Microsoft Teams Webinars: Introducing New Features

Since they’ve been introduced MS Teams webinars have been excellent way to pull a group together. A Microsoft Teams webinar can support up to 1,000 individuals with engagement features and up to 10,000 individuals without engagement features, making it ideal for everything from small-scale meetings to large-scale events. Let’s discuss some of the most important Microsoft Teams webinar features and use cases.

What is a Microsoft Teams Webinar?

A Microsoft Teams webinar is one of the most popular ways to run an MS Teams event. When you go into the “Events” section of MS Teams to create a new event, you can decide to stream it. When you stream it, “Teams Webinar” will come up as an option. This is a streaming service that’s intended for a large number of viewers.

A webinar is portmanteau of “web” and “seminar”; it’s a way to deliver a presentation to numerous viewers at once. Webinars can be held internally (such as for corporate meetings and updates) or externally (for outreach and client information). Either way, webinars are an excellent addition to the MS Teams suite.

When Would You Use an MS Teams Webinar?

Webinars can be used for product launches, to stream live events to those who cannot attend, or simply to hold interactive meetings with customers and prospective customers. Because webinars are interactive, they can be used to improve upon brand identity and engagement. Furthermore, viewers are able to continue engaging with presenters of an MS Teams webinar after the webinar has been completed.

What Are the Functions of an MS Teams Webinar?

Some functions of an MS Teams webinar are functions of other meeting types, such as the ability to either enter voice chat or text chat while the meeting goes on. Other features, such as the capacity of the webinar, are unique to the webinar format.

The most important features of the MS Teams webinar include:

• Multiple-presenter hosting. Multiple presenters, experts and professionals will be able to present at a single webinar, providing more value for the audience and making it easier for the presentation to move between hosts seamlessly.
• Interactive slides. Audiences will be able to move between slides at their own base or otherwise consume the content provided through the webinar in the way that makes the most sense to them, making for a more engaged and receptive audience.
• Management through PowerPoint Live. Audience members, content and lobbies can all be managed and engaged with through PowerPoint live, so the presenter will have everything on their screen at once and can take an active role in administration.
• Automatically exported attendee data. Seminar presenters are able to automatically export their attendee data so they can inject them directly into their customer relationship management suites. Presenters will be able to foster and nurture leads directly from the seminar, thereby making it easier to connect with those at the conference.
• Generating video from the stream. Like other MS Teams meetings, the webinar service can automatically generate video from the stream — so videos can be posted elsewhere for those who couldn’t attend. It’s a good way for a company to continually build up its content stores, while still taking advantage of live, digital events.
• Presenter mode. Presenter mode is a powerful feature through which the presenter can control the way that their presentation is displayed, controlling what information is emphasized and how the presentation is branded. Though Presenter mode, presenters are able to take more ownership over how their presentation is experienced.

In short, the MS Teams webinar is like a standard MS Teams meeting, but with additional features that can create a more engaging, interactive and large-scale experience. Users can use MS Teams webinar services if a detailed presentation must be sent to a large number of people.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES TO MS TEAMS WEBINARS?

While a Microsoft Teams webinar is a great way to reach lots of participants, MS Teams does offer two primary large-scale alternatives to Teams webinars: large-scale Teams meetings and Teams live events.

Teams Meetings can hold up to 10,000 individuals (though as of June 2023, this has been increased to 20,000, albeit perhaps temporarily). The first 1,000 have “fully interactive” meeting capabilities, and the remainder of the 20,000 have view-only capabilities. 

Live Events can similarly host up to 20,000 participants, though unlike Meetings and Webinars, there are limited opportunities for interaction with the audience. Another limitation on Live Events is that they do not yet support pre-registration like Meetings and Webinars do. 

Getting Started with Webinars through MS Teams

Teams Webinars are only one of the extraordinary, advanced features of MS Teams. Today, many people are working remotely, or are part of teams who are halfway across the world. MS Teams makes it easier than ever for companies to connect to their most remote employees, to bring teams together and to otherwise connect and collaborate.

With MS Teams webinars, companies are able to promote their outreach and content like never before – creating  full-scale, digital events that their prospective customers, vendors and employees can take part in. And it’s only one part of the integrated Office 365 and MS Teams ecosystem.

If your organization is interested in leveraging the power of MS Teams, the time is now. But it can be difficult to make the transition without help. Contact Red River today to find out how an MSP can help you.