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Microsoft Teams: How to Facilitate a Meeting

One of the primary means of communication within Child Support Services is Microsoft Teams. MS Teams is used to hold online trainings and meetings and provides instant communication that we use every day via the chat and call features. To learn how to download Microsoft Teams and its basic functions, please visit the Quest article Microsoft Teams Basics.

Additional articles will go into more detail for each Microsoft Teams function. The following steps will describe the basics on how to facilitate a video-conference as the presenter.

Schedule a Meeting

Open the calendar in Microsoft Teams. It is located on the left-hand side of the application.
Calendar icon on Teams toolbar
Click on “New Meeting,” located on the upper right-hand corner of the screen, to schedule a new meeting.
New meeting select drop down options

A new window will open:

Show as:
Select how others see your availability during the meeting – Free, Tentative, Busy, Working elsewhere, Out of Office, or Private.
Response options:
You may request that participants respond to the invitation and whether they may forward it to others.
Require registration:
You have the option of requiring registration for either people in your organization, everyone, or no one.
Add Title:
This is where you will add the name of your class, training, or meeting.
Add required attendees:
Initially you may invite people to your meeting from this box.
Date and Time:
Meeting time and date can be selected here, and whether it is an all-day event. If you are not sure when to host the meeting, the toolbar at the very top has a “Scheduling Assistant” tab that can show you your participant’s schedules.
Does not repeat:
You may choose to repeat this meeting regularly – Every weekday (Mon-Fri), Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, or Custom.
Add Channel (optional):
You may host your meeting within a specific channel, allowing anyone in that channel to join.
Add Location (optional):
You may add a location here if needed. It is optional and not needed for online conferences.

Once you are finished filling out the previous information. Click Save.

New meeting – Details view in Teams
New meeting – Scheduling Assistant view in Teams
Now you can see your new meeting on the calendar in Teams and Outlook. From here, you may join the meeting, or you may edit details or cancel the meeting.
My calendar view in Teams – a scheduled meeting information pop-up.
The new edit screen also opens access to new tools to prepare for your meeting and to review when your meeting is over. You can access meeting notes, the whiteboard, and attendance reports. The chat and any files that you would like your participants to have access to or are shared during the meeting can also be accessed here.
A scheduled meeting page in Teams on the Details view. Send update is highlighted.
In addition to these tools, you can now set up your meeting options, such as who, if anyone, can bypass the lobby, whether microphones will be allowed on upon entrance, and who has permission to present. These options will also be available during the meeting, so you can change them any time.
A scheduled meeting – Meeting options
This toolbar also allows you to set up breakout rooms before your meeting starts. You can create the number of rooms, have participants assigned to rooms automatically, or manually assign them. You can change the names of each room and change meeting settings for individual rooms.
Teams – Create Rooms
Teams – Create Rooms – Assign participants to breakout rooms
Teams – Create Rooms – Assign participants
Teams – Create Rooms – Edit room
Teams – Create Rooms – created room Meeting Options

Many people use Outlook to schedule and edit meetings. To add additional participants to a meeting after you have scheduled it, simply go into the calendar of either Outlook or Teams and click on the meeting.

Teams:
Go to the meeting details, as explained above, and add their email address to the list of required or optional attendees. You will then have to send an update to all participants.
Outlook:
A new email will open, addressed to all current attendees. Add the new email addresses to the “To…” bar. Choose if you would like to send an update to everyone or just the ones added/deleted, then press “OK”.

The update will be reflected in both Teams and Outlook.

Note: It is best practice to ensure participant updates are kept to a minimum, so it is recommended that the meeting organizer make as many edits as possible all at once for fewer emailed updates.

Top and bottom view of Outlook – meeting tab, and Teams – add participants

The Meeting

Before the meeting begins, ensure your microphone is plugged in, and then test your devices. To do this, click on the three dots at the top right corner of the Teams window, next to your profile picture. Select “Settings.”
Teams meeting settings (expanded)

When you join the meeting you will see the following screen. The options you have on this screen are:

Audio:
The default setting is Computer audio. The other options are only used in specific circumstances. Under Computer audio, it will show the current default microphone and speakers. You can choose between PC Mic and Speakers or a specific headset, headphones, and/or microphone. You can also toggle the microphone on or off here.
Join Now:
This will bring you directly into the meeting.
Camera:
Toggle the cameras on or off.
Teams – Join Meeting

When you join a meeting, you will see a toolbar near the top of the screen.

Many of these options are available to all attendees. See Microsoft Teams Meeting Attendees Toolbar for more information about these options.

Teams – in-call toolbar

People:
The first button will open the Participants panel on the right side of the screen. This will show the participants currently in the meeting and allow you to invite additional people. You can also see who is raising their hand in the order that their hands were raised.

Teams – in-call Participants panel

Chat: The second button opens the Meeting chat panel.

Teams – in-call Meeting chat panel

Reactions: The third button shows the reactions you can use.

Teams – in-call toolbar Reactions panel

Rooms: The fourth button opens the Rooms dialog. This will allow you to set up Breakout rooms to split up your participants into groups after the meeting has started.

More: The options that are available only to the facilitator include:

Meeting options:
These are the same options that are available when first scheduling the meeting.
Meeting notes:
Notes that are taken and shared with others before, during, and after the meeting.
Meeting Info:
Specific details about the meeting that may need to be shared to help participants enter the meeting when they are having trouble, or to invite additional people when the participant panel’s invite option is not working.

Camera: Toggles Camera on/off and offers options for visual effects.

Microphone: Toggles Microphone on/off.

Share: This is where you will share the visuals for your meeting. When you click on the share button you will have the option to share your desktop or browser windows. If you want to share sound from your computer, make sure you toggle “Include computer sound”.

Teams – in-call Share panel

Leave: Allows you to either hang up or end the meeting for everyone.

Teams – in-call Leave select options
One final important note is that if you click on any of the tabs in the upper far left of the MS Teams module (e.g. “Activity”, “Chat”, “Teams”, “Calendar”, “Calls”, or “Files”) then the primary meeting screen will get minimized. You can still see it in the upper-left corner of the screen. If you want to return to the primary meeting screen, you only need to click on the minimized screen that was just mentioned and it will take you right back to the meeting.
Teams – in-call (mini application)

Additional information regarding MS Teams can be found in How to Invite External Partners to Teams Meetings, and Tips for Using Teams for OAH Hearings.

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