Overview
Microsoft Teams Webinars provide a professional way to host virtual events at ECU. They are designed for structured presentations and large audience sessions where organizers need greater control over registration, event management, and the attendee experience.
Choose a Teams Webinar when you need a managed event experience rather than a collaborative meeting. Webinars are especially useful when:
- Hosting prospective students, alumni, or external guests.
- Managing large audiences with limited participant interaction.
- Collecting attendee registration information.
- Providing presenters with specific speaking roles.
- Tracking attendance and engagement after the event.
- Creating a professional registration and communications experience.
For small collaborative sessions where everyone will actively participate, a standard Teams meeting is often the better choice.
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- Open the Microsoft Teams desktop application or Teams on the web.
- Select Calendar.
- Choose New Event and select Webinar.
- Enter the webinar title, date, time, and event description.
- Add initial organizers and presenters.
- Save the webinar as a draft.
- Configure webinar settings before publishing the registration page.
Creating the webinar as a draft first allows organizers to review settings, assign additional roles, and test the registration experience before invitations are shared.
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Assigning the appropriate event roles helps ensure the webinar runs smoothly and provides backup support during the live session.
- Organizer: Creates and manages the webinar. Has full control over settings and communications.
- Co-organizer: Assists with managing the event, adjusting settings, viewing reports, launching the webinar, and supporting attendees.
- Presenter: Shares content, manages discussions, and delivers presentations during the event.
- Attendee: Joins the webinar as a participant without presenter privileges.
For important university events, it is recommended that at least one co-organizer be assigned to provide coverage if the primary organizer becomes unavailable.
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Review the following settings before publishing or sharing the webinar registration page:
- Q&A: Enables a moderated environment for attendee questions.
- Green Room: Allows presenters and organizers to prepare privately before attendees join.
- Who Can Bypass the Lobby: Controls who enters directly versus waiting for admission.
- Meeting Chat: Determine whether chat is available before, during, and after the webinar.
- Publish Registration Site: Publishes the registration page and makes registration available.
- External Attendees: Confirm whether guests outside the organization can register and attend.
- Attendee Microphones: Consider disabling attendee microphones for larger events.
- Attendee Cameras: Consider disabling attendee cameras to minimize distractions and bandwidth usage.
- Attendance Reports: Verify reporting requirements for post-event analysis.
- Event Recording: Decide whether the webinar should be recorded and shared afterward.
- Live Reactions: Enable or disable as appropriate for the audience and event type.
Whenever possible, test your webinar settings with a colleague before the event date.
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Option 1: Publish the Registration Site
Publishing the registration site creates a public registration page that can be shared through email campaigns, newsletters, websites, social media channels, or other communications.
- Best for large audiences or public-facing events.
- Allows attendees to self-register.
- Provides automated confirmation and event reminder emails.
- Reduces administrative effort for organizers.
Option 2: Add Attendees Directly
Organizers can also add attendees directly to the webinar invitation.
- Best for small, targeted audiences.
- Suitable when registration information is not required.
- Provides more control over who receives access.
Using Distribution Lists and Mail-Enabled Security Groups
If your intended audience already exists in a Microsoft 365 distribution list or mail-enabled security group, you can use those groups during your communications process.
- Share the registration link with an existing distribution list to encourage self-registration.
- Use departmental or program-based groups as audience targets for mass communications.
- Coordinate with your local IT or Communications team if membership validation is required.
For larger university events, publishing the registration page and sending the registration link to existing distribution lists is typically the recommended approach because it provides registration tracking and attendee reporting.
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- Assign at least one co-organizer.
- Enable Q&A for audience engagement.
- Use the Green Room for presenter preparation.
- Test audio, video, and screen sharing before the event.
- Join early on the day of the webinar.
- Record important sessions when appropriate.
- Review attendance reports after the webinar concludes.
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