Getting the Most out of your Teams Meeting

1. When you enter a Teams meeting you are automatically equipped with a toolbar filled with useful functions to help you run a Teams meeting. This toolbar will be located at the bottom of the video if you are using the web version, or in the top right corner for those using the App. The following information goes through the important functions of the toolbar.

2. The first icon to understand is the PARTICIPANTS icon, indicated with two figure outlines, which lists all the participants present in the meeting as well as those who are invited but haven't yet joined the meeting. When this icon is select a panel will show up on the right-hand side with the listed participants. This is also where you can save an attendance list, mute all the participants at once, and have an indicator of who is using the raise your hand button. Some versions of Teams list the panel as PEOPLE, please note that the Participants icon serves the same function either way. The following steps will indicate that the Participants panel can also be labeled as People.

3. To take attendance of everyone currently in your meeting you will select the MORE ACTIONS button in the participants panel which is in the right-hand corner as a three dots icon next to the X icon which closes the panel.

4. When select, a drop-down menu will appear and you will select the second option, Download attendance list.

5. To MUTE ALL the participants in your meeting you will select the MUTE ALL button which is next to the drop-down menu titled “Currently in this meeting”.

6. A window will pop-up confirming that you want to mute everyone in the meeting except you. Select the MUTE button to confirm. Participants still can unmute themselves manually throughout the meeting. This is a good function to use at the start of the meeting to ensure there are no audio distractions from participants background noise.

7. To call on a participant who has raised their hand your participant list will indicate whose hand is raised with a yellow hand icon next to their name. In addition, the participant icon in the toolbar will show a number notification of how many participants have raised their hand.

8. In addition, the Raise your hand button is in the toolbar as an icon with a hand. When clicked this will indicate that you have raised your hand and can be called on by the person running the meeting. When you’re done you can select the hand icon again to stop raising your hand.

9. The next icon to familiarize yourself with is the Meeting Chat icon, indicated as a text box with 3 lines inside. This icon opens the meeting chat panel on the right-hand side. Here, you and your

participants can send messages, react to messages, participate in polls, send attachments, and a variety of other options.

10. At the bottom of the panel there are a variety of options to choose from. In the “Type a new message” section you can type and then send your message by either pressing enter on your keyboard or hitting the send button indicated on the bottom right as a paper airplane icon. Below is an image of a text box that shows up in Purple when you send your message and when the cursor is over a message a series of emojis pop-up that you can click to react to the message. There are also a variety of functions under the “Type a new message” box.

11. The icons go from left to right and start with the FORMAT button indicated with an uppercase A and paint symbol. This icon expands the message box and allows you to make changes to your message (bold words, underline, etc.)

12. Next is the Set Delivery Options icon shown as an exclamation mark, which is present only on the Teams APP and not the Web version. This icon can change the urgency of your message. Changing the urgency alerts those in the chat of the importance. By default it is set to standard but it can also be set to important which will mark the message or as urgent which will send a notification to recipients every 2 minutes for 20 minutes or until they read the message.

13. The paper clip icon is to add Attachments. Here you can send word documents, images, PowerPoints and so on through the meeting chat.

14. The following three buttons allow for additional messaging fun. a. The Emoji button indicated by a smiley face icon allows you to send different emojis. b. The Giphy button indicated by a box with the letters GIF insides allows you to send GIFS.c. The Sticker button indicated as a smiling sticker peeling in the corner allows you to send

sticker images.

15. And finally, is the MESSAGING EXTENSIONS button indicated by three dots. This button allows you to access other Teams app options such as MS Stream links, Forms and/or Polls. For this instruction we are going to go through how to create a live Poll in your Meeting Chat by selecting FORMS in the pop-up menu. The location of the FORMS app may vary, in the top of the pop-up menu you can type in FORMS in the Find an app text box if you do not see it immediately.

16. In order to create a new poll, you will type in your question or statement followed by the response options you want to provide. It can be a simple yes or no or type in other response options.

17. Once the poll is created you can select NEXT in the lower right-hand corner.

18. The Poll will show up as a final example before you select SEND in the lower right-hand corner to send it to the Teams Meeting Chat.

19. The poll will show up in the meeting chat in 2 forms. The first will be for participants to fill out their responses and the second box will be the live results that come in as participants take the poll. Remember, the data is accessible to all, but the individual responses are anonymous.

20. The poll will automatically update as participants submit their votes. While the participants can see the results, each participants response is still anonymous.

21. The next selection is the MORE OPTIONS button indicated by the three dots icon. This button holds a variety of options. This guide will be highlighting the most important ones.

22. The MORE OPTIONS button has a variety of options and features. If when you enter your meeting you are encountering issues with sound/video then select the first option under MORE OPTIONS, titled DEVICE SETTINGS.

23. When plugging in a new headset or external camera, one quick way to problem solve any issues you may have are with your technology is to make sure the correct speakers, microphone and camera are selected and being used during your meeting.

24. Another set of options you are provided under the MORE OPTIONS button is how you see your participants. By default, Gallery view is used but there are two other options to see more participants. The next is Large Gallery which brings up more participants (must have at least 4). Then there is Together Mode which works when at least 10 of your participants have their camera enabled. This view put all their heads into digital seats to simulate what it’s like to look at a lecture hall with students.

25. There are three final options to point out in the list. a. Apply Background Effects allows you to change your video background (go to the next

step on how to apply).

b. Turn on live captions allows you to have automatic captions to show u during the meeting. Keep in mind that the live captions are not 100% accurate and this option does not show up for all Teams versions.

c. The final major option is Start recording which allows you to record the meeting. For more information consult the Hosting a Live Synchronous session guide.

26. Adding a video background can allow you to block out anything behind you that you do not want others to see. While it is not 100% accurate with changing the background, it still is a great option if you or your participants want to add additional background privacy. When you select Apply background effects in the list, you will be directed to the Background settings window. You can add your own image or choose from the options provided. When you have one select you can click Apply and turn on video at the bottom.

27. The final options in your toolbar include turning your camera and microphone on/off with the camera and microphone icons. Those features are considered OFF when there is a diagonal slash through each and on when it is just the symbol. The Share Tray button indicated with a box around an up arrow allows you screen sharing options (for additional information use the Share Content Options in Teams Meetings Guide). And finally, the red rectangle with a phone symbol which says LEAVE allows you to leave the Teams meeting.