Setting options for Microsoft Teams meetings

Description

Meeting options allow you to change settings so that your meeting is more secure and easier to facilitate, especially if the meeting is a large one.

Meeting options let you control:

  • Who can join the meeting without approval - The default setting is to admit anyone with the meeting link to the meeting without additional approval

  • What roles participants will have - The default settings allow anyone in the meeting to present content, mute others, record the meeting, and kick other participants out of the meeting

While the above defaults are convenient for small meetings, they can create security and facilitation problems in larger meetings.

Environment

Mac, PC, web browser, and mobile app

Solution 

  1. Locate the Meeting Options. Once the meeting organizer has scheduled the Teams meeting, the organizer can change that meeting's settings by navigating to its Meeting Options:

    • Option 1, via Teams Calendar:

      1. Click on the Calendar icon on the left side of the screen

      2. Select your meeting

      3. Select Meeting OptionsA screenshot showing how to access Meeting Options under the Details tab of a Teams meeting.

    • Option 2, via the text inside the meeting invitation (in Outlook Calendar or Microsoft Teams)

      1. Select Meeting Options A screenshot circling the meeting options link in the body of a calendar invitation

  2. Configure each Meeting Option to best suit your needs:

    • Who can bypass the lobby? - Use this setting to select which groups can bypass the meeting lobby and gain immediate access to the Teams meeting.

      • Only You: As the meeting organizer, only you can get directly into the meeting. Everyone else will wait in the lobby until you admit them.

      • Everyone: Anyone who has the meeting link can enter the meeting without waiting in the lobby.

      • People in my organization and trusted organizations: Only people who have logged into the Teams meeting with their OHIO email and password and people logged in from organizations designated as a trusted organization can enter the meeting without waiting in the lobby.

        • Currently, OIT has not set any trusted organizations, so this setting works the same as "People in my organization."

      • People in my organization: Only people who have logged into the Teams meeting with their OHIO email and password can enter the meeting without waiting in the lobby.

    • Always let callers bypass the lobby - This option allows someone entering the meeting using the alternate phone number (audio only) to enter without waiting in the lobby.

    • Announce when callers join or leave - When this setting is enabled, an automated voice will announce the phone number of any caller who has joined or left the meeting.

      • If you have enabled "Always let callers bypass the lobby" and are concerned about meeting security, you should also enable this option so that you can more easily monitor callers entering or leaving the meeting.

    • Who can present? - The last option available in Meeting Options allows you to set the roles of people participating in the Teams meeting.

      • Note: There are two meeting roles:

        1. Presenter: People designated as a Presenter have the same permissions as you, the meeting organizer. They can share content, mute other participants, record the meeting, and control other aspects of the meeting.

        2. Attendee: Those not designated as a Presenter are an Attendee. Attendees are limited to the following actions in the Teams meeting:

          • Speak and share their video

          • Participate in the meeting chat

          • Privately view a PowerPoint shared by a Presenter

      • Meeting roles are set by the Who Can Present? setting in Meeting Options. There are four options:

        1. Everyone: Give anyone attending the meeting Presenter permissions.

        2. People in my organization: Give anyone that logs into the Teams meeting with their OHIO email and password Presenter permissions.

        3. Specific People: Specify individuals that will have Presenter permissions.

        4. Only me: All other meeting participants will be designated as Attendees.

  3. Change meeting roles in an active meeting. While in an active meeting, someone designated as a Presenter can change the role of another meeting participant. To get to this option:

    1. Click on the Show Participants icon.
       A screenshot of an active Teams meeting with the Participant List icon circled

    2. In the People pane, select More options (…) next to the participant you want to change the meeting role for.

    3. Select either Make an attendee or Make a presenter. You will see a warning screen.

    4. Select Change to complete the action.

  4. Control who has access to meeting recordings. 

    • Microsoft Teams meeting recordings can create privacy and security risks. Limiting who can record a meeting by using meeting roles in Meeting Options is necessary for meetings that may contain sensitive information. Before recording a meeting that may contain sensitive data, please review guidelines for Using Microsoft Teams with Sensitive Data.

    • By default, when a Teams meeting is recorded, it will only be available to the meeting's invitees. The owner of the recording (i.e. the Organizer/Presenter who started the recording) can share a link to the meeting recording with others once the meeting has ended.

    • If you are the owner of a Teams meeting recording, do not expand permissions or share links of meeting videos that contain sensitive or private information.

 

Outcome: You should now be able to configure the options for your Microsoft Teams meeting to best suit your needs.

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