Microsoft Teams

Your Microsoft Teams account

Microsoft Teams is a video conferencing platform. Microsoft Teams lets you create video conference calls, voice-only calls and/or screen sharing.

Every SSE Riga account user has access to Microsoft Teams and can set up and host their own individual meetings. Just go to https://teams.microsoft.com/ and log in with your SSE Riga account.

Note: If you have not yet set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for your SSE Riga Microsoft account, you will need to do so before accessing Microsoft Teams. For detailed instructions on how to enable MFA for your SSE Riga Microsoft account, see How To - MFA - Microsoft.

Microsoft Teams supports up to 1000 participants in a single conference call. You can connect from any computer or phone with a modern web browser or from the Microsoft Teams app on Android and iPhone/iPad.

Create a meeting

There are two main ways to create a Microsoft Teams meeting - from Google Calendar or from the Microsoft Teams app.

Create a meeting from Google Calendar

This option allows you to create a Microsoft Teams meeting straight from the Google Calendar website or app. Meetings created using this method will be visible in your Google Calendar. This is the recommended way to create meetings for Google Calendar users.

Note: Before you can create a Microsoft Teams meeting from Google Calendar, you will need to set up the Microsoft Teams Meeting add-on. See detailed instructions below.

To create a meeting from Google Calendar:

• Open Google Calendar either in your browser or in the Google Calendar app on your phone

• Create a new meeting by clicking Create - Event or clicking in your intended timeslot in the calendar

• Specify event Title, Date, Time and add an event description if needed. 

• Change the Video Conferencing option to Microsoft Teams Meeting

• Click on Add guests and enter the email addresses of your guests

  • Your invited guests will get an invitation with a link to join the meeting

• Click Save

• Your new meeting will appear in your Google Calendar, including your Microsoft Teams meeting link and joining information

Create a meeting from the Microsoft Teams app

This option allows you to create a meeting using the Microsoft Teams app or website. Meetings created using this method will not be visible in your Google Calendar and will need to be manually copied/added to your Google Calendar. Use this option if you are familiar with Microsoft Teams and Google Calendar integration is not important for you.

To create a meeting from the Microsoft Teams app:

• Open the Microsoft Teams app on your device

  • Alternatively, go to the Microsoft Teams website - https://teams.microsoft.com/

• In the left side menu, select Calendar

• In the top-right corner, click on New Event

  • Alternatively, you can click on any free time slot in the main calendar and click on More Options view to start creating an event at that specific time

• Specify event Title, Date, Time, Attendees and add an event description if needed. Make sure to enable the Teams Meeting toggle.

• Click on Add/Invite attendees and enter their email addresses

  • Your invited guests will get an invitation with a link to join the meeting

• Click Save

• Your new meeting will appear in the Microsoft Teams app Calendar view

More info: Microsoft article: Schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams

Setting up the Microsoft Teams Meeting add-on for Google Calendar

Microsoft Teams Meeting add-on allows you to schedule Microsoft Teams meetings directly from your Google Calendar.

To install the Microsoft Teams Meeting add-on:

• Open Google Calendar in your browser

• In the top row, select Settings - Get Add-Ons

• In the list of add-ons, find Microsoft Teams Meeting and click Install

• Select your SSE Riga account from the list and proceed with confirming access to your account by clicking Continue - Allow

• You will receive a confirmation that Microsoft Teams Meeting add-on has been successfully added to your Google Calendar. Click Done, close the add-on selection window and refresh your Google Calendar tab

• Create a new meeting and change your Video Conferencing option to Microsoft Teams.
  Note: The first time you create a Microsoft Teams meeting, you will need to click Log in to verify your account. For subsequent meetings, Microsoft Teams will be added to your meeting automatically.

Now, when creating events in your Google Calendar, you will have the option of setting your video conferencing option to Microsoft Teams Meeting.

To automatically record a meeting

• Under Recording & transcription, turn on the Record and transcribe automatically toggle

To allow people to join the meeting without needing to be admitted

• Under Meeting access - Who can bypass the lobby?, select an option suited to the meeting

Note: If you select the option People who were invited, this will only apply to guests who have an SSE Riga account.

To allow people to share their screen

• Under Roles - Who can present, select an option suited to the meeting

Note: If you select the option Specific people, this will only apply to guests who have an SSE Riga account.

Adding co-organizers (alternative hosts)

If you want someone else to be able to manage your Microsoft Teams meeting, you can use the co-organizer option. A co-organizer has the same capabilities as the organizer - they can participate in the meeting, manage participants, recordings and breakout rooms etc.

Note: Co-organizers must have an SSE Riga account.

To add a co-organizer for the meeting:

• Under Roles - Choose co-organizers, select invited meeting participants who will be the co-organizers of the meeting

• Save the event

Alternatively, you can add a co-organizer from Google Calendar:

• In Google Calendar click on event and choose Edit event option.

• Under Guests add participants who will be meeting co-organizers

• Save the event

Change a participant's role during a meeting

To change a meeting participant's role during a meeting:

• Click on People in the meeting controls

• Hover over a name and select More options (three dots icon) and click on Make a presenter or Make an attendee.

Record a meeting

Record Teams meetings to reference later or share with others. Meeting recordings capture audio, video, and screen sharing activity, and can be shared securely across your organization.​​​​​​​

Recording continues even if the person who started the recording leaves the meeting. The recording stops automatically once everyone leaves the meeting. If someone forgets to leave, the recording will end and automatically restart every four hours until the last participant leaves the meeting.

Note: Meeting recordings won't capture:

• More than four people's video streams at once

• Whiteboards and annotations

• Shared notes

• Content shared by apps

• Videos or animations embedded in PowerPoint Live presentations

Note: Only people with an SSE Riga account can start and stop a recording.

After the meeting, the meeting recording, along with the transcript, will be available in the Microsoft Teams environment.

To access the recording or transcript in the Microsoft Teams app:

• In the left sidebar, click Chat and find the correct meeting

• In the upper middle bar, click on Recap

• To edit or download the recording, click on Watch in browser at the top right

Breakout rooms

Breakout rooms allow you to foster connections and meaningful discussions in medium to large Teams meetings. You can only create and manage breakout rooms when you use Teams for desktop and have a meeting with up to 300 people.

Note: When scheduling meeting with Microsoft Teams Meeting add-on, breakout rooms can only be created and managed during the meeting.

To create breakout rooms:

• Select Rooms in the meeting controls.

• Choose the number of rooms you want to create (up to 50) and how you want participants to be assigned.

• Click Create rooms.

To assign and reassign people to breakout rooms:

• Select Rooms in the meeting controls.

• Click Assign participants.

• Manually assign each person to a room or select Shuffle to assign everyone randomly.

• When you are done, click Save.

Open breakout rooms when you’re ready to start the sessions. If you chose to manually or randomly assign participants to rooms, they’ll join the open rooms right away unless you turn off the Automatically move people to rooms toggle in breakout room settings. If you choose to let participants self-select their rooms, they can view and join the open rooms.

To open and start breakout room sessions in a meeting:

• Select Rooms in the meeting controls.

• Click on Open rooms to open all the rooms at the same time.

You can communicate with people across all breakout rooms by sending an announcement. Offer discussion ideas, update participants on what’s next, and more.