Summary
Microsoft Teams has the ability to meet remotely with other colleagues or with students. If you have attended or hosted a webinar in the past (Zoom, GoToMeeting, Webex) Teams Meetings essentially work in the same way.
Creating a Meeting
There are a few ways that you can create a meeting in Teams, schedule a meeting in Outlook, create an ad-hoc meeting from a chat session, create a meeting within Teams:
- Schedule a Teams meeting within Outlook: If you normally schedule your meetings within Outlook, you can now add the ability to set it up as a Teams meeting. For those who can't attend the meeting in-person, they can attend remotely.
- Meet Now: If you are chatting in a Team, you can start a meeting on the spot. You don't have to go through the process of setting up a meeting on the calendar. Note that this option is not available if you are in the chat section.
- Schedule a meeting within Teams: If you are an owner or a member of a Team, you can schedule a meeting specifically for one of your channels within Teams. This way you don't have to manually add everyone to the meeting invitation. However, you do have the ability to add individuals who are not on that Team/channel. Channels are essentially a subset of your Team. If you want to schedule a meeting for everyone in the Team, you can setup the meeting from the calendar in Teams and select the "General" channel.
- Video call during a chat: If you need to make a call, you can create one on the spot.
- Meeting options: As the meeting organizer, you have the ability to adjust some settings for your meetings such as who will bypass the lobby. When adjusting the meeting options, we recommend reviewing the roles for a meeting first. This will help you understand how your changes will impact those joining you.
Joining a Meeting
- Joining with a BC login: Much like other webinar's, you have a few ways that you can join a meeting. There will be a link, you can join from the calendar invitation. If you are going to be in a location without Internet access, there will also be a phone number so that you can call into the meeting. If the meeting is for a channel, you can also join from within the channel.
- Joining without a BC login: If you do not have a Bellevue College login, you can join a meeting as a guest. If you are the owner and have a guest joining your meeting, you will need to admit the guest from the lobby in the meeting.
Checking Microphone and Camera
When you join a meeting, if you have a web cam, it will be activated by default. If you don't want your image displayed, you will need to turn it off. It is always a good idea to check your audio settings before the meeting starts to make sure it is working correctly. If you do need to adjust your audio settings, it can also be done during the meeting if you run into issues.
Recording a Meeting
You may need to record a meeting so that yourself or others can view it later. This can be for someone who missed the meeting, or just to have the opportunity to refer back to the meeting. After you are done with the recorded meeting, you can play and share the meeting in Teams.
Additional Features
Once you are comfortable using Teams to meet, there are some additional features that can enhance your meeting:
- Share your screen: Sometimes it is easier to show others what you are working on and get instant feedback. Especially if is a a complex discussion. You can share your screen with others so they can see exactly what you are looking at.
- Blur your background: This is particularly helpful when you are working from home and may not have a space that is setup for meeting remotely.
- Whiteboard: Similar to a whiteboard in a classroom, meeting participants can brainstorm on a whiteboard.
Videos on Creating a Team Meeting
The videos below are from LinkedIn Learning. To view these videos, you will need to login using your Bellevue College email address: