We’re thrilled to announce that Microsoft has generally released video filters in Teams! Microsoft understands that you want to be fully engaged in meetings but may not always have the time to get camera-ready. That’s why they’re now offering AI-powered capabilities that allow you to soften your appearance and add backgrounds in Microsoft Teams. And now, with the introduction of video filters, you can remove unwanted distractions and express your unique personality in each meeting.
Video filters in Teams Meetings allow participants to enhance their video stream with a range of visual effects, from animated frames to changing the video’s hue. You can even apply these filters before joining a meeting from the lobby. These filters are provided as apps that can be added to your meeting experience via the Teams Platform infrastructure. Microsoft is launching the filters with a first-party app called Custom Filters, but more apps will be available soon.
Microsoft continues to be a privacy-first company. They assure you that your privacy and compliance are top of mind. Tenant admins can enable or disable the availability of video filter apps, but these apps are enabled by default. The admin cannot pre-install these apps as they require explicit user consent. Before using the filters, you must provide explicit consent to the app to access your video feed. You can turn off the video filters in Teams by uninstalling the filter app.
Please note that initially, these filters are only available from a desktop and are not available in EDU tenants. We’re excited to see how video filters can enhance your Teams Meetings experience!
Microsoft is excited to introduce a new feature in Microsoft Teams meetings called Closed Captions in PowerPoint Live. This feature aims to enhance accessibility for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, have difficulty processing auditory information, have a language barrier, or are simply joining the meeting from a loud environment. Closed Captions will help these individuals better understand the auditory content shared in Teams meetings.
With Closed Captions, meeting attendees now have the option to turn on closed captions for any video that includes a closed captions file. PowerPoint users looking to create accessible presentations can easily add closed captions to any embedded PowerPoint video directly from within PowerPoint for Windows and macOS.
Here’s how to add closed captions:
Select the video and select Insert Captions from the Playback Ribbon
In the Insert Captions dialog box, select the WebVTT file or files that should be included
Select Insert
When the PowerPoint presentation is shared using PowerPoint Live in a Microsoft Teams meeting, the closed captions option will be available for viewers to turn on. To turn on closed captions, attendees can click the closed captions button on the video player in PowerPoint Live. Then, select their preferred language from the dropdown menu. Once turned on, the video closed captions will appear at the bottom of the slide for only the individual attendee. Thus, empowering each attendee to choose the closed captions setting that’s best for them. Additionally, without distracting other attendees, who may prefer to have closed captions turned off.
Closed captions make PowerPoint Live presentations more accessible and benefit everyone who watches videos. Especially those in their non-native language, people learning to read, and individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. We encourage everyone to learn how to make PowerPoint presentations more accessible with closed captions!
It’s important to note that when no closed captions are available for a video, the closed captions button will be unavailable for participants to select. Microsoft is committed to making its products accessible to everyone. They will also continue introducing new features that promote inclusivity and accessibility in their products.
In these challenging economic times, many businesses seek to optimize and consolidate for cost savings and efficiencies. Simultaneously accelerating growth. Hybrid workforces continue to pose unique challenges to keep people connected. Therefore, organizations everywhere ask, “How can we do more with less?”. Virtual events, such as a Webinar, have become an increasingly popular option for businesses of all sizes. Still, with so many different platforms available, it can be tough to know where to start.
At WheelHouse IT, we’re excited to share how Microsoft Teams is evolving the webinar experience for existing webinars within Office 365 and Microsoft 365. The new advanced webinars within Teams Premium are generally available now. Microsoft Teams delivers engaging and richer digital-first event experiences that can help businesses generate leads and drive results.
Seamless setup and preparation before your event ensures every webinar is unique. Microsoft has revamped the setup and management of registration to offer more options to customize registration details and event settings. You can now designate co-organizers and add the relevant event details. Additionally, enhance presenter bios to showcase their expertise and social credentials and manage registration capacity limits for up to 1,000 attendees. You can also specify custom questions to gather pertinent information about prospective attendees. As well as enable consent for event terms and conditions upon registration.
To build excitement and drive attendance as the webinar draws near, you can leverage timely, automated reminder emails to ensure the event remains top of mind. On the day of the webinar, presenters can join one another and the host in the virtual green room. Ensuring seamless preparation. With the virtual green room, presenters have a separate, dedicated space from attendees to connect and chat in real-time. Additionally they can stage content, do a quick briefing, and test run without disturbing attendees.
Maintain focus and drive engagement during your event. During the webinar, you can easily manage the production of your webinar to showcase a more dynamic, curated presentation by managing what attendees see. You can keep your attendees focused and more deeply engaged by managing their view so they only see shared content and participants brought on-screen. Thus, they are no longer distracted by the multiple profiles of other attendees or an accidental attendee video popping up.
Improve live event experiences with Microsoft eCDN in Teams Premium. To improve live event experiences within your organization, the Microsoft Enterprise Content Deliver Network (eCDN) is now included in Teams Premium. With Microsoft eCDN, organizations can seamlessly and securely live stream global meetings, all-hands gatherings, and town halls. As well as distribute company-wide trainings using Teams Live Events.
Enhancing existing webinar experiences, Microsoft continuously improves the existing webinar experience in Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans that users have relied on daily to deliver events worldwide. Microsoft has revamped the setup and management of registration with a new structure and expanded options to customize registration details and event settings.
