Rules to Better Microsoft Teams - 35 Rules

Microsoft Teams is a great tool for a group of people to collaborate, communicate and share their files.

Teams makes it easy to:

• Centralize communication
• Send emails to Team members easily and quickly by providing a global email address for the Team
• Move away from email attachments and centralize documents

Take charge of communication in your Team and get started with Microsoft Teams. This video will guide you through your first few steps with Teams using the simple example of a building at 81 Military Road:

Once invited to a Team, follow these steps:

1. Go to your inbox and find the invitation email
2. Click on "Open Microsoft Teams"
3. Sign-in Note: you can use the Desktop, Web or Mobile apps to access Teams
4. Navigate your Teams & Channels! 👌✔

Effective communication with your clients on Microsoft Teams builds credibility, trust and ensures they receive the deserved attention.

Talking to clients on Teams

Microsoft Teams is an excellent channel for communicating with clients, especially at the early stage of client development, like after the initial meeting. It encourages the client to reach out and ask you anything about the business, like an upcoming Spec Review. It also gives you an easy way to be able to get hold of them to chase potential work. This impresses the client and can strengthen your relationship.

In other words, Microsoft Teams = buddies :-)

Open vs closed tenants

An open Microsoft 365 (tenant) means any external email address can communicate with you via Teams. However, some organizations have a closed tenant, meaning you can only communicate via Teams with their organization’s consent.

Getting started

Once you’ve arranged an Initial Meeting or before a Spec Review, follow these steps to begin communicating with your client on Teams.

1. Open Microsoft Teams
2. Open a ‘New Chat’ or press (Ctrl + N)
3. Enter the client’s email address
4. Create the chat

If the client has an open tenant, you should send a welcome message in Teams

Figure: Send an email to your client confirming you will contact them through Teams

If the client has a closed tenant, you should send a closed tenant request email

Figure: Send an email to your client requesting access to their organization's tenant

Client Teams should be prefixed with “Client –“ so it is easier to identify them.

It's usually easier for users to remember where given information is when it is associated with an image/icon. This is especially true for non-technical people or the ones that are not very familiar with digital workspaces.

Tip: Always remember to add a space between the emoji and text, for better readability.

Microsoft Teams channel names

An easy and fun way to alleviate this issue and boost user adoption to Microsoft Teams is to use emojis in your channel names.

Control4

Appointments

Lists

AI content

Use the 🤖 emoji at the end of your message/email when you were helped by AI.

Teams is a powerful way to chat, collaborate, and video call with your project team. As soon as you start a new project, create a group chat with all the team members (potentially including the client if appropriate).

Although you will also have a dedicated Team (as per SSW.Rules | Do you know how to create a Team?), which is great for storing documents and files, as well as persisting notifications, you’re better to communicate in a chat rather than a channel since:
✅ You will be actively notified of new messages ✅ The conversation flows more naturally (rather than threaded)
✅ You can quickly call the whole team into a video call

The cons are:
❌ People cannot add themselves to a chat so will need someone on the team to add them
❌ In larger teams, the lack of conversation threading may become an issue

Using the "Meet Now" button in Microsoft Teams can be an efficient way to start a quick meeting with your team. However, it's important to know when to use it to avoid disrupting your colleagues. Triggering an unplanned call can catch people off guard and disrupt their workflow, leading to frustration and decreased productivity.

When to use "Meet Now"

• Quick collaboration - You need an immediate response or decision from a few people who are available
• Unplanned discussions - A short, impromptu discussion that cannot be resolved via chat
• Co-working sessions - When working together on a document or project and all team members are ready to engage

Best practices for using "Meet Now"

• Send a heads-up message - Use a chat message to confirm if a quick call is appropriate
• Set expectations - Clarify the purpose and duration of the call in advance
• Use scheduling for larger groups - For large groups or in-depth discussions, use the "Schedule a Meeting" feature instead

By following these guidelines, you can make better use of the "Meet Now" button, ensuring your meetings are productive and respectful of everyone's time.

