Meeting Recording Expiry Dates
You may have started to see meeting expiry recording notifications in Microsoft Teams. Before you panic, you it is simply letting you know that the expiry date is now being enforced. Meeting recording expiry is set by the meeting policy assigned to the user who recorded the meeting. The person who recorded the meeting andContinue reading “Meeting Recording Expiry Dates”

To Enable Shared Channels Between Two Organisations
Shared Channels are a channel within a Microsoft Teams Team. There are two stand out features which make this type of channel so eagerly anticipated People (and Teams) can be given access to just the channel, without needing to join the team Even channels hosted by another organisation are found in the list of TeamsContinue reading “To Enable Shared Channels Between Two Organisations”

Using a Teams Panel as a Personal Busy Light
Teams Panels are designed as meeting room companion devices to show when meeting rooms are booked

Comfy or Compact Teams Chat?
Get more chat on your screen with Team compact mode

Keeping your Focus in Meetings
Distractions in virtual/hybrid meetings & training courses are a big pain point, so make the most of the video focus tools to help you get the most of your Microsoft Teams meetings and webinars.

Stop Drowning in Notifications
There is a new feature rolling out to Teams to allow you to mute most Teams notifications when you are in a meeting or on a call. You can either switch it on for all meetings on on a meeting by meeting basis. To mute for all meetings and calls go to Settings, choose NotificationsContinue reading “Stop Drowning in Notifications”
Cameras On!
As we approach 2 years of intensive virtual meetings, the debate about cameras on or cameras off still rages on. This is especially true with virtual training

Teams Display Portrait Mode
Testing out portrait mode on the Teams display

The Viva Realist
Did you attend the Microsoft 365 User Group on 8th December 2021? Lesley Crook (Twitter Linked In) & I presented “Microsoft Viva: The Pitch, The Use, The Config”. Whilst Lesley is the Viva Visionary, I’m the Viva Realist, presenting the current state of the Viva tools as well as how to configure the Viva modules.Continue reading “The Viva Realist”

Microsoft Viva: A Plain Speaking Overview
Accompanying blog for Collabdays Lisbon 2021 Session Microsoft Viva: A Plain Speaking Overview

My First Custom Together Mode Scene
To accompany Build 2021, there is a new Teams blog with enhancements for developers. Have a read at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/microsoft-teams-announces-new-developer-features-build-2021/ba-p/2352558 What caught my eye was the Together Mode custom scenes and it is surprisingly simple. Here’s the official guide https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/apps-in-teams-meetings/teams-together-mode To create your own to test, navigate to https://dev.teams.microsoft.com/scenes and sign in with your Microsoft 365Continue reading “My First Custom Together Mode Scene”
Out of Office Automatic Replies
Did you know there are many options for setting your out of office or automatic replies in #Office365 including from #MicrosoftTeams

Some Observations on the Updated Account Switcher and Menu
The updated menu and account switcher updated functionality has landed in my Teams client as at 7th April 2021 (at least when its set to preview build) and I wanted to share a few observations with you. First up, note the message highlighting the changes The … Menu has settings in it and nice littleContinue reading “Some Observations on the Updated Account Switcher and Menu”

Transcription for Super Users
Following on from the post for end users on transcriptions in Teams meetings, here is the extra you need to know as a Super User. Privacy Concerns Both close captions and transcripts can display the name of the speaker, though there is a setting to control this for privacy purposes if required. This is aContinue reading “Transcription for Super Users”
External and Guest Communication in MS Teams
Originally posted on External & Guest Communication in MS Teams – Sara Fennah’s Blog (m365train.co.uk) June 2020 As more and more of our working life is conducted virtually and we communicate more using Microsoft Teams with internal and external people, it can be a challenge to determine which features we can use with whom. AsContinue reading “External and Guest Communication in MS Teams”

Delegated Team Meeting Creation
Lots of people don’t create the meeting invites for the meetings they run in this blog I will lay out what the issues are and then consider ways to avoid these when acting as a scheduler.

Manage Teams Meeting Options
Teams meeting options are how you can control who can do what in your meeting. In the Education sphere this control is essential but they are also very useful in many other scenarios.
Create your own Teams backdrop using PowerPoint
You probably already know that you can add your own pictures into Microsoft Teams to use as a background. But just in case you didn’t, here’s how (only works on desktop, not bowser or mobile apps) Save your picture somewhere sensible. (I created a folder in my OneDrive called TeamsBackgrounds, so if I move toContinue reading “Create your own Teams backdrop using PowerPoint”
Make Fun of Virtual Meeting Fatigue
Are you sick of virtual meetings and training courses yet? To be honest, I’m not. However I have been looking for ways to ring some changes. It does get dull, always hearing (and saying) the same old phrases, so I’ve made myself some flashcards. And I gift them to you here – enjoy!
Solving Problems with Meeting Options in Teams
Do you ever get a message telling you you can’t change the meeting options for a meeting you set up? It’s probably due to what you were doing the last time you used the Teams web app (aka Teams in your web browser). These messages changed a little while ago to show you who isContinue reading “Solving Problems with Meeting Options in Teams”
Check your Camera before a Teams Meeting
Did you want to check your camera and background before a Teams meeting and ended up trying to join a meeting early to do so, or worse joining a meeting late as you needed to adjust your settings and it took too long, or worst still what about joining a meeting and bringing up aContinue reading “Check your Camera before a Teams Meeting”
Where is my meeting recording?
With Teams meeting recordings moving to OneDrive and SharePoint from Stream users and admins need to understand what this change means. It’s not just the location a recording is stored that is changing but also who can records and the sharing options once the recording is done.
Microsoft Teams Break Out Rooms – Some Early Observations
With the launch of breakout rooms for adhoc and scheduled Team meetings, many people are celebrating and it is a much requested feature, but how does it work.
Microsoft have released a couple of great articles so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel and write a full guide myself, but I would like to share my early observations.
Virtual Training – Elgato Stream Deck Mobile
Trainer/Teachers, do you need a scene switcher? Consider the mobile app version of Stream Deck. Here’s how I set it up for testing.

Green Screen, Teams and OBS Studio
How I got up and running using a green screen, OBS Studio and Microsoft Teams to give a more professional video in training sessions. #mctbuzz #MicrosoftTeams #OBSStudio