Does Microsoft Teams Support Webinars?

The short answer is YES! Webinar features are now available in Microsoft Teams without any additional costs or separate subscriptions. That means that the new capabilities are already included in the Microsoft 365 plan your organization already uses.

Microsoft Teams provides a platform for users to host interactive webinars for up to 1000 attendees. And you can effortlessly share content, audio, and video with your attendees for an interactive and resourceful event.

But the big question is, what does it take to host a successful webinar on Microsoft Teams platform? We’ve prepared this comprehensive guide to provide valuable tips and best practices for setting up and running a Microsoft Teams webinar effectively. But first, what is a webinar?

What is a Webinar?

Variously referred to as a webcast, online event, or web seminar, a webinar is a well-structured meeting or presentation usually hosted by an organization and broadcasted to a select group of individuals over the internet.

Essentially, a webinar allows a presenter from the hosting company to share web content, videos, PowerPoint presentations, audio, or other multimedia with attendees who may be located anywhere around the globe.

After enabling the webinars function in your organization, authorized users can schedule meetings and allow attendees to register for the same. Also, during the webinar, the host representing your organization can interact with the participants in real-time. And the audience can also ask questions during the event through an instant messaging platform like Teams or email.

How to Host a Successful Microsoft Teams Webinar

This section takes a deeper dive into the tips and best practices for using Microsoft Teams for webinars. So let’s dive right in!

Set up Your Teams Webinar

Setting up your Microsoft Teams webinar is pretty straightforward. First, head over to the left navigation pane of the app and select Events. Proceed to the +New ribbon, where you’ll see a banner stating that Microsoft Teams is available as a streaming channel. Next, set the Do you want to stream this event toggle to Yes. From there, you’ll be provided with three streaming options, one of which is the Teams webinar.

Your organization can use Teams webinars to hold presentations, where one or more presenters can share various multimedia content like videos, audio, and PowerPoint presentations. Likewise, attendees can choose to engage with the presenters by answering poll questions, posting comments in the chat, or through reactions.

Configure Your Webinar Settings

After setting up your Teams webinar, it’s time to configure the default settings to provide the best user experience. To edit these default settings, head over to the Change meetings options and switch it to Yes. With this capability, you can control:

What participants can enter the call and who should wait in the lobby
Whether to allow reactions
Who can make presentations during the meeting
Whether to announce when callers join or leave
Whether to allow anonymous users to join your meetings
Whether to allow anonymous users to interact with apps in meetings

Choose Your Preferred Presenter Mode

The presenter mode allows you to determine or customize how you’d like your video feed or content to appear to your participants during the webinar. It has three options; the Standout mode, the Reporter mode, and the Side-by-side mode.

Standout mode. In this mode, the presenter’s video feed shows as a silhouette in the site of the shared content.
Reporter mode. Here, shared content gets shown above the presenter’s shoulders, just like they do in news broadcasts.
Side-by-side mode. Here the presenter’s video feed gets shown alongside their content during presentations.

In the meantime, webinar participants can customize their experience by navigating the content privately and at their own pace. Plus, they can choose to use screen readers or contrast mode to enhance content accessibility. Furthermore, Microsoft announces that soon, it will introduce slide translation capabilities, enabling participants to insert their native languages and have slides automatically translated to them – without interfering with other attendees’ views.

Manage the Call

One way to make your webinar sessions successful is to stay in maximum control of the call feature. For instance, a task as simple as muting your attendees can be overly influential in enhancing both presenter and participants’ experience.

But let’s be honest; managing the call button is nothing simple if you have to do it manually – imagine muting all your 200+ participant’s mics one by one. Quite a daunting task, huh? Thankfully, Microsoft Teams automates the procedure, enabling you to mute your participants in one click. And if you plan to hold a Q&A session in real-time, the participants can unmute themselves once they’re ready with a question.

Record the Webinar

Most participants appreciate having access to a recorded version of your insightful content and presentation. This makes it trouble-free for them to save the webinar for future reference or even share it among friends and colleagues. And the best part? Microsoft Teams provides an option to record the session as it takes place so that all attendees can access the recorded copy at the end of the meeting – no waiting.

Also, Teams usually notifies the participants that the session is getting recorded. And they can access the recording in the meeting chat or on Microsoft Stream.

End the Call

After wrapping up your webinar session, it is only wise to end the call for all attendees instead of letting them leave the event individually. This goes a long way in preventing anyone from “loitering around” past the session. What’s more, it’s critical to put a clear stop to your meeting so the recorded version remains relevant.

Take Your Webinars to the Next Level with Microsoft Teams Today!

The new webinar capabilities are already available in your organization’s current Microsoft 365 plan at no extra charges. So what’s stopping you from taking your online meetings and presentations to the next level with Microsoft Teams? With a host of incredible features and functionalities, you surely can’t afford to miss out on the chance to organize, manage, and run scalable and interactive events for a sizable audience.

Are you in the market for the most reliable and affordable Teams or Microsoft 365 support for your Philadelphia business? Menark Technologies can help! We’re a team of self-motivated and highly experienced IT experts, and we pride ourselves on helping small and mid-size enterprises leverage technology solutions efficiently and profitably.

For more information on how we can help you set up and optimize your Microsoft Office 365 solutions, contact us!