Use Teams to host an online conference, training session or a live event (where a main presentation is streamed and chat is moderated)
Teams meetings, webinars and live events: the difference
Teams webinars and live events offer everything you can do in a Teams meeting, such as:
- use a lobby
- mute all participants and disable video for attendees
- spotlight your presenters
with some differences or added extras.
Live events
Choose a live event if you want:
- one person on screen at a time; you can control who that is, and can switch to a different presenter or spokesperson during the session
- moderated chat; you can approve all comments and questions before others can see them
- to let attendees ask questions anonymously.
Teams live events enable you to schedule and produce events that stream to large online audiences; up to 1000 people can watch the event.
How to set up a live event
Webinars
Choose a webinar if:
- you want an online registration form to share/promote the event and enable people to book a place
- the purpose of your session is for presenters to share their ideas or provide training to an audience, who can then participate/interact in a managed way.
You can facilitate and manage participation by asking people to raise their hand to take a turn to speak or to use the chat. The presenter can also mute and unmute all attendees and allow or hide their video.
More about webinar features
- Track registration and attendance at your event
- Up to 1000 people can interact, and up to 10,000 people can view it live
- You can run real-time polls during the session
Things to do before the webinar
- Arrange the webinar several weeks in advance if possible
- If using the registration form, decide what questions you want attendees to fill in when they register. What do you want to know about your delegates?
- Invite any additional presenters by adding them to the webinar invite in the Teams app. Don't add attendees here: see point 4!
- To share the event with potential attendees, copy the registration form link. You can then share it by email, social media etc. By inviting them to book using a registration link, they won't be able to bypass the lobby when they join the webinar on the day. Only people invited directly from the Teams meeting (your co-presenters) should be allowed to bypass the lobby
- Download the registration report ahead of the meeting to see who has registered and read their responses to the registration questions
During the webinar
- When attendees select the Join link, they wait in the lobby until the organiser or a presenter lets them into the webinar
- Attendee audio and video is turned off by default, and they can't share content
- The presenter controls audience participation. Polls can be used to enable participation, ask for feedback etc
After the webinar
The organiser can download an attendance report.
How to set up a webinar
To create a webinar, use the Teams app on a PC/laptop.

- Click Calendar in the left menu of Teams
- + New Meeting button on the right
- From the drop-down box, choose Webinar (the other options are Schedule meeting or Live event)
- Add a title, add presenters, time etc.
- To add a registration form, click the link to View registration form
- Copy the registration link so that you can share it by email / promote the event online, asking people to sign up to book their place
- When you Save the meeting it will send an invitation to all presenters, and put the meeting in your calendar
Help and support
Microsoft tutorials about running webinars
- Video: creating a webinar, by Mike Tholfsen (Microsoft's education team)
- Schedule a webinar: Microsoft support article (web page)
- Teams webinars quick start guide (PDF)
- Video: create a quick poll in Teams (Microsoft's education team)
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