Attend a town hall in Microsoft Teams

When you attend a town hall in Microsoft Teams, you can watch the live event and engage in the moderated Q&A. You won't have access to your mic or camera during the event, and there won't be an open chat among attendees. 

Screenshot of main attendee view when attending a town hall in Microsoft Teams

In this article

Join a town hall

Use live translated captions

Use live reactions

Participate in Q&A

Leave a town hall

Access a town hall recording

Join a town hall

Before you join a town hall, make sure to download Microsoft Teams on your device.

To join a town hall:

  1. Open the email invitation you received and select Join event Screenshot showing email invitation received by attendees, with Join event highlighted

  2. When you select Join event, the event will launch automatically in Teams, where you'll see the event screen.

Note: Attendees cannot join a Teams town hall using Firefox or Safari at this time. 

Use live translated captions

Understand town hall presenters better with live translated captions. Choose from up to six preset languages with Office and M365 offerings, or 10 preset languages with Teams Premium. With live translated captions, you can see captions in the language you're most comfortable with.

Screenshot showing attendee view of a town hall with live translated captions

To use live translated captions during a town hall:

  1. Select Caption  Closed Captions icon displaying letters C C. in your Teams window.

  2. Hover over Caption language.

  3. From the available languages, select the one most familiar to you.Screenshot highlighting UI for attendees to change language of translated captions in a town hall

You'll now be able to view live captions in the selected language.

Use live reactions

Use live reactions during a town hall to express your reaction toward what’s being shared. When you select one, it’ll pop up momentarily in the corner of the meeting window. Live reactions are visible to everyone in a town hall. 

A town hall event shows live attendee reactions.

To react during a town hall: 

  • On Teams for desktop, select React Teams emoji icon for chat in your meeting controls and choose a reaction.

  • On Teams for mobile, tap More Microsoft Teams more options icon​​​​​​​ and choose a reaction.

To learn more about live reactions in Teams, see Express yourself in Microsoft Teams meetings with live reactions

Participate in Q&A

During a town hall, you can engage in Q&A, where you can post, reply, and react to questions. If the Q&A is moderated, you'll receive a notification that an organizer received your question and will review it before posting. 

To open Q&A, select Q&A  White chat icon at the top of your Teams window.

Screenshot showing attendee view of q and a during town hall event

To ask a question, type in the Ask a question text box at the top of the Q&A panel.

To learn more, see Q&A in Microsoft Teams meetings.

Leave a town hall

You can leave a town hall at anytime by selecting Leave teams leave meeting icon in the top corner of your Teams window.

Access a town hall recording

After a town hall ends, the event organizers can choose to publish the event recording for attendees to watch. If a town hall recording is published, you'll automatically receive an email with a link to the recording. 

Screenshot showing attendee portal where they can access a town hall recording after the event

By default, most event recordings expire after 30 days but can be extended by the organizer.

Related topics

Get started with town hall in Microsoft Teams

Switch from Microsoft Teams live events to town halls

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