Teams Live Best Practices

There are two distinct aspects of producing a webinar that you need to think about – the technical side, and the content side. These best practices focus on the technical side of your webinar.

checklistPre-Live Checklist for Producers

Make sure you have the following setup before you schedule your event. Many of these items need to be in place in order for you to set the right roles when you begin to invite presenters and producers.
 

  • Schedule a practice session. schedule a time to practice. Run through the queuing process, and make sure any content is visible and can be seen/heard clearly.
    NOTE: Presenters should use a Windows 10 computer, as you cannot present on a Mac.
  • Have multiple producers.  Have more than one person in the group that has access to content, and that can queue up people in the event the technology fails.
    PRO TIP: You will need a minimum of two producers for a large Teams Live Event, it is difficult to manage solo.
  • Have a person in your group designated to watch as an attendee. It can be a little disorienting to watch both the live feed and the actual event, but it helps to see what the attendees are seeing. If a separate person who is watching just the event, but is in contact with producers can be invaluable.
  • Have a time scheduled for your group to join the event well before the actual event starts: have the group join at least 15 minutes before they are to present. If you start the event with a nice intro slide (with music) indicating the time the event starts, you can get everyone ready to go exactly on time.
    NOTE: Even though you are early, the audio will still be live to the attendees. Make sure everyone is muted until they are ready to present.

Best Practices for Presenters

There can be up to nine presenters on an event at one time. More can be added if another presenter stops their video feed. Each presenter can share their audio, live video (webcam/camera), or content during the event.

  1. Limit distractions in your presentation space.
    • If you’re hosting your webinar from a home office, ensure that your kids/pets/neighbors won’t interfere or make any noise during the webinar.
    • If you’re running the webinar from your office, find a quiet room with a door where you won’t be disturbed.
  2. Give a good presentation space. Keep your studio space clean and free of clutter.
  3. Turn off your computer notifications, cell phone and anything else that could distract you or your audience during the webinar. Make sure if you are presenting, you present a specific screen so you do not have notifications popping up during your presentation.
  4. Test your equipment before you present.
    • Computer: has all updates installed, and notifications disabled. Laptops are plugged in and fully charged.
    • Microphone/Headset: is working, and echo-cancelling is on.
    • Webcam: is working, and any virtual backgrounds are working well.
    • Teams: desktop program is installed and all updates have been installed.
  5. Make sure you can be seen. Lighting is key! Your main source of light should be pointed at your face. Avoid being backlit by having a window behind you.
  6. Before you are set to present, turn on your video feed. Producers cannot turn on your feed.
  7. Stay muted until you are live, and then when you are done presented, re-mute. If you forget to mute yourself, a producer can mute you, but they can not un-mute you.

PRO TIP: If you are presenting a round-table discussion, panel, or are in a room where multiple people will be talking, make sure that the microphones are situated so that everyone can be heard clearly and people are spaced so they can all be seen.

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Production using Teams

The producers control the live event, ensuring the correct content and format is being presented at the right times to the attendees. The producer needs two screens, and can share their own screen, or a presenter's screen.

Remember: there is no pause button for a live event — once you go live, you are live until you end the event.

  1. Mute with extreme prejudice. Before you put an event live, make sure everyone other than the presenter is muted.
  2. Have alternate communication between presenters and producers. During a live event, the presenter is often not looking at the chat window, so it's good to have another method of communication, like a separate chat in Teams, a group phone-call, or person with the presenter who is monitoring the chat.
  3. Have a filler slide or video you can show before the event is scheduled to start. Usually the live event starts before the published time, and it's good to have a slide or video that attendees can watch until you are ready to go live.
  4. Bandwidth at the presenter's end is KEY. Make sure you have a reliable connection.
  5. Have a "plan B" in case something goes wrong. Backups are necessary, whether is another person who can present/produce, or content saved in multiple formats and/or areas. It never hurts to have a holding slide (please stand by) customized for the event.