literally copy into your team's checklist or facilitator script for your own project sessions.
The companion video to the planning checklist, this one lists ten things to do while you are actually moderating a usability study. Expect coverage of facilitator behavior during the session, keeping the study on track, and the habits that lead to trustworthy research insights rather than contaminated observations.
This is the core video for team roles, in-session facilitation, and managing challenges as they arise, and its checklist format makes it easy to turn into a shared protocol your whole team follows.
The first of a two-part Nielsen Norman Group series, this video walks through ten things to do before you actually run a usability study. Based on the title and description, it covers the planning and preparation work that makes a session go smoothly, such as getting your study materials, tasks, equipment, and logistics in order ahead of time.
It maps directly onto the session environment setup subtopic and gives your team a concrete pre-session checklist; NN/g is a long-established usability research firm, so the guidance reflects standard professional practice.
A short demonstration in which facilitation experts show how to prepare a participant at the start of a test session, including the use of a facilitator's script. Rather than only describing the practice, it models the actual introduction so you can hear the tone and phrasing used.
It targets the opening the session subtopic directly, and seeing a scripted introduction performed is far more useful than reading about it when you have to deliver your own opening consistently across participants.
Together these three videos follow the arc of a real session: prepare (planning checklist), open the session with a consistent script (the introduction demonstration), and moderate without biasing the participant (moderating checklist). That sequence supports MO1 by giving you repeatable protocols and language for guiding participants through task scenarios. The emphasis on preparation and facilitator neutrality supports MO2, since reliable think-aloud commentary, timing, and error counts depend on a stable, well-equipped setup and a facilitator who does not interrupt or coach. Finally, the warnings implicit in both checklists about leading participants, technical problems, and inconsistent setups support MO3, helping you recognize when an observation has been confounded by the session itself rather than caused by the interface.
These videos were chosen from YouTube on October 3, 2026. Each has captions; the player turns them on. Videos on YouTube can be changed or removed — if one no longer plays, tell your instructor. If a player does not appear, use its Watch on YouTube link.