When you host an event in Microsoft Teams, you can manage the entire experience, from preparation to live delivery and wrap-up. Organizers and presenters can control what attendees see, share content, engage audiences, and ensure a smooth production flow.
In this article
Prepare in the green room
Get ready with other co-organizers and presenters in the green room before starting an event. Practice sharing content, check your audio and video settings, and more. While you prepare in the green room, attendees will wait in the lobby until you start the event.
To use this feature, make someone a presenter and turn it on before the event starts.
To enable the green room for an event you scheduled in the Events app:
Select Events
on the left side of Teams.Select Manage.
Select an upcoming event.
Select Edit details
.In Set up experience and options
, turn the Enable green room toggle on.
You'll automatically join the green room when you join the event.
Important
If you created your event in the Teams calendar, this experience may look different. To learn more, see Using the green room in Microsoft Teams.
Join an event
When you join an event before it starts, you’ll first enter the green room. In the green room, you can prepare with other co-organizers and presenters, as well as start the event when you’re ready.
To join a town hall directly in Teams:
Select Events
on the left side of Teams. Select the event you want to join and select Join
.Select Calendar in Teams. Select the event you want to join and select Join
.
Start an event
To start an event:
Select Calendar
in Teams.Select the event you want to start.
Select Join > Join now.
Prepare with others in the green room.
Select Start meeting and confirm.
When you start the event, recording and transcription will begin automatically.
Add presenters and attendees
After an event starts, add missing presenters or attendees so they can participate and share content.
To add a presenter or attendee who isn’t currently in the event:
Select People
in your meeting controls.In the Participants pane, search for the person you want to invite.
Next to the person’s name, select Request as presenter and select Presenter or Attendee from the dropdown menu.
The presenter or attendee will receive a call on their Teams device and will join directly if they accept the request to join.
When you add a presenter or attendee, they’ll join as the role previously assigned to them. If they don’t have a predefined role, they’ll join as attendees.
To make someone a presenter:
Select People
in the meeting controls.Hover over an attendee’s name and select More options
> Make a presenter.
Manage what attendees see
Ensure smooth event production and elevate attendee experiences by managing what attendees see. Focus on specific people by bringing them on and off the screen, pinning their video feeds, or hiding others from view.
Note
Note: Managing what attendees see isn’t currently available for events optimized for scale. To learn more, see Microsoft event features at scale.
To turn on Manage what attendees see in your event:
Select Events
on the left side of Teams.Select Manage.
Select an upcoming event.
Select Edit details
.Select Set up experience and options
> All options.In Production tools
, turn the Manage what attendees see toggle on.Select Apply.
Important
If you created your event in the Teams calendar, this experience may look different. To learn more, see Manage what attendees see in Microsoft Teams.
Give control of production tools
Give control of production tools to give people in the meeting control over what is shown on screen for attendees. People with control of production tools can preview changes and queue up presenters before they appear live. They can also start and end the event.
To determine who has control of production tools:
Select Events
on the left side of Teams.Select Manage.
Select an upcoming event.
Select Edit details
.Select Set up experience and options
> All options.In Production tools
> Who has control of production tools, choose who will have control from the dropdown menu.Select Apply.
Important
If you created your event in the Teams calendar, this experience may look different. To learn more, see Control production tools in Microsoft Teams.
Bring presenters on and off screen
Before and during an event, choose which presenters to bring on and off screen. When a presenter is on screen, attendees will be able to hear them speak and see their videos and shared content.
To learn more about bringing presenters on and off screen, see Manage what attendees see in Microsoft Teams.
Bring attendees on and off screen
Engage with your audience in events by bringing attendees on screen when they raise their hands. When you bring an attendee on screen, they'll have access to turn on their mic and camera. If they do, they’ll be seen and heard by everyone at the event.
To learn more about bringing attendees on and off screen, see Manage what attendees see in Microsoft Teams.
Present content
When you organize an event, designate presenters to bring on screen to share content during the event. To make someone a presenter, change their role when you schedule an event.
Present with CVI
Join and present in Teams events using your own Video Teleconferencing (VTC) devices, even if they’re not Teams Rooms devices. Organizers can share CVI join codes directly from the town hall’s share event dialog with presenters.
To learn more, see Manage and set up Cloud Video Interop for Microsoft Teams.
Share content using RTMP-In
During an event, organizers and presenters can use an external encoder and enable RTMP-in to integrate different types of media into the event. Experience higher-quality screen sharing, video production, and more.
Learn more about using RTMP-in during your event here.
Start Q&A
For more engagement between attendees and presenters before and during an event, turn on Q&A. Attendees can post and reply to questions while they wait for the event to start and while they’re in it. To learn more, see Q&A in Microsoft Teams.
Create a poll
Get real-time feedback from your audience by creating a poll during an event. To create a poll in an event, you must add the Polls app before the event starts. After events that were optimized for large audiences, poll data will remain accessible for up to 36 hours after the event ends.
To learn more, see Create a poll in Microsoft Teams.
Note
Polls are available in events with up to 20k attendees. To learn more about hosting large events in Teams, contact your IT admin. Word Cloud Polls aren't supported in events optimized for large audiences.
Preview an event as an attendee
Organizers, co-organizers, and presenters can preview an event as an attendee to monitor the experience from the audience's point of view.
To preview as an attendee, join the event from a different entry point than you joined as organizer, co-organizer, or presenter. For example, if you originally joined on Teams for desktop, preview as an attendee from the web or your mobile device.
Note
At least one organizer, co-organizer, or presenter must join the event before previewing as an attendee is available. The attendance report won't reflect organizers, co-organizers, or presenters previewing as attendees. Some event experiences, such as Q&A, aren't currently supported when previewing as an attendee.
Leave, restart, or end an event
Leave an event
To leave an event, select Leave in the corner of your Teams window. This won't end the event for everyone.
Restart an event
Restarting an event might be a way to resolve technical issues, including the inability for attendees to join, widespread audio or video issues, broken content, or if the event is unresponsive. Organizers, producers, and presenters who were assigned production capabilities can restart a town hall.
To restart an event:
Select the dropdown arrow next to Leave in the corner of your Teams window.
Select Restart event.
After an event restarts, attendees will see a message indicating the event is restarting and return to the join screen, where they can rejoin. Presenters and producers will join the green room, where they can start the event again. There will also be separate event recordings and attendance reports for each event segment. Q&A and event chat will continue seamlessly; all communications will be preserved before and after the restart.
End an event
To end an event, select End event in the event controls. This will end the event for everyone and stop the recording.