Sending appointments from Teams feels less natural than from Outlook but there are some great benefits:

• Appointment - You don’t need to remember everyone’s name - The whole team is invited
• Appointment - In the appointment, it auto-generates a link so that everyone goes to the right place to attend
• Visibility - It shows up in Teams Calendar
• Visibility - It appears in the Teams chat (for the channel that was invited)
• Visibility – When the appointment is beginning the app pops up with a button to “Join”
• History - If you decide to record the meeting, the link to the recording shows up in the chat history as well

Important: Although the meeting app works great to organize Teamwork such as Scrum meetings or other client meetings, it is not very suitable for more global events such as a retreat or a conference. At SSW we use Microsoft Outlook appointments in those instances.

How to make a Teams Meeting

To setup a Teams meeting, simply navigate to "Calendar" and then either "Meet Now" or "New Meeting".

You can select a Channel to meet in and by doing so, members of the Team in which this channel lives will see a Channel activity that you can click to directly jump in the meeting.

Microsoft Teams will also send out an email invitation email for the meeting - this is especially useful when inviting people outside your organization.

When a developer joins a team, they need to find important meetings like the Daily Scrum and the Sprint Review. Unfortunately, these meetings are often organized by a team member and there is no way to find them.

Ideally, a new team member would jump into Microsoft Teams and find the team they are joining. Then they would see all the important meetings from within the team and join them as needed.

From then on, they would be able to see those appointments in Microsoft Outlook and edit them as needed.

In the past, the best way to do this was to create a SharePoint page with a Group Calendar web part, and then add this as a tab in Teams. Microsoft Teams have since released Channel Calendars, which are better because they are built in.

Setup - Make the calendar visible to the team

Before anyone can view and edit the appointment, it needs to be set up correctly to allow editing.

There are 2 steps:

A. Add a Channel Calendar

B. Make the Channel Calendar visible in Microsoft Outlook

A. Add a Channel Calendar

1. Go to the Team | General channel (or another channel, if you prefer)
2. Click the + at the top to add a tab
3. Search for "Channel Calendar" and click on it
4. Give the tab a name (e.g. SysAdmins Calendar)
5. Click "Add"
6. All done, now the team can see all meetings relating to the team

B. Make the Channel Calendar visible in Microsoft Outlook

Channel Calendar meetings need to be editable by anyone in the Team and the only way to enable that is via a group calendar in Microsoft Outlook.

By default, group calendars do not show up in Microsoft Outlook, so they need to be made visible to the team with a PowerShell command:

Set-UnifiedGroup -identity {{ GROUP NAME }} -HiddenFromExchangeClientsEnabled:$False

This can also be done from the Microsoft Admin Center:

1. Go to https://portal.office.com/adminportal
2. Go to Teams & Groups | Active teams & groups
3. Search for the Teams group | Settings | Uncheck "Don't show team email address in Outlook"

Manage Appointments - Team members create, join, edit, and leave meetings themselves

Now that the team calendars are properly configured, it is easy to:

A. Create a meeting

B. Join a meeting

C. Edit a meeting

D. Leave a meeting

A. Create a meeting

Creating a meeting should always be done from Microsoft Teams because Microsoft Outlook doesn't support setting the channel. To create a meeting:

1. Follow the rule on how to create recurring team meetings for a channel
2. Add this text at the bottom - This will direct people to this rule when they go to edit it.

B. Join a meeting

To join a meeting do the following:

1. Navigate to Microsoft Teams | Team | Channel Calendar
2. Click on the meeting you want to join and expand it
3. Select "Add to calendar"
4. Done! You are now one of the meeting attendees.

C. Edit a meeting

To update a meeting, you must change the details from the Microsoft Outlook group calendar:

1. Go to Microsoft Outlook | Calendars | All Group Calendars
2. Open the relevant calendar (same as the team name)
3. Open the appointment and select The entire series
4. Make changes as needed

D. Leave a meeting

Many people decline a meeting when they no longer want to attend. However, this method is problematic because you will still be an Optional attendee, and receive updates to the appointment.

To leave a meeting properly:

1. Go to Microsoft Outlook | Calendars | All Group Calendars
2. Open the relevant calendar (same as the team name)
3. Open the appointment and select The entire series
4. Remove yourself as a participant
5. Double-check that no other mailboxes have been added which include you e.g. the Team mailbox

Waiting for participants to join a meeting can be awkward and make people feel disengaged. It's crucial for the meeting leader to maintain a positive and energetic atmosphere during this time to set the tone for the rest of the meeting.

https://www.tiktok.com/@mrrobertmayhew/video/7416717135965146401

• Avoid sitting silently or showing frustration about the wait
• Do not dive into the main agenda without the key participants present
• Avoid using filler time to discuss irrelevant or heavy topics that could disengage participants
• Do not use this time just to look at yourself in the camera view

Here are some tips to ensure meetings start with energy and engagement while waiting for attendees:

1. Have Filler Conversations

Engage with those who have already joined by discussing light topics, recent wins, or non-work-related subjects. This helps break the ice and keeps the atmosphere lively.

