Segments and scheduling

Plan and activate segments, control how long votes count, and schedule a show with an optional public countdown.

Why segments matter

A segment is a label for what the room is rating right now. Without one, you get a single score for the whole night; with them, you get a score per thing you did.

A whole-show score tells you whether the night worked overall. Named segments let Analytics show which interview, topic, or format moved the room, so you know what to repeat or change next time.

Switching a segment resets the reading

Each segment gets a clean slate, so a strong opener cannot prop up a weak middle. Previous segments keep their scores — nothing is overwritten.

Planning a running order

In a draft, the segment planner lets you write the whole running order before you go on air. During the show, activating one is a single click — no typing while live.

Add the segments you expect to use and drag them into running order. Unused items can remain in the queue without affecting the live result.
Name them the way you would say them, not the way you would file them. Listeners see this text.
You can add and activate segments mid-show, including promoting a listener suggestion straight into one.

Vote expiry

Vote expiry starts enabled at two minutes. When a vote reaches the selected age, it returns to the neutral score of 5 until that listener votes again. Set the duration from 30 seconds to ten minutes, in 30-second steps, or turn expiry off so a vote stands until the listener changes it, the host resets voting, or the segment changes.

Leave it off: Useful for short segments where activating the next segment already starts a fresh reading.
Turn it on: Useful for long segments where an early vote should not continue describing the room much later.

Scheduling a show

Give a draft a future start time to make it eligible to go live at that moment. HeatCheck has no background scheduler: the first request after the start time claims the show, usually from a visitor on your public page, its countdown status check, or your open dashboard.

A schedule still needs traffic

If the host is away and nobody opens the public page, the show remains a draft until the next qualifying request. The first visitor can activate it, so you do not need to be at the keyboard when an audience is waiting.

The countdown

The optional countdown appears on your public page for a chosen lead time from one second to one week. Before that window opens, the normal holding page remains visible. Inside it, visitors see the scheduled start counting down, and the page checks for the live show when the timer reaches zero.

A countdown is a promotion tool

Set it to a few hours and post the link. People who open it early get a timer rather than a dead page — and are already on the page when the show opens.

Going live early

A scheduled show can still be started by hand at any point with Go live now. Confirming it starts the show immediately instead of waiting for the scheduled time.

Draft, live, ended

Draft: Exists, only you can see it, set it up at your own pace. Costs nothing to leave sitting there.
Live: Public and running. You can have exactly one live show at a time.
Ended: Stopped and settled. It appears in your shows list and analytics; live presence and audience-interaction state are no longer active.

A show left live ends itself after 24 hours

The cleanup runs the next time you open a host page after the show passes 24 hours. Until then, it blocks your next show and your public page still appears live. Roll-call race data expires after 48 hours, so a host who returns later than that can lose the unsettled standings.

The live dashboard

Live polls