Body
Description
Meetings in Microsoft Teams include audio, video, and screen sharing. They're one of the key ways to collaborate in Teams.
Environment
Mac, PC, web browser, and mobile app
Solution
Getting ready
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Review how to schedule a meeting in Teams.
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Consider whether to assign roles in your Teams meeting, especially for meetings of more than 5 or so people. For example, the Organizer may want to designate someone as a Presenter so that they can share a PowerPoint or mute noisy Attendees while the Organizer is busy facilitating the meeting.
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Set up any A/V equipment you plan to use:
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Position the camera so that the speaker(s) can easily be seen by remote participants.
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Position the microphone so that the speaker(s) can be easily heard by the remote participants. For smaller groups, a central location is ideal. For larger groups, put the microphone near the facilitator and ensure the facilitator knows to repeat all questions so that remote participants can hear. It may also be useful to hold your meeting in a room with a built-in PA system or amplified speaker’s podium. Amplifying your Presenter’s voice via the room’s audio system will help the Organizer’s device pick up the room’s audio better.
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Review your call settings and make a test call to ensure everything is working properly.
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If you plan to share content such as a PowerPoint or video, make sure you know how to do so. Remember that when you share a video, the remote participants will not hear its audio unless you share system audio as well.
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If you are planning on having a video feed as well as a shared PowerPoint, note that the Presenter can only show one or the other. Therefore, OIT recommends either:
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Showing your video feed but sharing the link to the PowerPoint in the chat so that users can click through the slides on their own, OR
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Sharing your screen, which will override your video feed with the PowerPoint slides
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If there are any files you would like to talk about or collaborate on, such as a PDF or Word document, OIT recommends sharing those files in the chat so that people can look at the whole file rather than just the part of the file you’re sharing on your screen.
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Be prepared to troubleshoot the following:
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Feedback, echo, or unpleasant background noise
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Poor quality audio (lagging, cutting out, etc.)
Facilitating the meeting
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Starting the meeting
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If you are recording the meeting, say so; it’s courteous. Though anyone who joins the meeting online will receive a notification that it’s being recorded, co-located people who are not in the online meeting will not know unless you tell them.
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Inform co-located participants that there are remote participants.
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Inform remote participants how to resolve A/V issues. For example: “If you are having trouble hearing or seeing us, please type into the chat.”
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Tell the remote participants how you would like them to participate
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Running the meeting
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Have someone monitor the chat constantly, perhaps someone other than the facilitator. People may ask questions or request help troubleshooting.
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For larger co-located groups, ask the facilitator to repeat questions asked in the room. This assures that remote participants can hear the question and that it is captured on the recording.
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Ending the meeting
Outcome: You should now be able to successfully facilitate a Microsoft Teams meeting.
Get help from OIT
Additional resources