New Teams Features You’ll Like in May

From time to time, it’s great to check in and see what new features your Microsoft 365 applications have.  After all, one of the benefits of “going Cloud” is that you now have a constantly updating and upgrading application arsenal to choose from with Microsoft 365!  Check out some of the new features from the past month!

Release April 10, 2020 – End the meeting for everyone

              For those that have organized Teams meetings in the past, you know the frustration of leaving your well-planned meeting only to wonder if the rest of the team members are still hanging around the meeting room.  With this new feature, released in April, the meeting organizer will have the option to end the meeting for all the attendees. 

Bottom line: no more left-over meetings that have unknown end times.

Release April 17, 2020 – Announce when callers join a meeting

….Beep….”hello, did someone join?”…Beep… “yes, are you there?”  …Beep… “who’s there?  Can you hear me?”

Anyone who’s had a large Teams meeting knows the frustration of not knowing who has joined or if there are any other callers on the Teams call. Microsoft now provides the option to make an announcement when someone calls in or leaves. 

Bottom Line:  You will know if your callers have fallen off the call or if they have hung up from now on.

Release April 20, 2020 – Let attendees who dial in bypass the meeting lobby

How many times have you been in a holding loop awaiting someone on the meeting to let you in?  Who is the new bypass lobby feature available to those who are dialing in, anyone who dials in will be dropped directly into the meeting instead of waiting to be accepted for what may feel like an eternity.

Bottom line: no more waiting and praying that someone sees that you’re in the lobby

Release May 1, 2020 – Channel analytics have arrived

Analytics are important to understanding your teams. Is that new Marketing TeamSite you built actually being used? How many posts and replies do you have total inside of each one of your teams? Teams users will now be able to answer this and more with the new channel analytics feature. Need to brush up on your analytic skills for teams, look no further than Microsoft’s three minute read on the subject located here.

Bottom Line:  Know how popular each Team is, down to the Channel level!