Not every practice situation is a one-to-one conversation. A university viva has an examiner and an assessor, a conflict talk has a second party, a case review has several people involved. That is why you now set the conversation format per scenario: how many characters appear, which face and name each one carries, what role it takes and when it should speak up.
The formats at a glance
Tandem shows two characters side by side the whole time. You can see how both of them react, including the one who is saying nothing. Spotlight also shows two characters, but in a single frame: the picture cross-fades to whoever has the floor. Meeting shows one character large and up to four more as tiles beside it; the large picture switches to whoever is speaking. Meeting Plus works the same way but preloads the next speaker, which makes the switch feel smoother.
Tandem, spotlight and meeting plus belong to the Enterprise tier, meeting is available from Premium. The format belongs to the individual scenario rather than to the scenario set, so a one-to-one talk and an exam with an assessor can sit in the same set.
Four patterns worth trying
The second person supports. One character leads the conversation while the second listens, takes notes and presses on one point. That covers the exam with an assessor, but equally the advisory session where a colleague joins and asks a follow-up question.
The second person has a different role. A specialist joins a caseworker, a relative joins a patient, a technician joins a customer. The learner then has to serve two expectations at once, and that is where real conversations often come apart.
Two positions argue and you mediate. Both characters are given opposing standpoints and told to hold them. The learner then sits between two standpoints and has to mediate between them.
Five perspectives around one table. A meeting can be cast with up to five characters, for instance a committee, a project team or a board. Each character carries its own stance, and the large picture follows whoever is speaking.
What to keep in mind when planning
The course tier decides. A course below the required tier runs the same scenario as a one-to-one conversation; with the two-window formats the application tells the learner so. Tandem splits the screen and therefore needs a window at least 900 points wide, so on narrower devices the scenario also runs one to one. A minute of conversation counts once, no matter how many characters take part; the extra cost sits in the tier's credit rate.
You set the format in the studio setup under "conversation format" or in the classic scenario editor. The guide walks through it step by step.