Schools can broadcast live events on Microsoft Teams, including graduations, for a limited time

What you need to know

• Schools can host and broadcast live through Microsoft Teams for a limited time.
• This change allows schools to broadcast graduations and other ceremonies while people stay indoors.
• Microsoft also increased the audience size for a Teams broadcast to 20,000.

Microsoft will help schools and other organizations broadcast graduation ceremonies while people stay indoors. Starting at the beginning of May, Microsoft will allow organizations with Office 365 A1 licenses, which is free for educational institutions, to host and broadcast live events through Microsoft Teams. The change allows educational institutions to stream events, such as graduations, without putting people's health at risk during the current health crisis.

In addition to allowing educational institutions to stream live events, Microsoft is increasing the audience size for live streams to 20,000. That number might seem large for some schools, but the ability to live stream can be used by high schools, colleges, and other institutions. Under normal circumstances, many institutions hold graduations at sports arenas to accommodate the number of people who want to see the event, so increasing the audience size to 20,000 should help with larger ceremonies. Institutions can also host up to 50 live events concurrently, and each event can last up to 16 hours.

These changes are temporary and end on July 1, which is after most schools will have hosted graduations.

Microsoft outlines the changes and discusses how schools are handling graduations during the health crisis in a recent post. The post points out that no single solution will work for every organization and that schools are handling things differently. For example, some schools are using PowerPoint presentations, while others are using recorded and live videos for ceremonies.