Meetings in Teams include audio, video, and screen sharing. They’re one of the key ways to collaborate in Teams. In this video we will cover 3 tips on Microsoft Teams Meetings to not only smoothen your meeting flow but also enhancing your entire meeting experience. 

Tip #1 – Join Screen

1. Launch your Microsoft Teams application and then Go to [Calendar] to find he meeting you would like to join. Click on the meeting and then select [Join].

2. Then, you will be able to see your join screen. The join screen offers easier discovery for video/audio and device selection configurations for the meeting. Most importantly, users will now be able to select their background filter before they enter a Teams meeting.

3. To change your background, select [Background Filters].  It’s just below the video image. Your background options will display on the right.

– Select [Blur] to blur your background. You’ll appear nice and clear while everything behind you is subtly concealed. 

– You can also replace your background with one of the images provided, or with one of your own choosing.

– To use an image of your own, select [Add New] and then select one to upload from your computer. Make sure it’s a .JPG, .PNG, or .BMP file.

4. Once your done with the set up, select [Join Now] to join the meeting.

Tip #2 – Manage your Participants

1. After selecting join now, you will be brought to the meeting window. All the discussions and presentation takes place here.

2. To view all invited participants and participants who are already in your meeting, click on the [Show Participants] button on top.

2. You will then be able to see all participants invited to the meeting. 

3. To request an invited user to join the meeting, click on [Request to Join] next to the user’s name. Microsoft Teams will place a Teams Meeting call to directly ask the requested user to join the meeting.

4. To add a new participant to the meeting, type the user’s name on the [Invite someone or dial a number] bar. You can then select the user and Microsoft Teams will directly dial the user to join the meeting.

5. To copy the join link to the meeting, click on [Copy Join Info] and the meeting link will be copied to your clipboard. You can then send the meeting link to other attendees via an alternative platform, such as an Outlook Email. 

Tip #3 – Meeting Options

1. To set up your meeting options, click on the […] More Actions button, then select [Meeting Options]

2. You will be able to see a few rules to help you manage your participants, and other meeting options such as lobbying. Let’s go through all of them one by one.

Choose who can bypass the lobby

1. As the meeting organizer, you get to decide who gets into your meetings directly, and who should wait for someone to let them in.

If you choose to have people wait, you (and anyone else allowed to admit people) will see a list of people in the lobby. From there you can choose whether to admit or deny them.

[Everyone]: Anyone who has access to the meeting link gets into the meeting directly, including people who call in.

[People in my organization and trusted organizations]: Only people in your Teams org and external guests from trusted organizations can get into your meetings directly.
Select this option when you want some external guests to wait in the lobby so you can approve them one by one.

[Only people in your org and guests]: (including those who have different email domains than yours) can get into your meetings directly.
Select this when you want all external guests (anyone outside your org) to wait in the lobby so you can approve them one by one.

[Only Me]: As the meeting organizer, only you can get into your meeting directly. Everyone else will wait in the lobby.

Let people calling in by phone bypass the lobby

1. You’ll see a toggle next to [Always let callers bypass the lobby]. When this setting is enabled, people calling in by phone will join your meeting without having to wait for someone to admit them. Let people calling in by phone bypass the lobby

2. Select the toggle to turn it on or off. 

Get notified when callers join or leave

1. You may want to receive an alert when someone calling in by phone joins or leaves your meeting. (Your admin might have enabled these alerts by default.)

To change this setting, select the toggle next to [Announce when callers join or leave] 

Assign attendees as presenter

1. As a meeting organizer, you can assign attendees in your meeting as presenters. 

2. When you click the drop down menu, you will be able to see a list of people that can be made as a presenter.

3. You may assign everyone, people from your org only, assign specific people, or only allowing yourself to be a presenter in the meeting.

4. A presenter not only can share their screen in the meeting, they are also able to add or remove participants, mute or unmute participants, admit or deny participants from the lobby and even start or finish a meeting recording.

Prevent attendees from unmuting themselves

1. To avoid random noise and distractions in large meetings, you may want to decide when attendees can unmute. 

2. To prevent attendees from unmuting, turn off the toggle next to [Allow attendees to unmute].