Microsoft Teams webinars is a combination of standard meetings and live events. It allows you to interact with 1000 attendees the same way you would in a standard Teams meeting without having to pay extra licence fees. 

While Teams meetings now also allow you to interact with up to 1000 attendees, Microsoft is aware that there are instances where interaction with larger numbers are required such as conferences and large classrooms. Live events and town halls only cater for one-to-many interaction, and therefore only allowing attendees to communicate via the chat feature. 

Webinars are therefore ideal in bringing together the best of both features, so that you can successfully host large events. Additionally, the event can also be broadcasted to a further 10 000 individuals, as you would with a live event. These additional people will, however, only be able to participate via the chat functionality. 

When to use 

If you have an event that has a small group of attendees, continue setting up standard meetings. 

If you require an event that requires little interaction with attendees, then live events or town halls are still your best options. 

We recommend that you only use webinars for large groups where interaction is necessary from participants. For example, if you have a class that has 400 students, then this option would work for you as they can interact with you via the chat functionality, Raise their hand, be unmuted to ask questions, and even be put into breakaway rooms. 

Who can use it? 

This option is currently only available to permanent UCT staff members. 

Set up a webinar 

This event type is set up similar to a standard Teams meeting but must be scheduled in the Teams platform. There are also two parts to this process.  

Part one is where you will create the meeting invitation for your speakers, while part two allows you to create a registration form where attendees must register to attend the event. You can then set a different joining time for attendees, so that your presenters join earlier than the official start time of the event.  

If attendees are not required to register, you can skip part two and include their names in the presenter field. You will, however, need to change their roles via meeting options so that they have permission of attendees only and not of presenters. 

Part one  

  1. Open Microsoft Teams and click Calendar in the left side bar. 

  1. Click the New Meeting dropdown arrow in the top right corner and select Webinar. 

  1. In the New meeting screen, create your invitation: 

  • Add title: Enter your event name. 

  • Add required presenters: Enter the email addresses of those who will be presenting at the event.  
    Note: if you prefer that your attendees don’t register you can add their names here too. 

  • Start and end date: Select the duration of the event. 

  • Time: Enter the time that you would like presenters to join. 
    Note: You can set up different start times for presenters and attendees, if you create a registration form too.  This way presenters can join earlier and ensure that everything is in place for the event, without attendees seeing the meeting is already underway. If you choose to only complete part one and then only one start time can be set. 

  • Add location: It is automatically set as Teams meeting but if there is an onsite venue, you can add that information too.  

  • Type details for this new meeting: Enter more information about what your event is about, who the speakers are, and an agenda if possible. This information is only displayed in the presenter invitation. 

Part two 

If attendees are required to register for the event, and then under the Want your attendees to register for this meeting? section, click View registration form. 

  1. A new window opens, where you can insert a header image as well as event the event details. 

  1. If you would like to add an event banner click Upload an image > Upload an image and search for the applicable image, which must be at least 918 px x 120 px. Once you’re happy with the image click Done. 

  1. Event details: 

  • Add a title: Enter the event name. 

  • Select the start and end dates. 

  • Select the start and finish times. 
    These are the official start and end times for the event. The presenters’ invitation can have a different time if they need to join earlier. 

  • Location: The event is automatically scheduled as a Microsoft Teams meeting. 

  • Add a description: Enter more information about the event. 

  1. Under the Speakers section, you can add speaker’s names and bios. There is currently no option to include their photographs. 
    If you have numerous speakers, consider only listing the keynote speakers here to not make the page too long. You can then add a link in the description field to view more information about all the speakers. 

  1. Under the Register for this event section, First name, Last name and Email are default fields.  

Note: In some instances, these fields are pre-populated for delegates, so they would only need to complete the additional fields you add.

  • If necessary, you can Add fields. You can then select from the available options and indicate if it is Required or not. 

  • You can also add custom fields and select if it should be an Input (text box) or Choice (select an option). Indicate if it is a Required field or not. 

  1. When attendees click the registration form link it will open in a browser. Before sending your form, you can preview it by clicking View in browser. 

  1. Once you’re happy with your form click Save. 

  1. You can then copy the registration link and send it to attendees via email, a Teams channel or even a chat. 

Important to note before sending event registration link 

When attendees register for the event, they will receive a confirmation email, You’re registered for <name of event>. 

The email contains the link to join the event or cancel registration. Additionally, there is also an attached iCal calendar entry that they can open and save the event in their calendar. When you send the link, please advise attendees to save the provided calendar entry that is included in the confirmation email so that the event is saved in their calendar. 

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