2. Acknowledge New Participants

When someone new joins, pause the current conversation to acknowledge them. It’s a simple yet effective way to make everyone feel included.

Example:

• In chat, type: “Waiting for Bob”
• Say: “Welcome Mary, just waiting for Bob. We are currently talking about the status of the backlog while waiting.”

3. Avoid Jumping into the Agenda

Starting the agenda too early can cause confusion for latecomers. Instead, use this time for informal discussions or to recap previous topics lightly.

4. Use Humor or Share Light Stories

A good laugh can make people more comfortable and open to participation. Share an interesting story or a fun fact to ease the waiting time.

5. Encourage Participation

Ask questions that prompt responses from those present. This can be something simple like “How was your weekend?” or “What’s one thing you’re excited about this week?”

By following these tips, you can ensure that meetings start on a positive note, making everyone feel valued and engaged right from the beginning.

Everyone in your organisation should be able to see meetings that are relevant to their team (e.g. Daily Scrums). Recurring meetings must be setup correctly so that they are associated with a team channel. This process lets others in your organisation see the meetings associated with that channel.

1. Navigate to Microsoft Teams | Calendar | New Meeting

2. Enter the details of the meeting, make sure to add a channel to associate with it!

3. Hit save and you are done, your meeting is all setup.

The status message is often not used but can be quite helpful. People can instantly see what you are up to when they chat with you.

It tells people 3 things:

• What project you’re working on
• The people that you need to speak to (they will get the notifications)
• The location of where you are

More information

To update the status message, follow these steps:

• On the top right, click on your photo
• Click on the pencil icon to edit the status message

The status message is helpful when it contains:

• Project: xxx (the product/project you’re working on) | yyy (the tasks you’re working on)
• Need: xxx (team members that you’re working with – use @mention to tag these members)
• Location: xxx (where you’re working from e.g. Home, SSW Melbourne, CBA, etc.)

Note: the benefit of using the field names with the colon is that it allows you to programmatically extract the information e.g. on SSW SophieBot when you ask who is Patrick, you could also see this information and query why the location field is different from the Wi-Fi he is connected to.

• Enable “Show when people message me”
• For “Clear status message after”, select Never (to prevent Microsoft from deleting the status message)
• Click Done once complete

Receiving Teams messages after work hours can be stressful, disrupting personal time and mental well-being. Microsoft Teams' Quiet Hours feature helps you create boundaries by silencing notifications during non-work hours. By proactively setting Quiet Hours, you can reduce interruptions, maintain focus during work, and preserve your personal time for relaxation or family.

Why use Quiet Hours?

1. Reduce Stress: Continuous notifications can lead to burnout and stress
2. Maintain Work-Life Balance: Ensuring that work stays within its designated hours is crucial for personal well-being
3. Minimize Unnecessary Interruptions: For non-urgent communications, email is often less intrusive than instant messages. Do you send emails for tasks only?

How to Enable Quiet Hours

1. Open the Teams app on your mobile device and tap on your profile picture in the top left corner
2. Navigate to Notifications | Under Blocked notifications | During quiet hours
3. Set your preferred Quiet Hours (specific hours) and Quiet Days (specific days)
4. To sync quiet hours across all mobile devices, turn on the Set on Teams and Outlook toggle

Tips for Effective Use

• Set Clear Expectations: Inform your team about your Quiet Hours to align communication strategies

• Encourage Alternatives:

  • Use emails for non-urgent matters
  • Escalate urgent issues through other means if necessary

Related Considerations

• For urgent or emergency communications, follow the principle of using calls or alternative means
• Understand the broader implications of after-hours messaging and employee rights under regulations like the Right to Disconnect

By using Quiet Hours in Microsoft Teams, you can enjoy better focus at work, a healthier personal life, and a more effective communication strategy within your team.

