Who hosts a session, and why Robin asks

On Robin, both of you are coaches — but in any one session, one of you is delivering it and the other is receiving it. The one delivering is the session's host. In a practice session that's the one coaching; in a supervision or mentoring session, the one supervising or mentoring. When you tap Schedule, Robin asks who's hosting so the session gets set up the right way round from the start.

The short version

• The host is the one delivering the session. The session runs on the host's session type, at a time from the host's availability.
• The host is responsible for the session's records. Any transcript or recording from the session is the host's responsibility — the participant's disclosures are in there, and it's the host who answers for how they're kept, protected, and deleted, just as a coach answers for the records of any session they run.
• Booking direction decides who the host is. That's the whole reason for the "Who's hosting this session?" question.

The roles themselves are named by the host on each session type ("coach" and "practice client", "supervisor" and "supervisee") and shown on the booking page before you book — that vocabulary has its own short page: Host and participant — what the words mean.

The two ways a session gets booked

They're hosting. You book one of their available sessions on their booking page — pick a session type, pick a time, done.

You're hosting. You offer them a time from your own booking page — one of your session types, at a time you're free, with an optional note. It lands in your chat together, and they confirm with one tap. Until they respond, the time is held on both calendars.

Either way, the session itself is the same: same call, same chat, same reminders.

Why the direction matters

A few things follow from who hosts:

• Your logbook. In a practice session, the hour is coaching given for the one who coached and coaching received for the one who was coached — booking the right way round means your hours record reflects what actually happened.
• The session's records. The host is responsible for any transcript or recording — how long it's kept, who it's shared with, and actioning a deletion request. Who controls your data has the full picture.
• The booking rules. The host's session type sets the length options, and the host's scheduling settings set the notice and buffers — so sessions you host run on your terms, and sessions you're booked into run on theirs.

Booked the wrong way round, all of that flips — the wrong coach's logbook fills up, and responsibility for the participant's disclosures lands on the wrong person.

The ICF Code of Ethics asks every coach to "maintain, store, and dispose of any records, including electronic files and communications, in a manner that promotes confidentiality, security, and privacy" (Standard 2.4). Hosting is how Robin makes sure that responsibility sits with the coach it belongs to.

One role per session

A session keeps one role configuration for its whole length — you don't swap roles halfway through. Coaches who both want to practise book two sessions and take a turn each. The full reasoning (including how the ICF counts coaching hours) is in our guide: How to run a practice session.

If a session was booked the wrong way round

Either of you can cancel a session at any time, with a reason — then book it again in the right direction. The direction question on the Schedule button is there so this stays rare.

Questions

Message Jon directly in the app — he reads every message and answers personally.