Engaging participants during Teams meetings helps improve attention, understanding, and collaboration. Microsoft Teams offers several tools to make meetings interactive, including Polls, Reactions, Chat, and Collaborative Apps. Utilizing these features can make meetings feel more like conversations, and less like lectures.
Key Interactive Tools in Teams
Polls
For a more detailed guide on how to use the Polls feature, see Microsoft Teams – Polls
Polls allow you to ask questions and collect responses instantly.
- Where to find:
- Use the Polls app in Teams (formerly called Forms)
- Embed your form within a PowerPoint slide
- When to use:
- Before a meeting (launch polls early to collect input).
- During a meeting (on-the-fly questions).
- How to add Polls:
- Open the meeting in your Calendar → click Add a tab (+) → select Polls.
- Create questions, choose options, and save as draft or launch immediately.
- Viewing Results:
- Results will be displayed in the meeting chat in real time.
- For non-channel meetings, detailed results can be viewed at https://forms.microsoft.com.
Channel meetings have limited poll functionality—you can only create polls directly in the channel post.
Reactions and Emojis
Participants can use emoji reactions (❤️, etc.) during presentations or discussions to engage with the presenter or the group.
- Great for quick feedback without interrupting the speaker.
- Encourage participants to use reactions for agreement or questions.
Tip: If you have a meeting where participants need to introduce themselves then call on someone to go after them, consider using the Raise Hand feature. It’s an excellent signal to speed up the process of determining who has and hasn’t gone.
Meeting Chat
Use chat for Q&A, sharing links, or posting resources. See Microsoft’s guide on meeting chat in Teams.
Consider assigning a moderator to monitor chat during large meetings.
Breakout Rooms
Breakout rooms allow you to split meeting participants into groups for focused discussions, brainstorming exercises, and collaborative activities.
Organizers can assign participants to breakout rooms before or during meetings, make ad-hoc manual changes, and send announcements to all breakout rooms.
For more information, see Microsoft Teams – Breakout Rooms.
Collaborative Apps
Microsoft Teams offers apps that add capabilities for live collaboration:
- Microsoft Whiteboard:
- Visual collaboration for diagrams or brainstorming.
- Get started with Microsoft Whiteboard
- Loop Components:
- Share editable lists or tables directly in chat.
- Get started with Microsoft Loop
Best Practices for Interactive Meetings
- Plan ahead: Decide which tools you’ll use and prepare content in advance.
- Set expectations: Let participants know how they can engage (polls, chat, reactions).
- Keep it simple: Avoid overwhelming participants with too many tools at once.
- Follow up: Share poll results, presentation materials, and meeting notes after the session.
Need Help?
For more guidance on Teams and interactive meetings, check out our other Teams guides and Microsoft’s official documentation.