To have efficient debrief sessions, you need to plan them in advance. Here's what you can do to prepare:

• Decide on what points you want to cover. For example, pain points, surprises, questions you still have, key quotes, and key takeaways.
• Make a schedule. Once you decide on each point to cover, place a time on each one to keep you on track.
• Create instructions for the observers. Not all stakeholders you want to invite will be familiar with the format. Create brief instructions to tell them what they need to pay attention to. E.g., "Note down the exact words the user said."
• Create a board. Before the debrief session, prepare a template you can fill out on a physical or digital whiteboard. This gives the session structure but also allows for creativity.
• Leave space for ideas that don't fit. Instead of shoving everything into predetermined topics, write down ideas that don’t fit into any category and address them later in the synthesis session.

Once you have your plan, send out the invitations. Ideally, you'd want all stakeholders that observed the session to attend, but this isn't always possible. You can improve the chances of their attendance by including the debrief session in the observation invitation.^[1]