Service overview
Microsoft Teams Webinars are structured meetings where presenters and participants have clear roles. A key difference between webinars and Teams meetings is that webinars support registration and provide attendee engagement data. Webinar registration is a unique page you can customize and ask additional questions to attendees prior to the event.
For more information on how to set up the Registration Page, visit Schedule a Webinar.
The table below illustrates the differences between the three ways to meet via Teams.
|
Regular MS Teams meeting | Live events | Webinars | |
| Who can attend? | Attendees must log in either as a member of McGill community or as a guest to attend the meeting. |
Events can be public (no log in for participants) OR Events can be restricted to the McGill community, to a specific group, or to multiple persons. |
Webinars can be public (and require registration for access to the event link) OR Webinars can be restricted to the Mcgill community, and attendees can be specified or invited via a registration form. |
| How many participants? |
Up to 1000 for full interactive features. Up to 10 000 for view-only features. | Up to 10 000. | Up to 1 000. |
| What are the roles? |
Organizer: creates the meeting and configures the attendee role. Attendees: Most of the time attendees have the same privileges as organizers (they can present, share screen, etc). |
Organizer: creates the meeting, sets the options, invite attendees and have access to the recording and the reports generated after the event is over. Producer: During the event, the producers do backstage work, such as managing who speaks or shares their screen, selecting the layout, etc. Presenters: (usually many) can present, share the screen and/or moderate written Q&A Attendees: view presentation live or on-demand using their video player controls and enter questions in the Q&A chat (if enabled). |
Organizer: schedules the meeting and prepares the registration form for prospective attendees. They also have the ability to create Breakout rooms and manage the Q&As. Attendees: Register for the event and click the link in the email confirmation to join the webinar. They also have the ability to share their screen. |
| Registration supported | No | No | Yes |
For additional information, see Microsoft's quick start guide on Meetings, webinars, and live events.
Who can use it
The license provided through your McGill account will allow you to organize a MS Teams webinar.
Public events – Anyone who receives the link directly or indirectly will be able to join the webinar.
Private events - If attendance is restricted to McGill members or to specific people and groups, attendees will need to log in to join, in addition to filling out the registration form (if required).
How to request & access the service
With your McGill account, you should already have access to webinars through the Microsoft Teams application.
Go to the Calendar tab, select the dropdown arrow beside New meeting, and select Webinar. From this page, you will be able to set the event like a normal Teams meeting and customize the registration form.
Cost
There is no cost associated with this service.
Availability
The service is available 24 X 7, except during planned maintenance or outages. Check the home page of the IT Support site for announcements.
Frequently asked questions
What platforms are supported?
|
Desktop |
Web |
Mobile | |
|
Producer |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Presenter |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Attendee |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Can I add a Q&A during the meeting?
Yes, Q&A's can be added to Teams meetings and webinars, either before the meeting through Meeting Options or during the meeting by click More, and selecting the Q&A app.
You will then be able to set the initial settings, these settings can later be modified in the Teams app chat, not in the call window itself. If the setting was moderated, it cannot be changed to unmoderated afterwards.
The Q&A app is only available while the meeting is active (either an organizer or an attendee is in it), afterwards, only the organizer will have access to it.
For more information, see Add Q&A to webinars and meetings (video)
What are the system requirements?
- Supported operating systems: Windows 8.1 and higher (Windows 10 is recommended), macOS last 3 versions
- Supported mobile operating systems: Android last 4 major versions4.4 and later, iOS 10 and laterlast 2 major versions
- Supported web browsers: recent versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari
Can the Teams webinars be recorded?
Yes. Find out more at: Manage a live event recording and reports in Teams on the Microsoft website.
Best practices & policies
- Your use of this service is governed by McGill's Cloud Services Directive.
- Plan to have at least 3 people in the presenter role: One person should be dedicated to manage who speaks and who presents. Another should be responsible to manage Q&A. This will ensure that in case one of the presenters has technical problems, someone else will be able to maintain control of the meeting.
Training & documentation
No training is necessary for webinars but if you have any specific questions, you can book a personal Q&A period with Collaboration Solutions through MS Bookings.
Additional resources from Microsoft:
- Schedule a webinar
- Publicize a webinar
- Change webinar details
- Schedule a webinar (video)
- Add Q&A to webinars and meetings (video)
- Microsoft Teams help & learning
Support
For access/authentication issues, contact the IT Service Desk.
For how-to questions, please check the Teams webinar pages on the Microsoft website. Features in MS Teams may change as they roll out updates to the service.