3 great ways to host online meetings in Office 365 today
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With the arrival of Covid-19 the ability to work from home is now a primary importance for many of us. Part of this is the need for our work life to continue as near to normal as possible. One of the biggest enablers of this for me is Office 365 and the resources it has for getting work done no matter where I am. For those in the Events industry involved in planning, hosting, delivering large-scale meetings and events we need to look at what our options are for online alternatives.As part of Microsoft’s promotion of existing features in Office 365 the Microsoft blog has just published ways to help Office 365 users host online meetings and events. These features are already available in the Live platform in multiple Office applications.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Online meetings in Yammer
For internal company meetings such as Town Halls, or Ask Me Anything sessions you can user Yammer to host. Yammer will allow for ongoing discussion and engagement and you can share content by screen-sharing or webcams.
You can use webcams and screen-sharing, or for more studio-quality broadcasts, additional production tools can be used.
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Streams
You can host internal meetings in Stream to deliver live or on-demand video for learning, training, or specialised topics.
Live broadcasts can be viewed in Stream or embedded on custom intranet pages or other hosting spots, and when the event ends employees can find them there later. These events also use additional production tools to enable studio-quality broadcasts.
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Online meetings in Teams
Live events can also be hosted in Teams and this is where Live events may feel most familiar to Teams users. Attendees can join from the browser, or the Teams app. If required, to preserve bandwidth, they can join as audio only. Microsoft have increased the number of attendees enabled to attend standard Teams calls to 250 attendees. This week alone Microsoft have served almost 1 billion minutes of Teams calls every day this week, with 44 million users - an increase of 12 million this week alone.In Team Live calls, enabled via the meeting type dropdown in the Teams Calendar, speakers and presenters can connect as normal in Teams and share via their camera and share screens with a few clicks. You can also use have a moderated Q&A session and the fantastic feature of live captions to for inclusivity and to improve enhance the experience for attendees.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Guidance and help getting started
Microsoft have shared some best practices and guidance on how improving employee engagement with live events to enable us to get started delivering live events today.They’ve also launched a service to assist with Live events and to start using these new event capabilities to create professional, and impactful virtual events.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Coming soon - PowerPoint Live
On top of all of this, the most interesting one to me is the new PowerPoint Live feature that is to be released soon. This is a new way of hosting meetings and presentations using the Live platform directly within PowerPoint.There is a great highlight video online here. To me, the key features of this new tool are:
- It’s a native part of PowerPoint
- QR code links to join the call
- Automated subtitles
- Automated translation
- Attendee Feedback
- Agency for attendees to recap on content
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Conclusion
I’m going to be jumping in to use some of these new tools that are at my disposal. Also, I can't wait to get my hands on PowerPoint Live. It’s an exciting time for technology and Office 365.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Working remotely using Teams and Office 365
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Like many others, I am now working for home as part of efforts to keep our colleagues and our teams healthy and manage COVID-19 infection rates. As a regular remote worker and user of Microsoft Office 365, this transition has been seamless for me.[/vc_column_text][us_image image="7294" size="us_600_400_crop" align="center" meta="1"][ultimate_spacer height="32"][vc_column_text]Using core elements of Office 365 such as Exchange and SharePoint to power Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, OneNote, and Planner means we have been able to continue without missing a beat. My telephone extension is also a Teams number, so I can still make and receive telephone calls as usual (with the benefit of emailed voicemail transcript and MP3 file).[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]For those who are new to remote work, the Microsoft blog has had several posts to help with this transition.
- Staying productive while working remotely with Microsoft Teams
- Working remotely during challenging times
- The top 9 ways Microsoft IT is enabling remote work for its employees
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]IT leadership and Microsoft deserve kudos for building a sustainable solution for businesses and teams of all sizes. I can work from anywhere with access to the tools and resources I need to deliver[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Getting out of a trap
In your efforts to become a leader in the work that you do, a recent post by Seth Godin, Trapped by the incoming, Seth describes why you have so much work coming your way.
