Microsoft Teams for Video Conferencing

If your business is running Microsoft Office apps, consider using the Microsoft Teams app for your video conferencing. The scope of this demo is limited to the app’s free features so Microsoft 365 customers will have more tools to work with. After testing free Teams video calls for a day, here are my main takeaways.

Video Meeting Feature Highlights:

Blurred background

While other apps let you choose an image for your background, Teams can digitally blur your existing background. This feature depends on your computer’s hardware so it may not be available on some machines.

Meeting Notes

During a video meeting, you can open a Notes tab. This will create a text document next to the video window for you to type notes in. After the meeting, that text document will be linked to the meeting event in your Teams channel so your group can reference it later. These notes are still editable after the meeting to make corrections.

Web and Desktop Applications

As with their Office apps, Teams has the option to download a desktop app or use a browser-based web version. This makes inviting meeting participants outside of your company easier because they don’t have to instal anything to join the meeting.

Things to Improve

Screen Shares

When you share your screen in Teams, your video stops showing to your participants. They’ll only see your screen and your profile picture. I think this takes away from what you’re sharing and the experience of the video meeting.

Scheduling Invites

With the free version of Teams, you can’t schedule video meetings on a calendar. This is a feature reserved for Microsoft 365 customers.

Overall

Compared to Zoom and Google Meet, I don’t think Teams offers enough functionality for a free video conferencing solution. We may cover it’s full features with a paid account later on.