What you need to know
- Microsoft just announced several new webinar and meeting features alongside the general availability of Teams Premium.
- The Elgato Stream Deck can now be used to control Teams meetings and webinars.
- Keys on the Stream Deck can be configured to toggle a camera on or off, blur a background, and perform several other tasks.
Microsoft just announced several new webinar features for Teams. Now that Teams Premium is generally available, users can access advanced webinar functionality, such as setting up events ahead of time and having a virtual green room. Microsoft has discussed many of these features in the past and tested them in preview, but one capability discussed in a Tech Community post stood out. Microsoft Teams meetings and webinars can now be controlled through the Elgato Stream Deck.
A new Elgato Stream Deck plugin allows users to perform various actions within a meeting or webinar at the push of a button. The Stream Deck can be configured to do the following, as outlined by Microsoft:
- Toggle camera on/off
- Toggle mute on/off
- Toggle record on/off
- Toggle background blur on/off
- Leave the meeting
- Display live reactions including applause, laugh, like, love, and wow
- Raise or lower hand
In order to control meetings and webinars with a Stream Deck, you need to install the Elgato Stream Deck plugin and configure it within Teams. To set it up, you need to get a code from within Teams and then copy it over to the Stream Deck's settings. Microsoft outlined the process in its Tech Community post.
This week, Microsoft also announced AI features for Teams powered by GPT from OpenAI. The platform now supports intelligent recap, which creates meeting notes, suggests tasks, and forms personalized highlights. A new intelligent recap feature breaks meeting notes into chapters, making them easier to navigate.
Microsoft is all-in on AI. The company plans to put AI into Office, according to recent reports. Other rumors state that Bing could also integrate with a new version of ChatGPT as soon as this month.
The Elgato Stream Deck is a versatile tool for controlling game streams and other broadcasts. It can also manage Microsoft Teams meetings and webinars, including toggling a camera on or off and blurring a subject's background at the push of a button.