There is a myriad of options to choose from when storing and sharing documents: SharePoint, or OneDrive/Dropbox/Google Drive, or Microsoft Teams. The best choice is Microsoft Teams because it brings together the best of SharePoint, cloud file storage, real time collaboration and more into a single location.

Warwick Leahy tells us why it's so important to save our files in the right place:

Want to learn more? Watch Jean Thirion's longer video on this topic:

Don't start searching from your start menu either for a program whether that be Notepad, Notepad++, OneNote or even Word. This will open the new file locally on your laptop which requires manual copying/sharing later - and it's easy to forget to do that.

Instead create your file in the Team for a start. It is immediately backed up and shared to the entire Team.

The great thing about having conversations next to the file is that it is always in context. Also, future users can view the conversation when they open the file in teams.

Behind the scenes, storage is provided by a SharePoint site; so that is there if you want to use it. As an added bonus thanks to this; you can take the files offline by syncing with OneDrive for Business and by default each channel gets its own folder.

What does not get stored in Microsoft Teams?

For developers

• Code obviously belongs in GitHub, Azure DevOps, etc
• The 8 important documents should be stored in Azure DevOps (was TFS/VSTS), or instead use Markdown with the Wiki

For designers

• For large files, OneDrive is a better choice. See the best Source Control for Designers

What about usernames and passwords?

Documents with usernames and passwords should not be stored in Microsoft Teams. Security is very important for everyone and every company. Use a password manager to store usernames and passwords.

Note: API keys, whether generic or for the individual should also be stored in a password manager.

Note: You can add other cloud storage providers for file storage e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. This is not recommended, as they aren't first-class citizens (i.e. if you want to share files from them, you need to go to the provider's sharing settings outside of Teams).

::: infoWarning: By using Teams instead of SharePoint, you are losing a number of key features:

• No full fidelity support for Metadata in Document Libraries. E.g. Can’t add extra columns into the “Files” tab
• No support for private channels. E.g. You will need a team per subset of users with different permissions
• No direct access to version history from Teams UI (still exists on SharePoint UI)
• No access to the cross-office365 Search feature. E.g. SharePoint search is better
• No access to external content in the search feature. E.g. Can’t search ssw.com.au/rules
• No access to SharePoint designer workflows (although the new way to do it is Microsoft Flow) :::

Microsoft Teams gives you the ability to sync your files to File Explorer. A lot of people don't realize this feature exits. Let's see how to do this.

Instead of going to Teams | Files to upload or find a file, you can:

1. Find you Team folder in Teams
2. Open the folder in SharePoint
3. Click Sync (signed on OneDrive)
4. Done - a new folder will be available in your File Explorer

Now you can manage your files just as a normal document in your machine.

Have you ever made a spelling mistake when you named a Teams channel? Have you then tried to rename the Channel? If so you will notice that the underlying SharePoint folder is still named incorrectly.

There is a workaround to rename the folder correctly.

1. Rename the Team channel

Note: This hasn't changed the name of the folder in SharePoint!

2. Delete the channel

3. Now, in SharePoint, rename the folder

Note: Make sure that you rename the folder exactly the same as you named the channel.

4. Click the ellipses beside the Team name | Manage Team

   

5. Click Channels | Select the arrow beside deleted | Choose restore beside the channel that you wish to restore

   

When you're having a discussion about the Northwind ordering system that you're building, you need to see your backlog, and of course, it would be handy to see a OneNote diagram of the workflow. It might also be handy to see an Excel spreadsheet of the stakeholders and testers.

What separates Teams from other chat programs, such as Slack and Skype, is the ability to add Tabs to your conversations.

The number of tabs is really broad and starts with the standard Microsoft products such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. You can also create tabs using Trello, YouTube, Zendesk, and more. The usefulness of this feature cannot be understated – it is so handy to have all your work items in one place.

Some information sent via email, such as an event agenda will often be accessed multiple times by recipients. Instead of having to search through your mailbox every time you need the details of an invitation, if you are using Microsoft Teams you can easily set up a page as a tab inside your Team.

A SharePoint page can also have dynamic content such as Document Library views, Youtube players, and much more. You can even embed your own custom web parts, rendered in Teams with full fidelity.

