Setting up a Teams Live Event
- Mark Howell
- William Johnson
This article explores Microsoft Teams a live events extension of Teams meetings that enable you to schedule and produce events that stream to large online audiences.
Getting Started
There are two ways you can produce a live event. Directly through Teams using your laptop or through an external device and encoder. The steps below will focus on using Teams and your laptop for live events.
Production tool | Description |
|---|---|
Teams | Plug in your laptop and go... Produce the live event using Teams, a lightweight option to create the event and invite presenters and panelists to participate on their own devices. Your laptop will need a camera and microphone built in or have an external camera and microphone attached to your device. |
An external app or device | Professional camera and sound setup Produce the live event using an external hardware or software encoder via Microsoft Stream. Use this option if you already have a production setup (for example, media mixers) that supports streaming to an RTMP service. This method is typically used in auditorium events, such as town halls, where a stream from a media mixer is broadcast to the audience. |
Event Roles and Responsibilities
Large live streaming events typically have several people working behind the scenes—the event group—to make them successful. You may have one-person complete the tasks of more than one role if necessary.
Role | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
Organizer | Schedules a live event and ensures the event is set up with the right permissions for attendees and the event group, who will manage the event.
For more info, see the organizer checklist. |
Producer | As a host, makes sure attendees have a great viewing experience by controlling the live event stream.
|
Presenter | Presents audio, video, or a screen to the live event, or moderates Q&A. Note: Presenters can only share audio, video, or a screen (desktop or window) in live events produced in Teams. |
Attendee | A viewer. Watches the event live or on-demand, using DVR controls, either anonymously or authenticated. Can participate in Q&A. |
Who can create live events?
Any SSD employee may create a live event using Microsoft Teams in Office 365.
Who can attend live events?
Event type | Description |
|---|---|
Public events | If an event is public, anyone who has the link can attend without logging in. |
Private events | If attendance is restricted to your org or to specific people and groups, attendees will need to log in to join. Only SSD employees may login and access private events. |
Supported platforms
Supported operating systems: Windows 7 and later (32-bit and 64-bit), macOS X 10.10 and later
Supported mobile operating systems: Android 4.4 and later, iOS 10 and later
Supported web browsers: Chrome, Edge (New), Firefox, and Safari
Type | Desktop | Web | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
Producer | Yes | No | No |
Presenter | Yes | No | No |
Attendee | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Attendees need to enable third-party cookies in their browsers to watch a live event.
Scheduling a live event
If you are the organizer of a live event, you can schedule it in Teams the same way you schedule a regular Teams meeting. This process will add the live event to you and your event group's calendars. After that, you'll need to invite the attendees.
In Teams, select Calendar from the panel on the left.
In the upper-right corner of the next screen, choose New meeting > Live event.
Add the meeting title, date and time information, and other details.In the Invite people to your event group box, add the names of your event group—the people who'll be presenting and producing the event. The event group can consist of anyone inside or outside your org. Just don't invite attendees at this point—you'll get a link to share with them later.
Select Next.
Under Live event permissions, choose who can attend your live event.
Permission type | Description |
|---|---|
People and groups | The event can only be watched by people, contact groups, or Microsoft 365 groups you name (max. 150 email addresses). |
Org-wide | Everyone in your org can watch the live event, including guests. |
Public | Anyone can join – both people in your org and those outside of it. |
Make selections under How will you produce your live event?
If you're producing in Teams:
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Recording available to producers and presenters | A recording is available to producers for download for 180 days after the event is over. |
Recording available to attendees | Attendees can watch the event on demand using DVR options for 180 days. |
Captions | Captions are available to event participants. |
Spoken Languages | Set the default language in which the presenter will be speaking. English is set by default. |
Translate to | Choose up to six different languages in which live captions will automatically be translated to during the event. User must select a language, from the choices you selected, for their subtitles once attending the live event. |
Attendee engagement report | Download a report that tracks attendee participation. |
Q&A | Attendees can interact with producers and presenters in a moderated Q&A. |
Select Schedule to add the event to you and your event group's calendars.
Once the event is scheduled, be sure to make any changes to it in Teams. Don't edit this event in Outlook. This process doesn't invite attendees to your live event! To learn about best practices for inviting attendees and announcing your live event, see the section below.
Inviting Attendees
As a live event organizer, one of the responsibilities is inviting attendees. When you schedule a live event in Teams, it only sends the calendar invite to event team members. You will need to promote and/or share the link for attendees.
In Teams, select Calendar on the left side of the app.
Select the live event from your calendar.
Select Get attendee link to copy the live event link so you can share it with attendees as you see fit. You may send it in a Teams channel, an email, a website like SSD Life, SSDMO or MLSchedules, or add it to any collaboration group you are a member of. You could even add the link to a calendar invitation from Outlook or another email program.
Don't try to invite attendees via a Teams meeting. A new Teams meeting will have its own meeting link, which users might confuse with the live event attendee link.
Your attendees will be able to watch the event in Teams—desktop (Windows or Mac), web, or mobile. If they don't have Teams, they can also use a browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Edge).
Resources
Check out the resources below for more help with Team Live Events.