Well, interactive meetings are about to get a whole lot bigger in Microsoft Teams. Among other updates coming to Teams this month, Microsoft has announced that it is upgrading the virtual platform to will soon be able to bring together up to 20, 000 participants at a go but for a view-only meeting experience.
And for more interactive meetings—where attendees can chat, unmute to talk, and turn on their videos for real-time collaboration, Teams meetings are growing to support up to 1,000 participants, up from a maximum of 250 participants currently.
These upgrades Microsoft says are part of a new features in Microsoft Teams that will make virtual interactions more natural, more engaging, and ultimately, more human.
“As the global response to COVID-19 evolves, communities around the world have moved from an era of “remote everything” into a more hybrid model of work, learning, and life. And as we all scramble to keep up, the future of work and educationis being shaped before our eyes. At Microsoft, we have spent the last few months learning from our customers and studying how they use our tools,” Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365 said.
Other than these new changes, Microsoft is also introducing a new Together Mode for meetings that puts participants in a virtual room together. This feature will be available for users from next month.
“It’s great for meetings in which multiple people will speak, such as brainstorms or roundtable discussions, because it makes it easier for participants to understand who is talking,” Spataro explains.
Other incoming features include Dynamic view, Video filters and the Reflect messaging extension.
In addition to the above, Teams users will soon be able to react during a meeting using emojis that will appear to all participants. Live reactions is a shared feature with PowerPoint Live Presentations, which allows audience members to provide instant feedback to the presenter.
