Which type of Teams meeting is best for you?

Many options for meeting online are now available, so we thought a quick summary outlining what is available in Teams for meetings, teaching and events might be helpful. 

Smaller meetings or membership only 

Meet now 

A quick call you can make from a chat or your address book. Click on Meet Now in your Teams desktop client or Teams for the web to create the event. You can give the meeting a meaningful name and get a link to the meeting so you can quickly bring in others if you need to. 

Great for: Quickly meeting with regular contacts from a chat 

Channel meeting 

This is a special type of meeting that you can arrange within a Teams channel. All owners and members of the team will be notified about the meeting, can join it at any time and will have access to any documents shared in the meeting chat etc. Channel meetings are designed only for an audience comprising members of the Team, so are not suitable for a wider audience.  

Great for: Closed meetings with members of a Team  

Meetings up to 1000 active delegates 

Meeting  

The standard Teams meeting can be quickly set up as an event that starts immediately, or a scheduled meeting can be set for a future date in your Teams or Outlook calendar. This type of meeting allows up to 1000 interactive participants  but any other joiners over that number (up to 10,000 participants) will only be able to view/hear the meeting. 

Great for: Interactive events for up to 1000 participants   

Webinar 

With a participant limit of 1000 delegates, webinars are designed around a registration process, set up by an organiser who can also nominate co-organisers, speakers and other roles for the meeting. Registration forms can be produced to help organisers see who’s signed up and to compose simple questionnaires before the meeting takes place. Read these top tips on running webinars in Teams

Great for: Events where you need a registration process

Meetings up to 10,000 delegates 

Town hall 

These are designed for up to 10,000 delegates, with a limited number of presenters. Town halls are suitable for situations without large-scale audience participation. Although attendees can use the Q&A feature to pose questions, they are unable to use microphones or cameras.   

Great for: Large events using Q&A only 

Live event 

With a maximum duration of four hours and up to 10,000 attendees, live events are similar to town hall and webinar events but without the need for registration. Live events can be made public or can be restricted to attendees from your organisation. These are suitable when a small number of presenters will guide the session with minimal or no audience participation.  

Please note: Although live events will no longer be withdrawn in September 2024, Microsoft recommends using the newer town hall meeting type instead.  

For teaching and learning 

Class 

For up to 1000 participants, this type of meeting is suitable for classroom teaching where students can only chat and interact during the meeting itself, with no lobby chat or other communication outside the meeting. It's recommended that participant numbers are kept small. 

Great for: Online teaching for smaller groups, keeping interaction within the meeting itself  

Lecture 

Similar to a class meeting, lecture meetings allow students to participate before, during and after the session. Lectures also have participant limit of 1000, with a recommendation that numbers are kept small. 

Great for: Online teaching with participant interaction before, during and after the meeting  

Further information and help 

Microsoft has created a handy summary of most meeting types and key features of each.

The IT Help website has guidance for setting up Teams meetings and lots of useful information about Teams. Use the search feature to find what you are looking for.  

Lots more information and guidance about Teams meetings can also be found in the Nexus365 User Group (code is w2c7be7).