Last week, we released our second post in our latest series of blogs exploring Microsoft Teams and the multiple benefits it can bring to you and your business. As we provide Microsoft 365 solutions, we wanted to bring you more knowledge on this excellent software range.

In our last blog, we shared 10 helpful tips that will help you host your next Teams Meeting.

This week, we are diving in deeper into Microsoft Teams functionality, and sharing 7 helpful tricks you can use when attending your next Teams meeting.

So, without further ado, lets kick things off with tip number 1!

1. PRE-MEETING JOIN SCREEN

Following from a recent update from Microsoft, Teams now has an improved pre-meeting join screen, which users can access before joining a meeting.

From this menu, users have the opportunity to configure their camera and microphone settings, as well as the position of their camera. Additionally, you may want to apply a background filter or switch off your camera and microphone completely.

Our favourite part of this feature is that it allows us the opportunity to check our hair and appearance before entering the meeting!

2. SHARING YOUR SCREEN AND COMPUTER AUDIO

One of the features we included in our previous blog was the ability to share your screen with your meeting participants during a Teams Meeting. With this, you may want to share a video or audio clip as part of your presentation.

Before doing this, you’ll want to make sure that you include your system sound, so that your meeting participants can hear the audio coming from your system

To do this, simply select the ‘Share’ button at the bottom of your screen.

From here, this will open a menu where you can choose to select a specific desktop, screen or application you have open.

At the top of this menu, there is a ‘Include computer sound’ button. By selecting this, this will allow your meeting users to hear any audio that comes from your system.

3. RECORD YOUR MEETING

Another helpful new shortcut in Microsoft Teams is the ability to record a meeting and share this with other people. This is particularly helpful as you can share your full meeting with those who were unable to attend.

To do this, go to top bar of the Teams meeting window, and click on ellipsis on the right side.

In the drop-down menu from the ellipsis, click on the ‘start recording button’.

When you do this, a banner will appear at top of screen saying that you are now recording the meeting. If you do this, you should probably let your meeting attendees know they are now being recorded.

To end the recording, go back to the top bar and click on the same ellipsis from before.

In the drop-down menu from the ellipsis, click on the ‘Stop recording button’, and this will end the recording.

To access the meeting recording, click on the meeting chat button in the top bar and you will be able to see the meeting recording in the meeting chat archive.

4. TRANSCRIBE YOUR RECORDED MEETING

If you record a meeting you can also access a transcript of that meeting.

After you have recorded your meeting, click on the meeting chat button in the top bar and you will be able to see the meeting recording in the meeting chat archive.

Next, select the ellipsis on the recorded meeting, and select the ‘Open in Microsoft Stream’ button.

When you open up a meeting recording in Microsoft Stream, you’ll be able to view your recording, but also see the entire transcript from this video, including the time stamps.

5. FOCUS & FULL SCREEN MODES

During a meeting, there are additional features that can help to focus on the content that is being shared on screen.

For example, when you select on the ellipsis button in the top bar, you can select on the ‘Focus’ button in the drop-down menu. Selecting this option will hide all of the other meeting attendees and focus on the content that is being shared on screen.

In the same ellipsis drop-down menu, you can also go into full-screen mode by selecting the ‘Full screen’ button.

6. BREAKOUT ROOMS

You can now use breakout rooms whilst you are in a Teams meeting. A breakout room allows you and your meeting attendees to break out into smaller groups to perform a specific task or brainstorm.

To use this function, go to the top bar, and select the ‘Breakout rooms’ icon.

This will open a new menu which will allow you to create and configure your breakout rooms.

From here you can select how many breakout rooms you want to create, as well as control if people are automatically assigned to a breakout room, or if you can control who specifically is put in each room.

When you have designed your breakout rooms, a new pane will appear on right side of screen where you can control and assign your breakout rooms.

To start your breakout rooms session, click on the ‘Start rooms’ button to commence breakout room sessions.

When you have finished your breakout rooms session, click on the ‘Close rooms’, and everyone will re-join the main Teams meeting.

7. TOGETHER MODE

Our final helpful feature for today is to use together mode to add a different viewing perspective for your meeting attendees.

To launch together mode, click on the ellipsis on the top bar, and in the drop-down menu select ‘together mode’.

This will launch together mode and display every webcam on the same screen.

You can also change the background by clicking on the ‘scenes’ and selecting a different backdrop from a wide variety of different themes.

THAT’S ALL OUR MICROSOFT TEAMS MEETING TIPS!

We hope you found these tips helpful and that you might be able to implement some of these in your next Microsoft Teams meeting!

If you would like to make the most out of this fantastic piece of software, look out for our next blog where we will be getting creative and exploring different tools to help you to boost productivity in your Teams meetings.

If you would you like to find out more information about Microsoft Teams and its numerous benefits, check out our website.

If you have any further questions or would like some advice on how you and your business can make the most out of the platform, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team.