Live stream Teams Meetings and Webinars to Meta Workplace Live. As webinars are intended to reach a broader audience, typically outside of your organization. Microsoft is making it easier to connect with your extended network right within Meta Workplace Live. Now organizers can live stream a Teams meeting or webinar to Meta Workplace Live. Thus, increasing your reach and enabling attendees to engage wherever works best.
At WheelHouse IT, we’re excited to extend our knowledge to bring these new webinar experiences to our customers, partners, and community around the world. Whether you’re a seasoned Teams user or recently new to the application.
The February 2023 edition of What’s New in Teams is focused on the launch of Teams Premium. Teams Premium is more intelligent, more personalized, and more protected. Additionally, includes new features such as Intelligent Recap, Live Translation, Meeting Templates, Branded Meetings, Custom User Policy Packages, Watermarking, Who Can Record, End-to-End Encryption, and Sensitivity Labels for Teams Meetings. Teams Premium also makes use of new AI features such as Intelligent Recap to improve productivity, and Suggested Files in Chats to find documents to share with colleagues.
Intelligent Recap
Intelligent Recap is a tool that uses AI-generated chapters based on PowerPoint Live to divide meetings into sections using presentation content. Therefore, it helps save time spent reviewing meeting recordings.
Intelligent Recap
Personalized Timeline Markers
Personalized timeline markers are only visible to the user and call out when a user joined or left a meeting recording or when their name was mentioned. Additionally, they are visibile when a screen was shared.
Live Translation
Live translation is available in Teams Premium. Subsequently, providing AI-powered real-time translations in 40 spoken languages for captions in meetings. This helps with collaboration challenges, especially when working with people who speak different languages.
Live Translations of Captions
Custom Meeting Templates
IT admins can create customized meeting templates, such as a client call, brainstorming meeting, or help desk call. Thus, automatically including the correct settings and ensuring meetings adhere to company policies.
Branded Meetings
Teams Premium also provides advanced personalization experiences, including branded meetings that display the logo and colors of the company. As well as infuse the brand colors into the meeting itself.
Custom User Policy Packages
Custom user policy packages are finally available. Thus, allowing IT to create a customized bundle of policies for users with similar roles in the organization.
Watermarking
Meeting organizers can also leverage a unique watermark over attendee screen shares and video feeds. Thus, deterring leaks when sharing sensitive or confidential meeting content.
Branded Meetings
Who Can Record
With the “Who can record” option, meeting organizers can limit who can record specific meetings. Thus, keeping discussions private.
End-to-End Encryption
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) for online meetings can be applied to disable core meeting features. Such as recording for rare, extremely sensitive meetings.
Sensitivity Labels for Teams Meetings
Microsoft 365 E5 customers with Teams Premium can enable Microsoft Purview Information Protection sensitivity labels for Teams meetings. Therefore, automatically applying relevant and important meeting options based on the sensitivity of meeting content.
Teams Premium includes webinars, allowing users to host various virtual events as well as offer personalized touches for presenters and attendees. Webinar organizers can also enable registration waitlist and manual approval to manage registration and review registrants.
Hosts can customize registration start and end times to make it easier to plan and manage events. Additionally, webinar presenters can join the virtual green room to prepare before the webinar without disturbing attendees.
If you’re interested in getting access to Teams Premium you can book time on the calendar below.
In addition to Teams Premium, there are core updates to Teams for Meetings, Virtual Appointments, Calling, Chat and collaboration, Teams for Education, and Management are also available to everyone.
Premium Non-Teams Updates:
Meetings
Tabs can now be accessed by anonymous users in Teams meetings.
In-meeting notifications can now be sent by a bot to specific individuals.
Virtual Appointments
A Virtual Appointments Teams meeting template is now available in Teams Calendar for external meetings.
Additionally, developers can create and manage Virtual Appointments for business-to-consumer scenarios using Virtual Appointment Graph APIs.
Virtual Appointments
Calling
iOS devices can now use picture-in-picture mode for multitasking.
Co-organizers can now create, manage, and move between Breakout Rooms.
Usability of the presenter window has been improved during screen sharing.
Authentication improvements include improved sign-in reliability and detailed error messages.
Survivable Branch Appliance has enabled new call controls.
Android devices are also now supported in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal.
Certified Devices
Lenovo ThinkSmart One collaboration bar and Lenovo Core Bundle for Teams Rooms on Windows are now certified.
Crestron FLEX Microsoft Teams Rooms kit with Dell OptiPlex for Teams Rooms on Windows is also certified.
Yealink UH37 Dual/Mono Headset is now certified for personal peripherals.
Chat and Collaboration
Teams users can now chat with distribution groups, mail-enabled security groups, and Microsoft 365 groups within their organization.
New text formatting options are available in Teams messages, including strikethrough, quote, and code.
The sharing experience in Teams has been improved. Thus, allowing users to preview and select multiple files at once.
Suggested replies are now available in Teams chats to provide quick responses to common messages.
In-app notification settings can now be customized by users to prioritize the notifications that are most important to them.
Teams now integrates more closely with Outlook. Therefore, enabling users to access their Teams conversations directly from Outlook.
Teams now supports additional languages, including Hindi, Filipino, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi.
Teams Chat with Distribution Groups
These updates are designed to enhance the functionality and user experience of Teams. Thus, improving collaboration and productivity for both individuals and organizations.
Interested in learning more about how WheelHouse IT can help you get the most out of your Microsoft ecosystem?
