What is Microsoft Teams Webinar and Town hall?
Online webinars and town halls are becoming increasingly popular for hosting presentations, training sessions, and large-scale meetings. While Zoom is a well-known platform for these functions, Wayne State University does not currently offer Zoom webinar add-on licenses or allow individual license purchases under the university's Zoom contract. Fortunately, Microsoft Teams, included as part of the university's Microsoft 365 license, offers robust web conferencing features for hosting webinars and town halls . This article will serve as a guide to understanding and utilizing these features.
Comparison of Microsoft Teams meetings vs Webinars vs Town halls
| Teams meeting | Teams Webinar | Teams Town Hall |
Purpose | Collaborative meetings with two way communication. | Structured presentations or educational sessions with focus on presenter audience interaction. | Large-scale events with structured Q&A and moderation. |
Attendees | 300 | Up to 1,000 | Up to 20,000 |
Interactions | Full interaction. | Presenters can share content. Attendees can use chat, moderated Q&A, reactions. | Q&A only. |
Registration | Not required. | Built-in registration forms and management. | No built in registration. |
Presenter/Attendee roles | Flexible | Defined | Defined |
Reporting and Analytics | Basic meeting attendance. | Attendance, registration, engagement data. | Attendance, engagement data. |
Recording | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Closed caption | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lobby | Yes | Yes | No |
Themes | No | Yes | Yes |
Teams Webinars
Webinars are structured online events specifically designed for presentations or events with a clear distinction between presenters and attendees. Through Teams webinars, users can effortlessly schedule sessions, manage attendee registrations, conduct interactive presentations, and analyze attendee data for effective post-event follow-up.
Best use case
- Training sessions
- Educational sessions
- Organizational wide announcements.
- Virtual orientations
Features
- Allow registered users to bypass the lobby
- Assign co-organizer
- Limit the number of people who can register
- Require attendees to register
- Branded theme
- Presenter bios
- Webinar reports
Town halls are a one-to-many broadcast scenario where focus stays primarily on presenters and the shared content while attendees watch. By default, attendees cameras and mic are disabled, but they can engage with hosts using the Q&A feature instead.
Best use case
- Large scale broadcasts
- Virtual conferences
- Public-facing events with extensive coverage (up to 30 hours)
Meetings
Teams Meetings are the best choice when participants need to interact via voice, chat, and when multiple people are presenting. Meetings include the ability to use all of Teams' interactive features, such as video, reactions, and screen sharing.
Best use case
- Internal team meetings
- Project collaboration
- Small group discussions or training
For additional support, please contact the IT Help Desk.
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