Supporting Participants

How to help participants succeed during your KC7 event

You don't need to be a cybersecurity expert. KC7 handles the instruction. Your job is to encourage, redirect to built-in resources, and keep the energy positive while participants work through the challenges.

Your Role as Host

What you're responsible for

• Creating a positive environment where participants feel safe making mistakes

• Pointing participants to hints, tutorials, and challenge descriptions

• Monitoring energy levels and circulating to check in

• Celebrating discoveries and managing time

What you're not responsible for

• Teaching cybersecurity concepts. The game does that.

• Solving challenges for participants

• Answering every technical question. "Let's see what the game teaches us" is a fine answer.

• Ensuring everyone finishes. The journey matters more than completion.

Remember: KC7 is self-guided. Your encouragement and positive energy are what make the experience memorable.

During the Investigation

Circulating and checking in

For in-person events: Walk the room every 10-15 minutes. Watch body language. Ask open questions like "How's it going?" or "What are you discovering?" Don't hover.

For virtual events: Monitor chat actively. Watch for participants who haven't spoken. Use breakout rooms for small group check-ins. Send periodic encouragement.

Energy check-ins

30-45 minutes in:

"How's everyone doing? I'm seeing great progress on the scoreboard. Remember, there are built-in hints if you get stuck, and you're welcome to discuss approaches with each other."

60 minutes in:

"We're about halfway through. If you're feeling stuck, that's normal. These challenges are designed to make you think. Use those hint buttons."

Final 30 minutes:

"We have about 30 minutes left. If you haven't finished, that's normal. Focus on the challenges you find most interesting rather than trying to complete everything."

Energy tip: If the room gets quiet or tense, it's time for a quick group encouragement break or reminder about collaboration.

Handling Common Situations

"I'm completely stuck!"

Good responses:

• "Have you tried clicking the hint button for this challenge?"

• "What approach have you tried so far?"

• "What story do you think the data is telling?"

Avoid giving the answer directly, taking over their keyboard, or saying "this one's easy."

"Is this answer right?"

Good responses:

• "What makes you think that's the answer?"

• "Try submitting it and see what happens."

• "Walk me through your reasoning."

Avoid looking at their screen and confirming or denying.

"I don't understand what this means..."

Good responses:

• "The game will explain new concepts as you encounter them."

• "Try reading the challenge description again. What's it asking you to find?"

• "Have you seen similar patterns in earlier challenges?"

Avoid launching into a technical explanation.

"This is too hard!"

Good responses:

• "These challenges are meant to be challenging. Getting stuck is part of learning."

• "What would you need to know to solve this? Sometimes breaking it down helps."

• "Try using a hint. They're designed to help without spoiling the answer."

Avoid agreeing it's too hard or comparing them to others who are ahead.

"I'm finished! What now?"

Good responses:

• "Did you explore all the bonus challenges?"

• "Would you be willing to help others who are stuck without giving away answers?"

• "Try approaching a challenge you solved in a different way."

Giving Hints Without Spoilers

Use a three-level escalation. Start by redirecting to resources ("Have you tried the hint button?"). If that doesn't help, ask guiding questions ("What columns of data do you have available?"). As a last resort, give strategic direction ("This challenge is about looking for patterns in the timestamps").

Never provide exact answers or syntax. Guide them to the built-in hint system or encourage collaboration with peers.

The Socratic method

Instead of answering directly, ask questions:

Participant: "How do I filter this data?" You: "What are you trying to find? What would filtering help you discover?"

Participant: "Should I use this field or that field?" You: "What does each field represent? Which one answers the question?"

Managing Diverse Skill Levels

For beginners or struggling participants, normalize the struggle, celebrate small wins, and reduce scope ("Focus on questions 1-5 first"). Encourage collaboration.

For advanced participants, deepen their thinking ("Can you explain why that works?"), extend the challenge ("Try solving it a different way"), and invite them to peer-teach without giving answers.

