3N3 Episode 15- Microsoft Teams Together Mode

Valorem's 3N3 vlog series covers all things Cloud, Digital Security, Modern Workplace, Modern Devices and Business Process Automation. Our Digital Transformation experts share quick tips and details on transformative technologies that could have a big impact on the future of business. In our 15th episode Modern Workplace VP Steve Cummings and Solutions Consultant Ruby McGrath-Horn discuss Microsoft Teams Together Mode, what it is, why you should care and what you can do about it.

Transcript

Steve: Alright, welcome back everybody to 3in3. The episode for this week is Teams Together Mode and with me I’ve got Ruby McGrath Horn who’s a solutions consultant on the Digital Workplace Team. So, let’s get started.

Alright Ruby, so what is Teams Together Mode?

Ruby: So, Teams Together Mode is a new virtual meeting experience that just rolled out to Microsoft Teams that allows you and the people you’re meeting with to appear together in one virtual auditorium, if you will, and experience the meeting in a simulated virtual reality that you’re all viewing at the same time.

Steve: Excellent. So, that’s really exciting and I’ve heard a lot about this already. So, tell me then, what is interesting or cool about it? What do you think is really cool about Together Mode?

Ruby: So, Together Mode is pretty awesome. There’s been, let’s be honest, a lot of virtual meetings going on probably both in your workplace and in your personal life with what we’re all experiencing in the world right now and there’s also been with that a lot of meeting fatigue. A lot of that comes from the fact that when you’re seeing someone or someones in your screen, you’re absorbing all of their physical signals. You know, we take a lot of input from the physical signals of other people. You’re nodding your head right now. I gesticulate a lot with my hands, and we all read that differently. The problem with the gallery mode in Teams is that everyone is placed differently and you’re absorbing all of that input differently. You see me in a different place than I see you in a different place than you might see someone else. So, we’re all reacting to different visual cues at different times and that can be really overwhelming input for our brains.

What Together Mode does is it puts everyone in the same virtual background in the exact same place. So, it appears that you and I are sitting in an auditorium together. We don’t move spots so, everyone sees their coworkers, their friends in the same situation in the auditorium. It’s almost as if we were sitting together in a room and looking at a mirror that’s reflected back against us. So, it allows you to talk to someone and almost make eye contact with them as it were, in the mirror.

Steve: That’s awesome.

With that, the last question I’d ask then is what can or what should our viewers do with Together Mode today or how do they get started?

Ruby: So, assuming you have the new Teams meeting experience, all you have to do is go to the ellipsis or more options menu in your Teams tools ribbon and select Together Mode if you have five or more people in a meeting. To get that new Teams meeting experience, you just have to go to your profile, click settings, and make sure you have the new meeting experience enabled and then restart Teams and you’re good to go.

Steve: Excellent. Well thanks a lot Ruby. This a really exciting topic and I’m really excited for this new innovation in Teams and if you want more information, you can always find us at www.valoremreply.com and we can help you out.

Like always, we’ll see everybody next time. Thanks a lot.