Important: 

  • Teams live events will no longer be going away on September 30, 2024, as previously announced. While we still recommend switching to Teams town halls for new features and experiences, you can now schedule live events beyond September 2024.

  • For more information, please read this blog post for more information.

In this article

Overview

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Watch this video for an overview of producing live events in Teams.

Producer capabilities

Teams live events provide flexible options for event producers: 

  • If you want to broadcast a Teams meeting, bringing remote presenters and screen sharing into the event, you can produce your live event in Teams.

  • If you’re running an event with a production crew, you can use an external app or device to produce your event. This method is powered by Microsoft Stream.

Note: You must choose how you plan to produce your event when you schedule it.

Producer capabilities can vary depending on the production method you use:

Producers can...

Producing in Teams

Producing with an external app or device

Producing with a Teams encoder

Select video feeds from other presenters and send them to the event

Yes

No

No

Chat with other producers and presenters

Yes

Yes

Yes

Start and end the live event

Yes

Yes

Yes

View the live attendee count

Yes

Yes

Yes

Share their screens (desktop or a window) into the event

Yes

No

No

Mute all other producers and presenters

Yes

No

Yes

Join the audio from a PSTN phone (dial-in or self dial-out)

Yes

No

Yes-Event team only

Moderate the Q&A, if configured for the event

Yes

Yes

Yes

Have a Yammer conversation, if configured for the event

Yes

Yes

Yes-when scheduled via Yammer

Automatically archive recording in Microsoft Stream

No

Yes

Yes-Microsoft Stream for non-public events only

Download recording

Yes

Yes-via Microsoft Stream

Yes

Download attendee report

Yes

No

Yes

Produce your live event  

You can produce an event directly within Teams by using instructions below. For more detailed instructions on setting up an event, see Best practices for producing a Teams live event.

Note: See Produce a live event using an external app or device if you are using an external hardware- or software-based encoder for your event.

  1. Select Calendar Meetings button, then the live event, and Join.

    You can adjust your microphone and camera before joining the event as a producer. You also have an option to join as an attendee. Just select Join as an attendee instead.

    Notes: 

    • You will only join as a producer if you're the organizer of the event or if the organizer assigned this role to you when they scheduled the event.

    • To produce a live event, you need to join the event on the desktop app. The ability to produce on the web is coming soon!

    • Producers can't blur their backgrounds yet. That, too, is coming soon!

  2. If your event is taking place in a large room, you might want to use Auditorium mode to enhance the audio for remote attendees and allow them to hear things like laughter and applause from the live audience. Just turn on the Auditorium mode toggle to enable it. Be sure to test this mode in rehearsal, and, for the best experience, don't use your computer's built-in microphone.  

    Note: Auditorium mode must be turned on before the event starts, and can only be controlled by the first producer to join. 

  3. If you're producing in Teams, turn on your camera.

  4. Select your camera feed at the bottom of the screen to preview it in your queue (on the left) before sending it to the live event (on the right).

    Preview of live event
  5. Switch to a different camera by selecting Switch camera at the bottom of your queue or going to Device settings and selecting a new camera.

  6. Select Send live to send the feed from preview to the live event.

    Preview and live feeds
  7. Select Start to start broadcasting live to your attendees!

    Notes: 

    • Once the feed goes live, the highest supported resolution is 720p.

    • Mute any producers or presenters who aren't actively speaking. If they're not muted, their audio will go live to attendees.

    • There's a 15– to 60–second delay from the time a media stream is broadcast to when attendees see it.

  8. If you stop sharing video (by turning off your camera, for example), everyone will see Live event will resume in a moment.

    Paused live event
  9. To share your desktop or a window, select Share and then the screen you'd like to share.

    Tip: If you're the only producer in the event, we recommended that you use multiple monitors or share specific windows (instead of your whole desktop). Otherwise, everyone will see Teams (and your selections) when you make a change. With multiple monitors, you can queue content in Teams on one screen and have the shared content on the other.

    If you're producing your event in Teams, here's how to share your desktop or a window:

    • To share the desktop, select Share > Desktop > Content > Send live. If the event hasn't already started, select Start.