In-Person Events

Mix skill levels at tables to encourage peer learning. Don't group all beginners together. Watch for dominant personalities taking over and make sure quieter participants get attention. Spend proportionally more time with struggling participants. Don't camp out at the advanced table.

Virtual Events

Encouraging Stuck Participants

Watch for participants not typing for several minutes, asking the same question repeatedly, sighing or putting their head in their hands, disengaging from the screen, or anxiously checking the scoreboard.

Effective encouragement:

• Normalize: "This question stumps almost everyone at first. You're in good company."

• Shift focus: "You've already learned how to analyze network logs. The next challenge will build on that."

• Provide perspective: "Professional analysts get stuck on problems all the time. Working through it is the skill you're building."

• Offer a fresh start: "Sometimes stepping away for a minute helps. Grab some water and come back."

Frame feedback for growth: "You haven't figured it out YET" implies progress is possible. The word "yet" matters.

Creating a Positive Environment

From the start, establish that struggle is expected, collaboration is encouraged, questions are welcomed, and learning matters more than the scoreboard.

If someone is being dismissive or showing off, redirect privately: "Could you channel that into helping others without giving away answers?"

If someone is giving away answers, intervene quickly: "Try asking them questions that guide their thinking instead."

Don't only celebrate top scorers. Recognize best questions asked, most improved during the session, great collaboration, and persistence through challenges.

When to Intervene vs. Let Them Struggle

Let them struggle when they're actively working and thinking, when they haven't tried available resources yet, or when they're collaborating with peers. Healthy struggle is 5-10 minutes, not hours.

Intervene when frustration turns into disengagement, when they've been stuck 15+ minutes without progress, when they're unaware of available resources, when technical issues are blocking them, or when they're about to give up.

The sweet spot: Learning happens in challenges that are difficult but achievable with guidance. Keep participants in that zone.

Using Your Host Tools

The live scoreboard shows overall group progress. Check it every 15-20 minutes, not constantly. Use it to gauge when to give time warnings. Don't call out individual positions publicly unless celebrating.

The analytics dashboard shows which challenges are hardest for your group and time spent on different sections. Use it to identify common sticking points for general guidance, not to single out individual participants.

Format-Specific Strategies

In-Person Events

Circulate constantly. Crouch to eye level when helping individuals. Use group announcements for common issues. Position yourself visibly so participants can flag you down. The trade-off is you can't help multiple people at once, and you may accidentally see answers on someone's screen.

Virtual Events

Handling Technical Issues

For participant-facing technical issues, see the Troubleshooting Guide.

Your response framework. Stay calm, acknowledge the issue, try quick fixes (refresh, different browser, clear cache), escalate to KC7 support if needed, and keep others engaged so one issue doesn't derail the event.

Technical issue vs. challenge difficulty: If KC7 is loading and accepting answers, it's working. The difficulty is intentional.

Post-Investigation Support

Some participants will finish early, others won't complete all challenges. For those who finished, celebrate, invite them to help others without spoiling answers, and engage them in discussing what they learned. For those still working, reassure them that not finishing is normal, focus on what they have accomplished, and remind them their account saves progress so they can continue later.

"You can keep accessing this game anytime. Many people continue at their own pace, try challenges again, or explore different approaches."

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Quick Reference

Situation	Response Strategy
Completely stuck	Direct to hints → Ask what they've tried → Guide with questions
Asking if answer is right	Reflect question back → Ask for reasoning → Encourage submission
Doesn't understand concept	Point to game explanations → Ask guiding questions
Too hard/frustrated	Normalize struggle → Celebrate progress → Suggest collaboration
Finished early	Celebrate → Suggest peer teaching → Deepen understanding
Technical issue	Stay calm → Try quick fix → Escalate to support if needed

Additional Resources

• Troubleshooting Guide

• Event FAQs

• Technical Requirements

• Discord Community