To set up a SharePoint Page as a Tab in Teams, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to SharePoint:

2. Create a SharePoint page

3. Customize it

4. Publish it (tips: you can even share it via Email or Promote it as a News)

5. Go To Teams and Add new Tab
6. Select “SharePoint”

7. Select the page you just published and hit “save”

Tasking out work means adding it to the backlog. Adding it to the backlog has project management benefits and is easy to do if you have a tab for VSTS in the channel.

TODO: Have the bot listen in on the conversations to remind you about the rule

You should use OneNote instead of the default Wiki. This way you can use it offline on your mobile apps.

Note: Rename the tab to show that it is a OneNote Tab. E.g.: " OneNote - SSW Reno Sydney "

Microsoft Teams search is designed to help you quickly find the files you are collaborating on.

From the main search box, you can search for:

• Teams
• Channels
• Messages
• People
• Files

Be aware of Teams Search limitations

If you start typing in the search box, you will see a dropdown with the main results that matches your query divided by type, prioritizing Teams and Channels:

Once you hit "enter", you will be directed to all results, separated by Messages, People, and Files tabs:

You may use built-in filters to refine your search under each of the tabs:

Imagine you’ve been on vacation for several weeks (lucky you!) and on returning you want to see what’s been happening in your project in your absence. If your project used a “team” within Microsoft Teams, you'd easily be able to review the team’s conversations and progress. You’d be able to see what issues have arisen and where the team has been spending their time.

A "team" is a great way for teams to communicate and have a persistent forum to share information and discuss project related topics. The extensibility of a team also allows the addition of tabs that integrate with 3rd party applications to bring timely and relevant information into the team site. This allows team members to see at a glance what has been happening on the project.

Teams can keep you abreast of all the events happening on your project.

You can also add Bots to communicate on your channel, or even better, Connectors! You can add Connectors that, for example, notify you of any new pull requests in Azure DevOps or GitHub. Microsoft used to have several social media Connectors, but these have been retired. It is possible, but more difficult, to add social media notifications with Power Automate, or with a third-party service such as IFTTT.

It is important to have a feed of what is happening in your project while still keeping a clean space to have discussions. This is why your Team should always have a Notifications channel.

A majority of these notifications can be created using the connectors that are built into Teams. To create a connection:

• Select the three dots in the top right of the screen and select "Connectors."

Figure: This is how you begin the process of adding a connector.

• Select "Add" on the connector that you want to use.

Figure: This is the pop-up that allows you to select which connector to add.

• Give the Connector a name that describes what it does.
• Complete the other configuration options for the Connector and click "Save."

** **

Figure: The configuration page for the RSS Connector that notifies of a new video being uploaded to the SSW TV Youtube channel with a name that describes what it does.

Sometimes you may have to choose between multiple connectors that can serve the same base purpose. In this situation, it is good to choose the one that provides the important information in the easiest way.

Figure: Bad example – There is no thumbnail and no link to the video. (It is nice that you can add custom text – inside the 2 emoijs)

Figure: Good example – There is a thumbnail and a link to the video. (Although there is no custom text)

• In Teams, add a Dynamics tab
• In Dynamics, add a Teams URL field

At your company, you never want to have a person asking "Where is that file?"The answer should be "The answer is Teams, the question is irrelevant".

Microsoft Teams is a great solution for organizing client files and conversations. Create a new Team for each of your clients, and if you have multiple projects for one client, use Channels to keep them separate. There's no need to create a new Team just for a new project.

Once you have this set up, it is likely that you want to have a link between your Teams instances and the associated CRM record.

In the video, Adam Cogan describes how they connect Dynamics 365 and Teams with an extra field. They change the Account table to add a custom column 'Teams-URL'.

Level 1: Manual method

To get that URL, simply click the ellipsis next to your Team name and click "Get link to Team".

Level 2: Automatic (Basic)

Add a button to the Ribbon to provision a new team and link to it.

How to add the button to the Dynamics Ribbon?

• Option A - Customize the command bar - Power Apps | Microsoft Docs (new approach - customizing command bar using the command designers)
• Option B (old approach) - Ribbon Workbench

Level 3: Automatic (Advanced - best UX)

Using a PCF control you can add a button directly into the form that can do everything for you.

