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Scheduling Teams meetings and providing access on QMplus

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For: StaffApplication: MS Teams , QMplusTagged: Microsoft Teams , web conferencing

Online meetings can be created instantly. However, when planning upcoming teaching sessions, events, or online presentations, you may want to schedule Teams sessions in advance. You can schedule single meetings or recurring sessions (i.e., your teaching schedule for the term), which generates joining information to share with participants. Meeting access links can be posted on QMplus, added to an Outlook calendar invitation, or shared via email.

Start an ad-hoc meeting

There are several ways to initiate an ad-hoc meeting with other Teams users. If you need to quickly create a meeting to take place as soon as possible, select the Calendar tab click Meet now.

From the menu, select Start meeting to instantly create a session. This can be useful if you would like to test meeting features in Teams without calling other users, or if you would like to configure your meeting before inviting others to join.

You will be presented with audio and video configuration settings. Once ready, click Join now to enter the meeting room.

You will be presented with two ways to invite people to join your meeting:

  • Copy meeting link will add a link to your clipboard which can be emailed or texted to others (using the Paste shortcut on your keyboard). Anyone who clicks the link will automatically enter your meeting.
  • Add participants will allow you to search for other Teams users in your organisation. If they have Teams open, the participant will instantly receive a notification to join your session.

 

Start a meeting using Chat

You can use the Chat panel to call users directly. Select Chat on the left side of the Teams window and click the ‘New chat’ icon, enter their name or email address in the ‘To:’ field and select their profile from the list.

With the new Chat area created with the selected user, click the video or audio call buttons at the top-right corner of the window to begin the meeting.

 

Call users directly

You can call users by selecting their profile image anywhere it appears in Teams to reveal their contact card. Select the video or audio call buttons under their name to initiate a meeting.

 

Start a team meeting

To initiate an ad-hoc meeting with an entire team, click the Teams tab on the left side of the window and open the channel you want to host the meeting.

At the top-right corner of any team channel, you will see an option to Meet now or Schedule a meeting. When the meeting beings, all members of that channel will be notified that a meeting is taking place.

 

Scheduling a meeting

You may not want to create a team workspace or start a chat to facilitate online meetings. If you will only utilise the video conferencing features of Teams, simply schedule a meeting and share the joining details with attendees.

To begin scheduling a meeting, select the Calendar tab on the left side of the window and click ‘+ New meeting’ at the top-right corner of the window.

The scheduling interface is similar to creating meetings in Outlook. Give your meeting a title, add attendees, set the date and whether it is a recurring meeting, and add any relevant details into the description field. Once ready, click Save and the event will be distributed to attendees via email and automatically added to your Teams calendar.

To join the meeting either click the meeting link in the event description from your Outlook calendar, or open the Teams calendar, select the event, and click Join.

 

Schedule a meeting with Outlook (calendar event meetings)

If you prefer to schedule meetings in Outlook, you can also quickly set scheduled events to take place within Teams. Create an event in your calendar as normal and invite at least one other attendee to the event.

On the Desktop Client you will see a Teams meeting button appear in your event settings bar. Click this button which will automatically create a meeting link for the session and fill the text ‘Microsoft Teams Meeting’ in the Location field. You will not immediately see the link to your meeting, but this will be added once the invitation is sent.

Using Outlook on the web, after adding at least one attendee to a calendar event, you will see an option called Add online meeting. Select Teams meeting from the list and an online meeting will be automatically created.

To join the meeting, simply click the link in the description of your Outlook event which will open the Teams meeting.

 

Meeting options and permissions

If you do not want attendees to have access to all of the available features in Teams, or you need time to prepare your session before allowing others to join, during a meeting select the More actions (…) icon at the top of the window and select Meeting options.

From this menu you can place participants in a lobby until you are ready for them to join, restrict screen sharing options using the Who can present? setting, disable the ability for participants to use a microphone, camera, or reactions, and disable the meeting chat. Click Save once the settings have been adjusted.

Meeting options can also be configured in advanced for meetings scheduled in Teams or Outlook. Open the calendar event and click the Meeting options link in the joining information.

This will open a tab in your web browser where you can configure meeting options for participants. Click Save once the settings have been adjusted.

 

Adding access links to QMplus

If you would like to post a meeting link on QMplus for students, log in to your account and navigate to the module you would like to update and Turn editing on at the top-right corner of your module.

Image of the pen icon which enables turn editing on

Click Add an activity or resource under the relevant topic.

Example Moodle section with Add an activity highlighted

With the activity chooser, search ‘URL’, and select the URL resource.

How to search for a URL activity and select it

Give the link a Name and paste your Teams access link in the External URL field. In the Description you can add the date and time of the meeting and the passcode (if applicable).

Click Save and return to course to add the URL.

Students can click this link in QMplus to automatically launch the meeting. For further information on adding URLs to QMplus, see this guide.

 

Did this answer your query? If not, you can raise a ticket on the online Helpdesk or email: its-helpdesk@qmul.ac.uk . Alternatively you can also request a particular guide or highlight an error in this guide using our guides request tracker.

Produced by the the Technology Enhanced Learning Team at Queen Mary University of London.
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