Teams is a collaboration tool from Microsoft with a complete solution for online meetings, team collaboration, and chat. The platform is Microsoft’s fastest-growing service with several million daily users. Over the last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of Teams users. Below, we have gathered 7 simple tips on how you can hold more effective and good meetings in Teams. 

1. Keep control of meetings with the calendar in Teams

With the calendar in Teams, you can keep track of the meetings scheduled throughout the week. By hovering your mouse pointer over the appointment, you can see the agenda for the meeting. You can synchronize Teams with Outlook for a full overview. 

2. Use the camera

Even if you cannot meet in the same room, you can see each other over the camera. Encourage meeting participants to use the camera so you can see each other's facial expressions. If you are in a place with a lot of background noise, you can use custom backgrounds in Teams or make the background blurry.

3. Record the meeting

Is there anyone who cannot participate exactly when the meeting is held? Then you have the opportunity to record the meeting that you can share with others.

4. Collaborate over Teams in Office 365

The programs in Office 365 are integrated into Teams so that colleagues can work together on different files. This makes projects more efficient and prevents halting if an important person in the project is absent for various reasons. You can both share and work together on different files in meetings and channels. Additionally, the integration with Office programs gives you access to all documents no matter where you are, and you have automatic backup of your work in OneDrive.

5. Keep an eye on meeting time

How many times have you experienced going over the scheduled meeting time? Teams has included a warning when there are 5 minutes left in the scheduled meeting, so you get a reminder to wrap up the meeting.

6. Good equipment makes you seen and heard better in meetings

Who hasn't experienced a meeting participant having poor sound or a camera that makes them not look like themselves? There is equipment that is Teams certified and greatly enhances the user experience in Teams.

7. "Together mode"

In Norwegian, it is called sammen-modus in Teams. This feature makes conversations feel more natural and engaging. This feature allows you to apply a filter that makes it look like the meeting participants are sitting in a room. Microsoft launched this feature with the goal of bringing people closer together while sitting apart. You can choose from environments adapted to the holidays or environments where you can, for example, gather your team in a café, a conference room, or a classroom, to name a few.