Click on this section on your CRM Dynamics to have a Team created:

Notes:

• Alternatively, this process can even be automated using Azure functions and Graph API to provision a new Team every time a new client is created in CRM. This has the disadvantage that every single Account would get a Team...and that could create a real mess of unused Teams
• The Team's name can get out of sync if the Dynamics client name is changed, therefore you need one extra flow that is called when the client name is changed to keep them in sync

Within a team or project-based organization, the number of Teams can rapidly grow out of control. The more active Teams you have, the harder it gets to find the right information when you need it.

Hiding teams works well enough for end users but doesn't help administrators figure out which teams are actually in use. You should "Archive" unused teams instead – making the team unavailable read-only.

To archive a Team, follow these steps:

• Click on "Manage Teams"
• Choose the team you want to archive (you must be owner of that Team)
• Click the "..." (ellipsis)
• Click "Archive team"

Note: Archived teams can be restored at any time to be made available again.

When creating a new Team in Microsoft Teams, you can add Tabs to keep track of important information and you can also add Apps (generally bots) to channels.

Apps enhance your Teams experience in various ways e.g.:

1. Apps can be bots, and you can talk and interact with them
2. Apps can add and change your messages in Teams
3. Apps can also be Tabs, they overlap a little

You can also read more about Apps at Five things to know about apps in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Forms is a great way to send out a quick survey to a group of people to get feedback, come to a consensus, or organize team events.

It’s very easy to log in and send one out from your own Office 365 account, but then only you can see the results. A better way is instead to create it from a Group (note every Microsoft Team has a Group).

1. To do this, follow these steps:
2. Go to Microsoft Teams
3. Navigate to the team you’d like to be able to see the results of the form

If you do accidentally create a personal form instead of a group form, you can move it to a group in http://forms.microsoft.com by clicking “All my forms” | … | “Move”

Using the Yearlink-T55A-Microsoft teams phone when transferring a call, creating a conference call, or making an internal call, is very easy.

Yealink helps to migrate voice from Skype for Business to Teams - if you are thinking of replace Skype for Business with Microsoft Teams (note: Microsoft plans to provide support for Skype for Business Online and client till July 31, 2021.).

Having poor performance on video chat?

In Windows 10/11 you need to set your video chat app (i.e. Teams) to use the GPU.

1. Open Settings | System | Display

2. Scroll down a bit and click Graphics settings

   

3. Either choose Microsoft Store apps and choose the relevant app or choose Desktop apps and browse for the executable

   Note: Microsoft Teams is a desktop app under your local user profile i.e. C:\Users%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\current\teams.exe

4. Select options and choose High Performance GPU

   

When you send a meeting appointment to someone, it’s important to put the meeting join information (e.g. Microsoft Teams Meeting URL) at the top of the email body as whoever is invited will be able to quickly find the link.

If the meeting URL is placed under the email body, there are more chances the receiver could miss out on your meeting URL.

By doing this, you will make it clear it is a remote meeting held via the tool you decided to use. This gives the receiver more time to get prepared for the meeting (e.g. Download and test a software they are not familiar with).

You are likely to have constant Teams or Zoom video calls with clients or work colleagues. One of the first things you should think about should be how to have a nice background.

Home offices

For home offices, follow "less is more" - A neutral background, good lighting, and a clutter-free space can significantly enhance the quality of your video.

• Have a neutral wall or setup behind you or with minimal objects - you may be fond of family pictures or band posters, but the person on the other side may be distracted
• Check you don't have a pile of clothes to fold, boxes, or any mess that may be behind your desk
• Good lighting can improve the general quality of your video
• If you want to go the extra mile, designate one wall as your company wall and keep it consistent with the company branding

On-site offices

When you're in the office, it's easy to have a professionally branded background, which remains the most effective option.

Virtual backgrounds

Not ideal, but if you can't have a nice and clean background, the alternative is to use the virtual background effect feature (e.g. blur OR a background image):

• Teams - Custom backgrounds in Microsoft Teams make video meetings more fun, comfortable, and personal
• Zoom - Virtual background feature allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom meeting

If often you see yourself trying to find an easy way to share an image or a note from your mobile to your laptop, this is a quick and easy tip to help you do this through Microsoft Teams.

