MS Teams - Getting Started in a Meeting

Introduction

When you go to a meeting MS Teams, there are a few settings and features you do want to be aware of. Please make sure you’re signed into your SUNYEmpire account (same username and password that you use for MySUNYEmpire) for the full experience! This article also includes some tips for ensuring your meeting runs effectively.

Table of Contents:

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Meeting Toolbar

To summon the “Meeting Toolbar,” hover your cursor in the center of the app. If you do not move your cursor, the “Meeting Toolbar” will hide itself.

The “Meeting Toolbar” contains buttons to many features:

  1. Participant list: See a list of all presenters and attendees in the meeting. Meeting organizers (those who created the meeting) and presenters have additional features available and documented in the article, “MS Teams - Meeting Functions.”
  2. Chat: Click to open the chat for this specific meeting that you’re attending. A copy of the meeting chat will be saved in the listing on the left-hand side menu  of the MS Teams app for future reference.
  3. Raise/lower hand & emoji reactions: To help meeting organizers/presenters identify participants who have questions, you can use this feature. When you first click the raise hand icon, it will activate an alert that displays to other users that you would like to speak both on the main screen of the meeting and under the “Participant list” (see more above). There are also a variety of emoji reactions that can be clicked that will briefly display. 
     
    1. Please Note: You do need to click this icon again to “lower” your hand. It will stay active until you “lower” your hand; no one else can do that for you.
  4. Breakout rooms (only visible for Organizers of a meeting): create smaller sessions linked to the main meeting.
     
  5. Start or manage a poll (only visible to Organizers & Presenters): add MS Forms to a meeting to conduct polls, surveys, and quizzes.
     
  6. More actions: A variety of functions are available under this tab, including (but not limited to): live captions, recording, background effects, device settings, and full screen mode.
  7. Video: Turn your camera on and off.
  8. Mic: Turn your microphone on and off. Only you can turn your microphone on; presenters in a meeting do have the ability to “mute”/turn off your mic if it is necessary to maintain order in the meeting.
  9. Screen sharing: Share your screen with other presenters and attendees to the meeting. They can “Request Control” of your desktop, yet you need to give them permission to do so. You can select to only share a particular part of your screen (i.e. an app) or open the Whiteboard feature.
    Leave: Select this to leave the live meeting/call.

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Differences Between a Signed in User and a Guest

"Guest" is a participant external of Empire State University who has been invited to meeting by a member of the university. Members of the university can also accidentally come in as guests if they do not login to MS Teams with their university username and password.

There are three categories for participants signed with licensed accounts provided by SUNY Empire:

  • The "Organizer" is the participant who scheduled the meeting.
  • The "Presenter" is designated by the Organizer with permissions above the Attendee.
  • The "Attendee" is someone invited to the meeting to watch and not present.

Here is how your functionality is different when attending as an Organizer, Presenter, Attendee, and Guest: 

Capability

Organizer

Presenter

Attendee

Guest

Create a meeting in general

X

X

X

 

Control personal video/mic settings

 X

 X

 X

X

Allow usage of emoji, GIFs, and memes

 X

 X

 X

 

Access Chat

 X*

 X

 X

X

View/Download Files from Chat

X

 X

 X

 

Upload Files

X

X

X

X

Hand Raise

 X

 X

 X

 

Turn on Live captions

 X

 X

 X

X

Apply virtual background

X

X

X

 

Record meeting

X

X

 

 

Mute other participants' mics

X

X

 

 

Download Attendance

X

 

 

 

Invite additional participants in the meeting

X

X

 

 

Switch guests between presenter and attendee access

X

X

 

 

Copy join link to meeting

X

X

 

 

Invite guests from the lobby

X

X

 

 

"Pin" a participant's video camera

X

X

X

X

Use Gallery and Together Mode

X

X

X

X

Create and manage breakout rooms

X
 


 


 


 

Add MS Forms to conduct polls
 

X
 

X
 


 


 

Screen Share

X
 

X
 


 


 

*Presenters and Attendees who are invited to a meeting connected to a private team channel and are not a member of the team do not have access to the chat. 

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Tips for MS Teams: Meetings

  • Demonstrating Etiquette:
     
    • Use headsets to avoid an echo.
    • Turn video off if you do something not related to the meeting.
    • Mute your mic if you’re not speaking.
    • Avoid low angles for best lighting and visibility.
    • Select a professional space to broadcast or use a virtual background.
  • Ensuring Quality of Calls:
     
    • Check that laptops and mobile devices are plugged in.
    • Pause file downloads and uploads.
    • Close apps not related to the meeting.
    • Setup devices wired to your router or nearby for wireless connections.
    • Try hanging up and restarting your end of the call.
  • Running a Meeting:
     
    • Provide rules of meeting to attendees at the beginning.
    • Use the chat messages to communicate with little distraction.
    • Gain attention of individual users with an @mention.
    • Use “thumbs up” to acknowledge messages quickly.
    • Zoom in on images when screen sharing:
       
      • For PC: Select the “CTRL” and “+” keys at the same time.
      • For Mac: Select the “CMD” and “+” keys at the same time.

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