Microsoft 365 Teams Town Hall: A Game-Changer for Large-Scale Communication

Introduction

Microsoft Teams has continuously evolved to meet the dynamic communication needs of modern workplaces. One of the latest innovations within Microsoft 365 (M365) is Teams Town Hall, a feature specifically designed to facilitate large-scale virtual events and company-wide communications with ease and efficiency. Town Hall is designed for situations where a limited number of presenters address a large audience, and direct interaction is limited to Q&A. Some of the features of Town Hall gaining popularity are multiple presenters, live captions, and recording capabilities.

What is Teams Town Hall?

Teams Town Hall is an advanced virtual event feature in Microsoft Teams that enables businesses to hold executive updates, company-wide broadcasts, and large meetings. It offers improved functionality and a user-friendly experience for both event organizers and attendees, replacing the previous Teams Live Events feature.

1. Enhanced Attendee Capacity

• Office & Microsoft 365: Up to 10,000 attendees.
• Microsoft Teams Premium: Up to 20,000 attendees.

2. Event Concurrency

• Office & Microsoft 365: Up to 15 concurrent events per tenant.
• Teams Premium: Up to 50 concurrent events per tenant.

3. Extended Event Duration

• Events can last up to 30 hours, similar to regular Teams meetings.

4. eCDN Support

• Supports third-party eCDN providers in both standard and premium plans.
• Microsoft first-party eCDN is included in Teams Premium, offering advanced scalability and Q&A support.

5. Real-Time Monitoring

• Event Insights Dashboard allows organizers to track attendee count, peak concurrency, session duration, and geographic data in real time.

6. Green Room for Presenters

• Dedicated virtual green room for presenters to prepare before going live.
• Separate private chat for organizers and presenters.
• Attendees receive a welcome screen while waiting for the event to start.

Certainly! Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create a Town Hall event in Microsoft Teams.

• Open your Teams calendar.

• Select the arrow next to New meeting +

• Select Town hall from the dropdown menu
• In Details, enter basic info, designate presenters, and more:
  

• Enter the event title, start and end date, and description.
• By default, the Organizer is the person who created the town hall.
• In the Event group > Co-organizers or Presenters from your org, search and select other people who will help manage the town hall. You can also add external presenters.
• Select Save and send invites Save icon to apply changes and invite co-organizers and presenters to the event.

• In Event access, choose whether your event will be available to Your organization, Public, or People and groups. (Your organization - Anyone in your org can attend the town hall, including guests, Public - Anyone who was invited or has a link can join and People and groups - Up to 500 people can attend the town hall. This includes people added individually and through distribution lists, Microsoft 365 security groups, and Microsoft 365 Unified Groups. You can add up to 20 such groups or lists. Dynamic groups aren't supported.)
  

• In Invite attendees, search and select people and groups you want to invite.

• Select Save to apply changes and continue customizing your event.
• Select Meeting options Settings button to edit more settings.

• Select Publish to schedule your town hall event and invite attendees.

Add external presenters

Easily add up to 20 presenters from outside your org to your town hall. External presenters are presenters who are anonymous, outside your org, or don’t use Teams.

To add an external presenter:

• Go to your Teams calendar.
• Select an upcoming town hall and select Details.
• Select Add external presenters.
• Screenshot showing how to add external presenters to a webinar.
• In External presenters, enter the email addresses of the external presenters you want to add.
• Select Save and send invites.

Benefits of Using Teams Town Hall

• Scalability: Large organizations can efficiently communicate with global teams.
• Improved Engagement: Features like Q&A, chat moderation, and polls foster better communication.
• Seamless Event Management: Built-in tools simplify planning, execution, and post-event analysis.
• Cost-Effective: Eliminates the need for third-party webinar solutions.

Town hall features

Presenter spotlight: Bring presenters to the forefront of the event with Manage what attendees see. Showcase up to seven presenters’ video feeds at once.

Translated captions: Break down the language barrier during your town hall with live translated captions. Attendees with Teams Premium can choose from 10 language translations. Other attendees can choose from up to six.

Publish town hall recordings: After a town hall ends, you can download and publish the event recording to share with attendees. When you publish a recording, attendees will receive an email linking to it.

Attendee reports: Gain insights into your town hall with post-event attendee reports. See how many people attended, how long they attended, and other details.

Key features include real-time monitoring through an Event Insights Dashboard, a green room for presenters, external presenter support, and advanced engagement tools such as Q&A, chat moderation, and translated captions. It also provides event recording, attendee reports, and scalability through eCDN support. With its user-friendly interface and robust functionality, Teams Town Hall simplifies event planning and improves internal communication for large organizations.