How to set up a Teams meeting

Microsoft Teams is a meeting solution that enables businesses to communicate and collaborate easily and securely. The tool comes with powerful features to advance users’ workflow efficiency.

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up a meeting on Teams and pro tips to make the most out of this tool.

Table of contents

1. Microsoft Teams main features
2. Step-by-step guide to setting up a Teams meeting
3. Pro tips for creating Teams meetings
4. Conclusion

Microsoft Teams main features

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based application that facilitates teamwork efficiency and collaboration.

Integrated with the Microsoft 365 environment, Microsoft Teams interacts with Microsoft Outlook and other applications to streamline internal communications within an organisation. There are four main solutions this application offers:

• Online meetings: online meetings can be scheduled in advance to ensure full attendance and a seamless experience. With Microsoft Whiteboard, PowerPoint Live integration, and Copilot, online meetings are more impactful and efficient.
• Calls: Microsoft Teams Phone offers a range of features designed for different purposes, such as group calling, voicemail, and call transfer.
• Collaboration: Private channels for selected team members and a real-time co-authoring feature help users collaborate more efficiently with team members.
• Chat: instantly message and connect with co-workers from anywhere.

Step-by-step guide to setting up a Teams meeting

There are several ways to set up a meeting in Teams:

Schedule a meeting on Teams desktop

• Select 'Calendar' on the left sidebar of the Teams desktop application.
• Click the ‘New event’ button on the top right corner.

• Enter the meeting details:
  • Meeting title
  • Attendees: the attendee you invite will be automatically set as ‘required’. To invite an optional attendee, click ‘Optional’.
  • Meeting time: date, time slot. You also have the option to customise it to a recurring event. To automatically repeat the meeting, click ‘Make recurring’ and choose the start date and frequency.
  • The invitation will auto-generate a meeting link for everyone invited to join. However, you can send this invitation for offline meetings as well. Fill in the location details and toggle on ‘In-person event’.
    
• Click ' Save' to send out the invitation.

Pro tip: the Microsoft Loop app is synced with Teams, so you can make notes, collaborate on agendas and follow up on tasks after the meeting. Additionally, you can control who has access to this file.

Schedule a meeting in Teams mobile

• Open the Teams app on mobile and choose the ‘Calendar’ tab.
• Tap the + sign at the bottom right to create a new event.
  

• A window will pop up for you to fill in the meeting details: Title, participants, time and duration, repeat and description.
• Tap ‘Done’ at the top right of the window to send out the meeting invitation.
  

Schedule a meeting via Microsoft Outlook

• In the Outlook app, go to ‘Calendar’.
• Click ‘New event’ in the top left corner or double click on the date you want to set the meeting.
  

• Add meeting details and click ‘Save’ to send out the invitation.

Pro tips for creating Teams meetings

Scheduling assistant

The scheduling assistant is a useful tool for deciding a suitable meeting time for all team members. By showing the availability of your co-workers, you can avoid conflicting times and save time.

After adding all the required members for the meeting, you can check for a suitable time by looking for the green time slot on the right-hand side of the window.

Teams test call

Making a test call on Teams will allow you to check the quality of your devices, such as audio, microphone, and camera before the meeting begins.

• To start a test call, click ‘…’ on the top right of the Teams window and click ‘Settings’.
  

• Go to ‘Devices’. At the bottom of the Audio settings, you will find a button ‘Make a test call’.

After clicking on the button, you can test your device's quality by talking in the test call after the ‘beep’ sound. Your voice will then be played back to you.

Conclusion

Microsoft Teams offers a seamless way for people to connect and work together. Understanding how Microsoft Teams works will foster collaboration and further boost organisational productivity.

At Texaport, our Microsoft-certified experts are here to help you maximise the potential of Microsoft products and ensure a seamless, secure, and efficient workflow for your business. Learn more about how Texaport can help you unlock the potential of Microsoft 365, or contact us today to explore what we can do for you.