      Important: We don't recommend sharing a video this way. 

    • To share a window, select Share and select one of the open windows from the Windows section in the source tray. Once the window is shared, switch over to the producer UI, select Content and then Send live. If the event hasn't already started, select Start.

      Note: Do not minimize the selected window, as this would prevent a preview from showing in the queue.

    To stop sharing the desktop or window, select Stop sharing in the call monitor window. As a best practice, you can invite a co-presenter to the live event, who can then share the desktop or window, which you can then queue for streaming into the event. Again, this will help you avoid showing Teams (and your queue) to your attendees.

  10. To queue another video feed, you’ll need other presenters to join the event. Their feeds will show up on the bottom of your screen.

    Notes: 

    • Up to ten presenters or producers (including you) can share video or content. However, only one desktop or window can be shared at a time. 

    • If your content is live, other presenters or producers can start sharing their screens by selecting Share, but this will replace anything you are sharing. Make sure that the event team is aware of this potential conflict.

    Backstage with multiple feeds
  11. If you are producing your event from an auditorium and there's an in-room audience whose reactions (laughter, clapping, etc.) you want captured in the live event, you can turn off noise cancellation. Just select Device settings and then turn off Noise cancellation from the device settings pane.

  12. To ask a presenter to join a live event, select Participants Add people to team button, and find the person you want to join (If you already invited them, their name will be in the list. If not, you can search for them.) When you find them, select More options More options button  by their name, then Ask to join Add people button. Teams will call them into the meeting.

    If you ask someone to join, they'll join as a presenter, meaning they can speak, share their screen, participate in the event group's meeting chat, and moderate the Q&A. Anyone you ask to join will be removed from the event group meeting chat after the meeting.

  13. To end the event, select End.

Note: You won't be able to produce a live event using Linux.

Restart your live event

As a producer, you can restart a live event while the event is active, or after you have ended it. When you restart, you'll need to stop and restart your encoder or it may not send video into the meeting.

Important: If you restart a live event, the recording, transcript and captions of the previously started event will be deleted and replaced with the restarted event. Attendees won't be able to view the previous event On-Demand. 

To restart your live event, you'll need to use either the Teams desktop app or Teams on the web.

  1. Select More actions  more actions button-duplicate at the top of the Teams meeting window.

  2. Select Restart event.

  3. A confirmation will pop up, select Restart to confirm.

Teams will then verify that the event can be restarted. If Teams can successfully restart your live event, the producers and presenters will be disconnected, while attendees watching the event will see a waiting screen informing them that the event will begin shortly. Producers and presenters will need to rejoin and start the event again.

Check your health and performance

To check the performance of your devices while you're producing a live event, select Health and performance in your dashboard.

There, you can review a variety of metrics, including:

Metric

What it's measuring

Why you want to know

Estimated bandwidth

Your network's capacity, measured in Megabits per second (Mbps)

Low bandwidth could impact the quality of the audio and video you're able to send to attendees.

Round-trip time

Your network's speed, measured in milliseconds (ms)

A long round-trip time could impact the quality of the audio and video you're able to send to attendees.

Camera send resolution

The amount of detail your camera can send, measured in pixels (p)

Low camera send resolution could impact the quality of the audio and video you're able to send to attendees.

Video processing (hardware codec)

How you're converting camera footage into a digital signal

A software codec could be power inefficient and require more memory, which can impact the quality of video you're able to send.

Media bitrate limit

How much bandwidth Teams is allowed to use for media, measured in Megabits per second (Mbps)

This org policy could impact the quality of the audio and video you're able to send to attendees.

Screen sharing

Whether or not your org allows you to share your screen in meetings

This org policy could prevent you from sharing your screen in a live event.

IP video

Whether or not your org allows you to share video in meetings

This org policy could prevent you from sharing video in a live event.

Note: You'll need to turn your camera on to get a measurement for each category.

Want to know more?

Teams live event overview

Produce an external encoder live event

Best practices for producing a Teams live event

Present in a live event

Schedule a live event

Invite attendees

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