Here are the steps to send a message to yourself on Teams:

1. Schedule a meeting with just yourself and give it a title like “Just me” or anything similar that is obvious to you
2. Open the meeting request like any other meeting on Teams
3. Open the chat feature and write yourself a “test” message
4. You should see a new conversation next to all your other groups and private chats
5. Pin it, and now you have a wall for your thoughts 💭 🧱

Sometimes people fire a few questions at you and the tendency is to answer in all kinds of ways that can make our signal to noise ratio poor.

Tips when answering IMs:

• Answer each question in order
• Repeat the keywords of each question
• Avoid grouping your messages together as per the rule

Usage analytics is quite important - it allows you to identify popular and unused teams, and helps figuring out Microsoft Teams adoption across your business (i.e. How many meetings? How many chats? etc...)

There are 2 places to check for usage reports in Teams:

Team Usage

Tenant Usage

This is by far the most interesting and import report. You need special (tenant-level) permissions to access those usage reports.

Now enjoy the full power of Teams usage analytics!

In today's fast-paced work environment, efficient communication and collaboration are paramount. However, we often encounter a common and frustrating pain point when entering a meeting room: the time-consuming and error-prone process of setting up and configuring the technology.

The Pain

1. Wasted Time: We've all been there - you step into a meeting room, only to find that the TV is off or the settings are incorrect. The precious minutes spent troubleshooting can disrupt the flow of your meetings and impact productivity
2. Complexity: Modern meeting rooms are equipped with a variety of devices and software, making it challenging to ensure everything works seamlessly. The juggling act of remote controls, apps, and cables can lead to confusion and frustration
3. Missed Opportunities: In today's fast-paced business world, every second counts. A delayed start or technical glitches can result in missed opportunities, whether it's a crucial client call or a collaborative brainstorming session
4. User Discomfort: Users may feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed by technology issues, affecting their confidence and overall experience in the meeting room

Now, imagine a solution that eliminates these pain points, making every meeting a hassle-free and productive experience. Microsoft Teams Rooms offers user-friendly options to transform your meetings into smooth and efficient interactions. You can also check out more information on Microsoft's website at Microsoft Teams Rooms.

The Hardware

Before you think about Microsoft Teams Rooms, you need different pieces of hardware to be able to use it. This generally consists of:

• An intelligent camera
• Good microphones
• Speakers
• A touchscreen to control your call
• A small computer to run Microsoft Teams Rooms on, or a built-in system, where all the above is connected to.

These are generally sold by Microsoft Teams Rooms partners like Logitech, Yealink, Poly, Dell, Cisco, and they are generally sold in bundles by room size:

• Huddle/Small rooms
• Medium rooms
• Large/Boardrooms

You can check out certified Teams Rooms devices at Microsoft Teams Rooms Packages and Systems

After you've acquired the gear, then it's time to see how to use your Microsoft Teams Rooms setup. In the scenarios below, let's pretend that TeamsRoom@northwind.com is the email address set for your Teams Rooms device.

Option 1 - Start a call from Microsoft Teams Room

1. Check if the TV is on. If it's off, use the remote to turn it on
2. Change the HDMI output on your TV to the Microsoft Teams Rooms device, if not already
3. On the Microsoft Teams Rooms touchscreen, click "Meet" to start a call
4. Invite participants as needed
5. Utilize the touchscreen for meeting controls, such as sharing content and adjusting settings
6. End the call using the touchscreen

Option 2 - Add the Microsoft Teams Room to your Teams call

1. Start a Teams call from another device, like your laptop or mobile phone
2. Add TeamsRoom@northwind.com to the call, like you would invite anyone else
3. Mute yourself on other devices to avoid audio issues
4. Continue the call

Option 3 - CC (Carbon Copy) the Microsoft Teams Room in your Outlook appointments

1. Include TeamsRoom@northwind.com in your Outlook appointments
2. Scheduled appointments will appear on the room's screen
3. On the touchscreen, join the meeting by clicking "Join" when the appointment starts

Bonus - Share your Laptop Screen

Logitech is the recommended partner for getting your hardware from, as they have many options and easy-to-use systems. One of these options is the Logitech Swytch, a USB-C/USB-A dongle that you can use to connect any computer to, and it then shares your laptop screen directly to the TV.

1. Use the Logitech Swytch to share your laptop screen
2. Connect the Logitech Swytch to your computer via USB-A or USB-C
3. A five-second warning will appear on the screen
4. Your screen will be shared directly on the TV