{"id":32147,"date":"2025-12-01T11:31:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T16:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=32147"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:53:12","slug":"microsoft-teams-interactive-meetings","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/article\/microsoft-teams-interactive-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Teams &#8211; Interactive Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Engaging participants during Teams meetings helps improve attention, understanding, and collaboration. Microsoft Teams offers several tools to make meetings interactive, including <strong>Polls<\/strong>, <strong>Reactions<\/strong>, <strong>Chat<\/strong>, and <strong>Collaborative Apps<\/strong>. Utilizing these features can make meetings feel more like conversations, and less like lectures.<\/p>\n<h2>Key Interactive Tools in Teams<\/h2>\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle  \"  >\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__title\"><h3>Polls<\/h3><\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__content\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__contentwrap\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--info  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">See our Guide!<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t\tFor a more detailed guide on how to use the Polls feature, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/article\/microsoft-teams-polls-in-class-meetings\/\">Microsoft Teams &#8211; Polls<\/a>    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\n    \t\t<\/p>\n<p>Polls allow you to ask questions and collect responses instantly.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Where to find<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Use the Polls app in Teams (formerly called Forms)<\/li>\n<li>Embed your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/article\/interactive-meetings-with-microsoft-forms\/\">form within a PowerPoint slide<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>When to use<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Before a meeting (launch polls early to collect input).<\/li>\n<li>During a meeting (on-the-fly questions).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>How to add Polls<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Open the meeting in your Calendar \u2192 click Add a tab (+) \u2192 select Polls.<\/li>\n<li>Create questions, choose options, and save as draft or launch immediately.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Viewing Results<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Results will be displayed in the meeting chat in real time.<\/li>\n<li>For non-channel meetings, detailed results can be viewed at <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.microsoft.com\">https:\/\/forms.microsoft.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--alert  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">Channel Meeting Limited Functionality<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t\tChannel meetings have limited poll functionality\u2014you can only create polls directly in the channel post.    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\n    \t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<\/div><!-- \/ht-toggle-content -->\r\n    \t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle  \"  >\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__title\"><h3>Reactions and Emojis<\/h3><\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__content\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__contentwrap\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<p>\nParticipants can use emoji reactions (\u2764\ufe0f, etc.) during presentations or discussions to engage with the presenter or the group.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Great for quick feedback without interrupting the speaker.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage participants to use reactions for agreement or questions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tip: <\/strong>If you have a meeting where participants need to introduce themselves then call on someone to go after them, consider using the <strong>Raise Hand<\/strong> feature. It&#8217;s an excellent signal to speed up the process of determining who has and hasn&#8217;t gone.<\/p>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<\/div><!-- \/ht-toggle-content -->\r\n    \t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle  \"  >\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__title\"><h3>Meeting Chat<\/h3><\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__content\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__contentwrap\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Use chat for Q&amp;A, sharing links, or posting resources. See Microsoft&#8217;s guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/chat-in-microsoft-teams-meetings-64e2cb91-8a11-4781-94ea-fbb23f2b922f\">meeting chat in Teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Consider assigning a <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/change-moderator-roles-and-settings-in-a-channel-in-microsoft-teams-6ac54758-3440-4f6a-9bd5-cebf97cb7ea6\">moderator<\/a> to monitor chat during large meetings.<\/p>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<\/div><!-- \/ht-toggle-content -->\r\n    \t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle  \"  >\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__title\"><h3>Breakout Rooms<\/h3><\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__content\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__contentwrap\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Breakout rooms allow you to split meeting participants into groups for focused discussions, brainstorming exercises, and collaborative activities.<\/p>\n<p>Organizers can assign participants to breakout rooms before or during meetings, make ad-hoc manual changes, and send announcements to all breakout rooms.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/article\/breakout-rooms\/\">Microsoft Teams &#8211; Breakout Rooms<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<\/div><!-- \/ht-toggle-content -->\r\n    \t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle  \"  >\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__title\"><h3>Collaborative Apps<\/h3><\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__content\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t<div class=\"hts-toggle__contentwrap\">\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft Teams offers apps that add capabilities for live collaboration:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Microsoft Whiteboard<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Visual collaboration for diagrams or brainstorming.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/getting-started-with-microsoft-whiteboard-48cab0ee-90b3-483a-9a48-ff17fe476c6b\">Get started with Microsoft Whiteboard<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Loop Components<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Share editable lists or tables directly in chat.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/get-started-with-microsoft-loop-9f4d8d4f-dfc6-4518-9ef6-069408c21f0c\">Get started with Microsoft Loop<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\t<\/div><!-- \/ht-toggle-content -->\r\n    \t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t\t\n<h2>Best Practices for Interactive Meetings<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Plan ahead<\/strong>: Decide which tools you\u2019ll use and prepare content in advance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Set expectations<\/strong>: Let participants know how they can engage (polls, chat, reactions).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keep it simple<\/strong>: Avoid overwhelming participants with too many tools at once.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Follow up<\/strong>: Share poll results, presentation materials, and meeting notes after the session.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Need Help?<\/h2>\n<p>For more guidance on Teams and interactive meetings, check out our other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/article-categories\/teams\/\">Teams guides<\/a>\u00a0and Microsoft\u2019s official documentation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 Best Practices for Interactive&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[460],"ht-kb-tag":[519,646,582],"class_list":["post-32147","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-teams","ht_kb_tag-microsoft","ht_kb_tag-microsoft-forms","ht_kb_tag-microsoft-teams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/32147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32147"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/32147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32227,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/32147\/revisions\/32227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=32147"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=32147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}