Flights are the core way to collaborate with a group on Balloon. A flight is a set of questions, with 2 timed stages.
Creating A Flight
From the main flights screen, a flight creator can create a flight by clicking on the 'start a flight' button at the top-right of the app's screen.
Balloon will then get the necessary information to start your flight, including:
A name and description for the flight
At least one question, prompt, or topic. This the information you are seeking from the group!
The group you would like to invite to the flight and how you would like to invite them
The timing for each of the two stages
And other options such as: 1) Show or hide your name as flight creator; 2) Keep your flight results public or private
There are two ways to invite people to the flight: 'Invite by email' or 'Use a link'
If you select 'Invite by email', you can invite anyone to participate in a flight by entering their email address in the participants section. When Stage 1 begins, each invited participant will receive an email notification stating that they’ve been invited to your flight.
If you select ‘Use a link', you will be given a shortlink to share once the flight is created. Anyone with the link can access and participate in the flight. Please note that once you ‘set flight', you will not be able to change how you invite people to a flight.
If your company has the feature enabled, you will also see a Domain Lock toggle at the top of the participants section. With domain lock on, you will only be able to add emails to your flight that include a pre-specified email domain. If your team configuration allows external users to be invited, this toggle can be turned off.
By default, all flights are posted anonymously; your name as the flight creator will not be shown. However, if you'd like the flight to include your name as the author, in the Options section, checking the box 'Yes, show my name' will remove anonymity. Regardless of your selection here, everyone's participation -- including yours -- throughout the rest of the flight remains anonymous!
All flights, by default, are posted as public, which means the flight metrics and results to the flight will be viewable by all flight participants. If, however, you select 'Yes, keep it private', then the flight metrics and results will be viewable ONLY by the Flight Creator and hidden to all flight participants.
After your information is entered, you'll be able to review the flight. If everything looks good, click on the ‘set flight’ button to submit it.
Just another reminder: you have to decide during flight creation whether you 'Invite by email' or 'Use a link' because you cannot change the flight invitation method once the flight has been created.
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We hope this article was helpful. If you still have questions, don't hesitate to send us a message!