Focus Groups A focus group consists of 7-9 carefully selected participants with whom a moderator conducts a guided conversation. We call it a focus group because everyone in the group will have something in common and focus on a particular topic, usually a service, product or advertising. The moderator runs this conversation off a discussion guide, a road map of questions and issues for the group that has been carefully worked out beforehand between the moderator and the client team. A typical group will run for about two hours, although different lengths are sometimes more appropriate. A typical project might consist of somewhere between two and eight groups, although larger projects are becoming more common. It’s a good idea to keep the mix of participants fairly homogenous unless you are intentionally looking to stimulate dialogue through contrasting viewpoints. So, the broader the demographics and the geography of the population in which you are interested, the more groups you will probably need to do. Good rule of thumb: Always conduct at least two sessions per marked segment.