When utilizing Teams Breakout Rooms, the Microsoft Teams collaboration platform will soon have better AI-powered text-based search and the ability to bulk create or delete rooms and more controls for presenters.
Microsoft spent the last year tailoring Teams to customers’ requirements during the epidemic, and it’s still working to improve critical services like breakout rooms. This tool, which was introduced in December, allows meeting organizers to divide attendees into smaller focus groups for brainstorming purposes. Zoom offers a function comparable to this, and the two firms are competing for new features and administrative controls.
Meeting organizers could already build and manage breakout rooms, but Microsoft is now introducing a new option that allows them to assign breakout room authority to certain speakers. These presenters take on the role of’managers.’
“By assuming control from the Breakout rooms management panel, designated presenters will be able to execute Breakout room activities as manager or meeting organizer, as well as joining Rooms as Breakout Room manager,” Microsoft said in a Microsoft 365 Admin Center statement, according to OnMSFT.
According to the Microsoft 365 plan, the functionality will be available globally on desktop Teams in September.
Presenters will have the ability to add and remove rooms, assign users to rooms, schedule meetings, make announcements, rebuild rooms, and change other parameters.
This could relieve the burden on official Teams organizers, who previously had to oversee meetings that might have been delegated to presenters, who may require more flexibility to schedule their own meetings on short notice. It should also be useful in any large company with a hierarchical structure of positions with common duties but distinct objectives and deadlines.
Microsoft is also working on a new search results page for Teams, which should be available globally in November.
This is intended for teachers who design group assignments for groups of four or more students, allowing them to mark the students as a group rather than individually. With 1,321 votes on the Teams user feedback site, this was a popular request. Microsoft’s help website for the functionality has been updated with new information. Teachers can still give individual grades to pupils in a group.
Microsoft bought eCDN company Peer5 earlier this month to improve live video streaming in Teams, in order to enable continued hybrid work arrangements.
