# During a Call: Live Transcript, Prompter, and Ask anything (/docs/during-a-call)



Backdrop sits beside your call as a single panel. The body of the panel shows
either the **transcript** or the **prompter**. Below it, a MEDDPICC rail tracks
how the deal is qualifying, and an **Ask anything** input handles whatever else
comes up.

## Starting Backdrop [#starting-backdrop]

Backdrop doesn't launch with your conferencing app. Open it manually before a
call, or wait for the notification when a call begins, then click **record** in
the transport pill.

<Callout type="info">
  Backdrop records your microphone and your computer's system audio, so it runs
  alongside whichever conferencing app you're on: Zoom, Google Meet, or
  Microsoft Teams.
</Callout>

## Anatomy of the panel [#anatomy-of-the-panel]

<Screenshot src="/images/docs/app/in-call-idle.png" alt="The Backdrop panel before recording, showing the top bar, status strip, empty transcript, MEDDPICC rail, and Ask anything input" size="md" float="right" />

From top to bottom:

1. **Top bar**: a back chevron and a home button on the left; a transport pill
   with **record**, **pause** and **stop**, plus an elapsed timer once you're
   recording; the mode pill; a language control showing **EN**; and an overflow
   menu.
2. **Status strip**: a line of italic text naming what Backdrop is watching for
   or what it just caught. It reads &#x2A;Listening for competitors...* until a
   prospect names one.
3. **Body**: the transcript or the prompter, depending on the mode.
4. **MEDDPICC rail**: eight letters, each with a track and a number under it.
5. **Ask anything*&#x2A;: an input with a &#x2A;*+** button on the left and a send button
   on the right.

## Transcript and prompter [#transcript-and-prompter]

The pill in the top bar names the view you're in, **Transcript** or
**Prompter**. Clicking it swaps to the other one.

### Transcript [#transcript]

The live conversation as Backdrop hears it, each turn labeled with the speaker
and their role. Before you start recording it reads *No transcript yet. Start
recording to see the conversation*.

The status strip works with it: when a prospect names a competitor, the strip
calls it out and the name is highlighted in the transcript. See
[Competitors](/docs/competitors).

<Screenshot src="/images/docs/app/in-call-active.png" alt="The Backdrop panel in Transcript mode: speaker-labeled turns from Priya Shah and Dana Reyes, the competitor Meridian highlighted in the turn that named it, and the status strip reading 'Competitor mentioned: Meridian'" size="lg" caption="Mid-call. The strip has caught Meridian, and the name is highlighted where it was said." />

### Prompter [#prompter]

The prompter is the coaching view. It surfaces the next thing to ask or say as
the conversation moves.

Until it has something for you, the prompter reads &#x2A;Listening to the call.*
&#x2A;The next thing to ask or say will pop up here as the call unfolds.*

Once the call gives it something to work with, the prompter fills with cards,
newest last. Each one opens with what to do: a lime **ASK** badge for a
question to put to the prospect, or an amber **SAY** badge for a line to
deliver. Under the badge sits the category it came from, then the sentence
itself, written to be read off the screen and used as it stands.

<Screenshot src="/images/docs/app/in-call-prompter-active.png" alt="Prompter mode with four cards: an ASK on impact, a SAY on the technical picture, a SAY handling an objection with a Then ask follow-up beneath it, and an ASK about the champion" size="lg" caption="Cards raised over a few minutes of the same call." />

An objection card can carry a **Then ask** block underneath: the question to
move to once you've handled the objection. The thumbs on each card tell
Backdrop whether the prompt was worth surfacing, and a card shows how long ago
it came up.

## The MEDDPICC rail [#the-meddpicc-rail]

Along the bottom of the panel, eight letters track how the deal is qualifying
while you're still on the call. They're the eight MEDDPICC elements in order:
Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Paper Process,
Identify Pain, Champion, Competition. The rail shows bare letters. The
post-call scorecard is where they're named and where the two Ds and two Cs get
labeled **D1**/**D2** and **C1**/**C2**.

Each letter has a track and a number beneath it. Both move as the call gives
Backdrop something to go on for that element, and the color steps from red
through amber to green as the number climbs. Elements the conversation hasn't
reached sit at the bottom of the scale, so the rail doubles as a list of what
you haven't asked about yet.

<Screenshot src="/images/docs/app/meddpicc-rail.png" alt="Close crop of the MEDDPICC rail: eight letters, each with a colored track and a count" size="full" caption="Mid-call. Metrics and paper process are well evidenced, the economic buyer is partway there, decision criteria is thin, and decision process, pain, champion, and competition haven't come up yet." />

After the call, each element gets a score out of 100 in the qualification
scorecard. See [After a Call](/docs/after-a-call).

## Ask anything [#ask-anything]

The input at the bottom of the panel is for anything the prompter hasn't
already put in front of you: a product question the prospect just asked, an
objection you want a line for, how to position against another vendor. Type
your question and click the send arrow.

## Keeping the panel off the shared screen [#keeping-the-panel-off-the-shared-screen]

Backdrop is a floating desktop window, so it sits on top of whatever else is
open, including anything you're sharing. Two monitors is the clean answer:
share from one, keep Backdrop on the other. On a single screen, share a specific
window rather than your whole desktop. [Installing Backdrop](/docs/install) walks
through both.

If neither is an option, turn on **Hide from Screen**, which keeps the panel out
of screen shares, recordings, and screenshots. Support varies by conferencing
app and OS. See [Hide from Screen](/docs/hide-from-screen) for the list.

## Stopping a call [#stopping-a-call]

When the call ends, click **stop** in the transport pill. Backdrop closes the
call out and writes it up on its own page.

***

## Next step [#next-step]

Most of Backdrop's output lands after you hang up. See
[After a Call](/docs/after-a-call) for the summary, the MEDDPICC scorecard, and the
follow-up email draft.