Introduction: The current collective preparation program for obesity surgery is performed by an interdisciplinary team over four non-consecutive days. In order to optimize the delays of the program and to improve the educational offer a temporal condensation of this service in the proximity of the intervention was decided. The objective of this study is to describe the creation process of the new obesity surgery preparation program based on the needs of partner patients. Materials and methods: We conducted semi-structured focus groups with 50 patients over 3 successive stages of the surgical journey: at the beginning and end of the collective preparation and then 2 to 14 months after the surgery. The analysis crosses by theme the needs identified. Results and discussion: Our study allowed to authenticate a central need of sharing with witnesses, a need for information (medical, dietary, behavioral), and a need for longer-term projection (transformations, investment axes to support weight loss). Conclusion: The preparatory needs identified by the partner patients served as a guide for the transformation of the existing program. This experiment paves the way for a partnership with patients established and recognized by the institution of care in the evaluation process of this program.