This Microsoft Teams update will take you back to school in the worst way
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Your next Microsoft Teams meeting may soon be a lot more structured thanks to a new update to the software’s setup.
The video conferencing platform now allows users to assign specific seats when using Microsoft Teams Together mode, allowing meetings to take place in a virtual lecture hall, conference room and more.
So, just like in school, when you chose the seat closest to all your friends, now you could theoretically organize your virtual meeting room next to the people you like the most. Or, if you wanted to be professional, you could arrange your virtual seating plan to be in the order of the teammate or colleague who gave their project update or breaking news.
Everthing allright
The news was revealed in a Microsoft Tech Community blog post (opens in new tab) wrapping up some of the recent updates to the company’s Ignite event that may have gone under the radar.
Holly Lehman, product marketing manager for Microsoft Teams, wrote that the change will make meeting participants “feel like they’re in the same room during virtual meetings.” notice that you are shaken several times.
To activate the feature, users must enable Together mode for all call participants. Doing so will bring up a new screen where attendees can get seats in the virtual view, where organizers can search for specific attendees or choose from a list of everyone invited to the conversation.
Launched in Summer 2020, the Together mode for Microsoft Teams will put all attendees in a shared virtual background, with the goal of “making you feel like you’re in the same room with everyone else.”
A recent update now means that meeting hosts have the option to enable Together mode for all participants to promote togetherness for those teams that may still be separated from each other. Users can now also activate Together mode for Teams conversations of any size, even one-on-one.
The change is the latest upgrade for Microsoft Teams, which also recently released an “Interactive Large Gallery” upgrade that includes feeds from even more people than ever before, allowing users to view up to 49 video participants at once.