The incoming is coming to you because a while ago, you did something brave and generous and risky.Seth Godin
Leadership should result in more work. As people recognise your leadership abilities the work will also include different forms of work such as mentoring, consulting, advising, which are all part of being recognised as a leader. These new component parts of your workload are great, until it overwhelms you, damages you or even breaks you. The volume of work and its impact is multiplied in a team producing great work.But, if you don't lift your gaze above the work to hand, above the horizon, to focus on what's next, you will ultimately lose your edge. I’ve told my team leaders often enough that next year I don't want them as they are now - that would be a problem. I need them to grow, to be better, and to be better at delivering the benefit of their experience. I need them to be demonstrating their own leadership of their specialism.
If you spend all your time dealing with the incoming, though, you’ll have no time and no energy to create the next thing. Every successful organization that has ultimately faded away via irrelevance has failed for this very reason.Seth Godin
It's important to invest in your team in terms of training, exposure to new things, and experiences that will challenge them and help them to grow. Trapped by the incoming | Seth's Blog I’m also currently reading This is Marketing by Seth and it's prompting lots of ideas and new approaches.
Be more productive: The joy of missing out (JOMO)
I mean, look, real-time communication, for example, is handy sometimes. When there’s really a crisis or whatever and you really need to hash something out, fine. It’s just that when you have to follow a dozen real-time conversations all day long, that’s broken.
Introducing the joy of missing out (JOMO)
Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, talks about the benefits of reducing your capacity to be interrupted by not having instant messenger and chat apps turned on.
I mean, look, real-time communication, for example, is handy sometimes. When there’s really a crisis or whatever and you really need to hash something out, fine. It’s just that when you have to follow a dozen real-time conversations all day long, that’s broken. That’s just broken. That’s like, the fear of missing out. We have what we call JOMO, the joy of missing out at Basecamp. We want people to miss out. I want you just to focus on your work. You don’t need to pay attention to a million things that are going on at once, right?
Continual interruptions, no matter the source, have a negative impact your enjoyment of your work and the quality of what you produce.
And something else happens over here and they’ve gotta jump over here. Now they’ve stopped the flow, and they’re over here now responding to something one line at a time coming back, a new …
My experience is that constant interruptions from chat, email, and phone calls prevent you from doing what you are trying to do. It impacts your level of focus and engagement with your work, impacting the quality of what you produce.
In one of my previous roles, I managed a team spread across six time zones. I adjusted my day up and down to connect with each of my team. But most of my day I was the only member of the team working. Wow, did this allow me to produce some great work! I was productive because for 5 to 6 hours of the day there were no emails, chats, or messages. No interruptions! I could start work on my projects or clear ticketed design work from our workflow system.
Let’s just do our best work. We should be doing our best work anyway, so let’s just do that.
I am a big believer in JOMO. It helps my teams and me to produce better work - which is what it's meant to be about anyway.
Where’s your cohort?
One of the talented designers I have worked with once described himself as someone who likes to colour things in. He then described me as someone who likes to manage people who like to colour things in, which just between you and me, I love this description.
The people who get you. The ones who have been through it with you. Who see you. Our life is a series of cohorts, and the special ones connect with us deeply. They raise the bar and they provide a foundation for what’s next. These are the source of our best memories, the moments where we moved forward and felt the chance to make a difference.
Source: Where’s your cohort?
I think it's time that I got back to my cohort of talented people who like to colour things in. Where do you need to be and who do you need to be with in the times ahead? It’s probably time to make a move now.
Urgent versus important
You know you should be focusing on the long-term journey, on building out the facility, signing up new customers or finishing your dissertation. But instead... (Seth Godin)
One approach that has worked for me when surrounded by urgent work is to block out some time, in the midst of urgent work, for contact and work with the important projects to keep the connection alive The why of urgent vs important
You know you should be focusing on the long-term journey, on building out the facility, signing up new customers or finishing your dissertation.
But instead...