Pre-work and Engagement
What your participants see
A walk-through of the public prep page from the participant's point of view — so you can confidently support anyone who needs help.
When you send someone a prep link, you're sending them to a page you don't typically see. This page walks that experience end-to-end — what the participant sees, in what order, with what affordances — so you can build prep with their experience in mind and help anyone who gets stuck.
The fastest way to internalise this page is to follow along: open one of your own session prep links in an incognito window while you read.
The public prep page in three stages
Authorisation
The participant identifies themselves — as a guest, or by signing in if they have a Gleo account.
2The prep itself
A scrollable list of tasks, branded with your theme. The participant works through them in their own time.
3Success state
A "you're all set" confirmation. They can come back later to amend; they're invited to sign in if they haven't.
Stage 1 — Authorisation
When the participant opens the prep URL, the first thing they see is an authorisation screen. They have two options:
- Continue as guest — enter a name and email. No password, no account creation. They're in within a few seconds. Their responses will be attributed to the name and email they entered.
- Sign in — if they have a Gleo account, they can sign in instead. Their responses will be attributed to their member identity, and they'll get the small extras a member gets (a list of their other prep across other sessions, etc.).
Most external participants take the guest path. Most internal participants who already have Gleo accounts use sign-in. Either is fine; the prep itself is the same either way.
The full mechanics of the two paths — including what happens if a guest signs in mid-flow — are covered in Authentication for prep.
Stage 2 — The prep itself
Once authorised, the participant lands on the prep page proper. A few things to notice from the participant's point of view:
Themed for your brand
The page is branded by your theme — your colours, your logo, your fonts — resolved through the Theme priority chain. For most workspaces, this is the company default theme; for client-co-branded engagements, it's whatever override you've set on the playbook or session.
The participant doesn't see Gleo's app chrome. They see your prep page.
Tasks in order
The prep tasks appear as a scrollable list, in the order you arranged them in the Prep tab of the Session Planner. Each task carries:
- A title and description — the question or prompt.
- The task body — the question's input (a text field, a video to watch, an opinion scale, an embed, etc. — see Pre-work task types for the full list).
- A comment panel and emoji reactions for each task — see Comments and reactions.
The participant can complete tasks in any order, save partial work, and come back later — Gleo persists their progress between visits.
Mixed media work as expected
Embedded videos play inline. Embedded documents (Google Docs, Notion pages) render in place. File-upload tasks accept drag-and-drop. Mural / FigJam embeds give participants the live whiteboard inside the prep flow rather than asking them to leave the page.
Submission
Each task has its own submit affordance — there's no single "submit the whole prep" button. Each response is saved as the participant works, so partial completion is fine. The participant can come back and add to or change their responses at any time before the session.
Stage 3 — The success state
Once a participant has worked through every task, the page shows a success screen — "Great job — you're all set."
The success screen also:
- Invites guests to sign in. If they want to keep their responses tied to a permanent identity rather than a guest session, they can create an account from here.
- Suggests other sessions. Members see a small list of any other prep links they have outstanding across the workspace.
- Confirms they can return. Re-opening the prep link before the session brings them back to their submitted state where they can amend.
The success state is a small thing, but it matters — it's the moment the participant's experience of doing prep ends, and a good final touch makes them more likely to engage next time.
Test your prep as a participant
Open your own prep URL in an incognito or private window before you send it out. You'll see exactly what your participants will see, including: the auth screen, the theme as it actually renders, every task as a participant experiences it, and the success state.
Most prep flaws — confusing task ordering, broken framing, a task that needs more context — are obvious in 2 minutes of incognito testing and invisible from the facilitator-facing planner. This is the single highest-leverage habit you can build.
Walkthrough
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1
Copy the prep URL from the session
From the Session Planner header, click Copy public prep URL. See Sharing prep links with non-members.
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2
Open it in an incognito window
Don't open it in your normal browser — you're already signed in, so you'll see the member experience. Incognito gets you the guest experience your external participants will have.
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3
Walk through as a guest
Authorise as a guest. Read every task as a participant would. Submit a response to each. Notice how long it really takes (likely longer than you estimated).
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4
Reach the success screen
Confirm the final state lands. Read the tone of the success message and any sign-in promo. This is the last thing your participant will see.
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5
Fix anything that didn't land
Edit the prep tasks back in the Session Planner. Re-test in incognito if you made significant changes.
Tips & pitfalls
Re-test after any theme change. The participant page is themed by the session's effective theme. If you change the playbook or template theme — or your Brand Centre default — re-open the prep URL to confirm the new theme renders the way you want.
Open the link from a phone, not just a laptop. A meaningful chunk of participants do prep on the move. Test that the task types you're using behave well on mobile — file uploads and embedded videos in particular.
Don't rely on email-blasted instructions. If a task needs context, put the context inside the task description, not in the email you send with the link. Half your participants will lose the email by the time they sit down to do prep.