With more organizations now taking up the hybrid work approach with the aim of doing more with less given the dramatic economic shift across the globe, the need for a reliable yet secure connectivity tool is imminent. To meet these needs, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Teams Premium is now generally available.
The offering that has been on trial for over a month unpacks a host of new features that are designed to enhance the meeting experience by personalizing it and making it more secure with end-to-end encryption such as new advanced webinars as well as existing webinars within Office 365 and Microsoft 365 offerings.
The meeting experience has been enhanced courtesy of advanced webinars that provide rich and dynamic experiences throughout the whole event. What’s more, users have access to more customization options when it comes to registration details as well as event settings since both the setup and management of registration have been redesigned.
Through the new customization options, you can check the attendees’ status for registrations and cancellations, showcase your brand to align with the theme of your event, designate co-organizers, and more. Event organizers can now manage registration for forums better by enabling registration waitlist and approving them manually.
You can also leave it open even after the maximum number of attendees have registered for the event. This way when someone cancels their registration, they are automatically moved to the pending approval state awaiting approval from the organizer. The maximum capacity is currently set at 1000 attendees.
Other key features shipping with the Premium add-on include automated reminder emails to ensure that attendees are well-informed at all times. Organizers also get to curate the webinar’s presentation and make it more dynamic by choosing what will be displayed on the scene for the attendees to see.
Microsoft has also incorporated Microsoft Enterprise Content Deliver Network (eCDN) into the add-on tool to enhance live streaming of global meetings as well as reduce the load on the corporate network thus ensuring that connectivity is seamless throughout the event.
Event organizers can live stream a Teams meeting or webinar to Meta Workplace Live to reach a wider audience, which also encourages engagement as they can send out emoji reactions and comments. The attendees also have the option to catch up with the webinar while streaming live or watch it later via Workplace.
And finally, Microsoft is integrating a new Elgato Stream Deck plugin into Teams which is designed to help webinar organizers “easily manage and control functions directly in a Teams meeting and webinar with a touch of a button”. You need to have the latest version of the Elgato Stream Deck plugin installed to access these new controls.
As earlier reported, Microsoft intends to transition multiple features from Teams licenses to its new Teams Premium license. Though users with Teams licenses will still get to use these features for 30 days, from this point they’ll be exclusive to users with Teams Premium licenses. To continue leveraging these features, you should consider upgrading to the Premium license at $10/month/user.