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Table Of Contents

Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide for Beginners

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Table Of Contents

There’s a rumor – and it’s proven to be true – that many workplaces will implement a remote or hybrid working model even after the Coronavirus pandemic ends. The switch started even before the whole “pandemic ordeal” happened, and seems like the situation with the virus just sped up the process.

The shift from in-office to remote or hybrid working model brought along plenty of benefits. However, there are some obstacles teams have to bypass to secure an effortless and streamlined workflow. One of them is ensuring that communication goes undisturbed. 

Microsoft Teams is one of the solutions businesses use to enable a seamless flow of information company-wide. If you’re struggling to get the hang out of Microsoft Teams, we will provide you here with a few easy steps on how you can use the Microsoft Teams meeting feature in a few easy steps along with some perks to make the most out of it.

How to set up Microsoft Teams Meeting?

Setting up a meeting in Microsoft Teams is a breeze: you can do it either via the Teams app or through Outlook. Regardless of how you choose to set up a meeting, it will look the same both ways. However, it’s important to know that there are four ways to launch a discussion with a team:

  • By using the ad-hoc meeting option. To do this, you just need to press the “meet now” button and call everyone to join a conversation.
  • By private meeting session. In case you need to talk to your coworker privately via Microsoft Teams meeting you can do it via a private meeting session on your private chat.
  • Channel meeting. A convenient option Microsoft Team has is the ability this app provides to strike a conversation with the participants of a specific group of people within Microsoft Teams.
  • Meeting with external attendees. One of the biggest perks of Microsoft Teams is the ability to talk with anyone who has an email address, both inside and outside of your organization.

How to record your meetings in Teams?

Sometimes we cannot recall everything that has been said during a video meeting. Or we have problems managing our schedule, something comes up and we end up missing it. Luckily, there’s an option to record Microsoft Teams meetings and make sure everyone can access them at any time. You can either record audio, video, or shared screen activities, and the recording will be automatically saved to Microsoft Stream. You can later use the recordings to download, manage or share them with your teammates.

To record a Microsoft Teams meeting you need to be either an internal attendee or a meeting organizer. In case you’re an external attendee – you won’t be able to record it. 

All you need to do is to start/join the meeting and click on the “…” where you’ll find the “Start recording button”.

As the organizer, you will be notified you’re being recorded and you will be given a reminder to tell your meeting attendees they are being recorded:

To stop recording, go to the meeting controls on the ellipsis “…” and click “stop recording” from the same menu.

To replay a Microsoft Teams meeting you just have to go to the Channel conversation history in your team account and find the video recording for the meeting. Then, you have to press “Play| and replay the meeting.

How to blur your background during the meeting?

In case you’re living in a small space and your family constantly crosses behind you, or you’re in a busy office cubicle, Microsoft Teams has a handy solution for you. You can blur your background during a meeting while leaving you clear and un-blurred.

If you work in a busy or open cubicle environment, this is a useful feature for meetings and video calls. Sometimes you may have confidential information on your walls, you may be on your commute, or you may be working from home or in a coffee shop with lots of visual distraction in the background. The background blur feature cleverly blurs the surroundings behind you while leaving you clear and un-blurred. To turn on the blurred background, you just need to click on the ellipsis “…” on the call menu and select the “Blur my background” option. After you do it, you’re all set!

How do I share the screen with other attendees?

Sometimes we need more than words to share our message. When we are in a remote setting it’s much harder to let people know and explain what we need because we’re not physically close. However, Microsoft Teams has a great feature that allows its users to bypass physical distance and use all resources they would if they were in the same room with their coworkers. We’re talking about the Shared screen option.

To share the screen in the Microsoft Teams meeting you just need to click on a “Share” button and you’ll be asked to share your desktop or any of your open applications separately. Furthermore, you can even share a virtual whiteboard and collaborate on a project together.

Ana Mladenovic
Ana Mladenovic

A cat enthusiast and a cupcake maniac, Ana is a freelance Content Writer passionate about HR, productivity, and team management topics. When she’s not at her keyboard, you can find Ana in the kitchen, trying to make delicious cookies.

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