Enhancing Microsoft Teams Meetings and Webinars: Usability Improvements and New Lobby Policies

-

 Microsoft Teams is continuously evolving to provide better experiences for its users. In this post, we will discuss two major updates that have been rolled out to Microsoft Teams: usability improvements to Together Mode in Teams meetings and new lobby policies for webinars. These changes aim to make virtual meetings and webinars more inclusive, easier to understand, and secure.

An image displaying the improved Together Mode in Microsoft Teams, featuring name labels with status icons for microphone, active speaker, spotlight, and pin, alongside participants' videos. Raised hands and reactions are also visible within the view, creating an interactive and engaging virtual meeting experience.


Together Mode Usability Improvements in Teams Meetings

Microsoft has introduced new usability improvements to Together Mode in Microsoft Teams to enhance the meeting experience. These updates include:

  1. Name Labels: Participants in Together Mode will now have name labels attached to their videos, making it easier to identify each participant.
  2. Status Icons: Name labels will also support status icons that indicate microphone, active speaker, spotlight, or pin within the meeting.
  3. Self-Preview Removal: Your own video in the gallery will now be removed while Together Mode is active to avoid duplication of the self-preview.
  4. Raised Hands and Reactions: Together Mode will display raised hands and reactions within the view, making it more interactive and engaging.

These updates are being rolled out in stages, with Targeted Release and Public Preview users receiving the updates in early May, Standard Release users in early June, and GCC-High and DoD users in mid-June.

New Lobby Policy for Webinars

An image illustrating the new meeting options for lobby in Microsoft Teams Webinars, including the 'Allow registered users to bypass' and 'Reject users who cannot bypass the lobby' policies. These options provide enhanced security and control over attendee access, ensuring a streamlined and secure webinar experience.


Microsoft Teams is introducing two new lobby options for webinars to improve security and control:

  1. Allow Registered Users to Bypass: This new lobby policy allows registered users to bypass the lobby in your webinar, streamlining the entry process for authorized attendees.
  2. Reject Users Who Cannot Bypass the Lobby: This option rejects users who cannot bypass the lobby, ensuring only authorized participants can join the webinar.

These options are available exclusively for webinars and are turned off by default. They can be enabled in the meeting options of your webinar at your discretion. The rollout for these new lobby policies began in mid-May and was expected to be completed by early June.

Conclusion

These updates to Microsoft Teams meetings and webinars demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to providing an enhanced user experience. The usability improvements to Together Mode make virtual meetings more engaging and easier to follow, while the new lobby policies for webinars offer increased security and control. We recommend educating users within your organization about these updates to ensure a smooth transition and maximum benefit from the new features.

Location: London, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding Microsoft Teams Room Licence Changes Coming July 2023

-
Image
The upcoming months are going to bring some significant changes to how we license Microsoft Teams Rooms, with Microsoft rolling out new licensing requirements effective from July 1, 2023 . Understanding these updates and how they impact your business is crucial for the smooth continuity of your Teams meetings. In this article, we're going to guide you through these changes and provide you with the information necessary to keep your Teams Rooms operating seamlessly post-July 1, 2023. An Overview of the Changes Starting July 1, 2023 , Microsoft will necessitate procuring and provisioning either a Teams Rooms Pro or a Teams Rooms Basic license to continue using your devices with Teams meetings. However, it's essential to note that the Hub will still function as normal without the Teams meetings functionality. Moreover, these new licensing requirements won't affect users signing into Surface Hub to access Microsoft 365 accounts or personal files. Moreover, those who have activa
Read more

Microsoft Teams Elevates External Collaboration with its New Feature Rollout

-
Image
  Microsoft Teams is once again set to revolutionize business communication with a promising new feature for external collaboration. This update is geared towards providing organizations an effortless way to capture and manage external collaboration requests on shared channels. With a significant focus on inter-organization collaboration, this update underscores the importance of seamless communication in today's global business environment. Set to rollout in early August, with completion expected by mid-August, the update will be available across the Teams admin center, Microsoft Teams Desktop, and Web versions. The feature is primarily designed to be a fail-safe mechanism when users attempt to add external members to a shared channel where a B2B direct connect cross-tenant trust has not been established between the two parties. How this Impacts Your Organization The integration of this new feature in your Microsoft Teams admin center will empower your organization to build a supp
Read more

Enhance Teamwork with Microsoft Teams' New Feature: Collaborative Stageview

-
Image
  As the pace of digital transformation accelerates, Microsoft Teams continues to evolve, offering more and more innovative features to enhance collaboration and productivity within organizations. Today, we're excited to unveil the latest game-changer: the Collaborative Stageview. Scheduled for release in June 2023, the Collaborative Stageview is a novel addition to Microsoft Teams that promises to revolutionize the way users interact with content and team members simultaneously. What is the Collaborative Stageview? The Collaborative Stageview is a fresh type of Teams window that facilitates engaging content exploration and conversation concurrently. This feature provides a significant boost to collaborative endeavors, enabling users to: Open their content directly into a new Teams window from eligible adaptive cards. This feature simplifies the process of accessing relevant data, ensuring you have all the information you need at your fingertips. Engage with app content on a broad
Read more