Enhance meeting environments, from small huddle spaces to large conference rooms, with a seamless and collaborative Microsoft Teams experience that is easy to use, deploy, and manage. Start meetings promptly with one-touch join functionality, effortlessly project content to the room’s display, and share it with remote participants. Teams Rooms are available in both Windows and Android options, offered by leading partners such as HP/Poly, Yealink, Logitech, Crestron, Lenovo, Jabra, and Neat.
Introduction to Microsoft Teams Rooms
In this article, we'll take a closer look at Microsoft Teams Rooms—a solution that seamlessly integrates the digital workspace of Microsoft Teams with certified devices to deliver high-quality audio and video for exceptional meeting experiences, whether you're joining remotely or in the room. We'll explore options tailored to different collaboration styles and room sizes, and walk you through the key steps for setting up Teams Rooms in your organization, backed by the security and enterprise management you expect from Microsoft.
Why Microsoft Teams Rooms?
So, what makes Microsoft Teams Rooms a compelling choice for today's hybrid work environment? Designed to offer an inclusive and reliable meeting experience, these rooms use smart cameras to frame the room and zoom in on the active speaker, while advanced audio devices ensure that voices are clear and understandable. Regardless of where you’re joining from, Teams Rooms enable participants to raise their hands, follow along with real-time AI-enabled live captions, and experience video as a core element of the meeting. With the rapid rise of remote work, video has proven essential for human connection and inclusivity.
Addressing the Hybrid Work Challenge
Despite the increasing need for flexible working, only a small percentage of meeting rooms are equipped with the necessary audio/visual capabilities. Now more than ever, it's crucial to ensure that the collaboration experience remains seamless, whether participants join from the office or remotely. Microsoft Teams Rooms address this need by providing an immersive experience with powerful A/V capabilities for everyone involved.
How Teams Rooms Work
If you're in a Teams Room, you can easily start a meeting with proximity join—your PC or phone detects the room, defaults to room audio, and mutes your local device audio. Simply tap "Join now" on your device, or join directly from the in-room console. Once the meeting begins, video and audio activate automatically, and participants from anywhere can join. Those in the room are placed in content-only mode, with their microphones and speakers muted, ensuring that the room provides the necessary audio and video without echo or feedback.
Presenter Controls and Remote Participation
The central console gives presenters full control over the meeting, making it easy to add remote participants, mute microphones, or pin specific video feeds for focus. Remote participants, too, have access to all Microsoft Teams controls, allowing them to add participants, share content, and more. Presenters can securely share content in the meeting using their device as a companion, and the content camera can intelligently focus on whiteboard content, making remote participants feel included, even if someone walks in front of the whiteboard.
Collaborative Whiteboarding and Dual Displays
In addition, the Microsoft Whiteboard app transforms touch and ink displays in the room into a virtual canvas for collaborative whiteboarding across locations. For dual-display setups, you can share participant video feeds on one screen and content on the other.
Setting Up a Teams Room
Setting up a Teams Room is simple—meeting organizers just need to invite the room from their directory, or you can create a meeting on the fly from the in-room console. Microsoft works with a range of hardware partners to provide certified devices, ensuring high-quality, immersive experiences for every space and budget.
Installing and Configuring Teams Rooms
Once you've assessed your needs and selected your hardware, it's time to install your equipment, including speakers, cameras, consoles, and microphones. Adding the room to your Microsoft 365 environment and assigning a license ensures it can be found in your company directory. After installing the hardware, you'll go through the first run experience, where you enter resource credentials. For added security, the device console is locked down to prohibit unauthorized software installations, and updates happen automatically in the background.
Managing Teams Rooms
Through the Teams Admin Center, you can monitor the health of your Teams Rooms, apply specific settings, and proactively manage your devices. For additional support, Microsoft offers the Microsoft Managed Rooms service, which manages your meeting room infrastructure on your behalf.
Conclusion
This was a brief introduction to Microsoft Teams Rooms—a solution that simplifies your meeting experience while reshaping team collaboration with a consistent and reliable experience for everyone. You can continue using your existing displays paired with compatible video and audio devices, and soon, you'll be able to pair Surface Hub 2S with Teams Rooms for a coordinated meeting experience.
Learn more here.