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MS Teams - Future of Virtual Collaboration - Episode 1

Brass Contributor

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Introduction

The purpose of writing this article is to keep us all up-to-date about the upcoming innovations in TEAMS platform in a single thread. Yes! I prefer to call this as a ‘platform’ due to the single-shop-stop nature of this application. 20 Years back “Windows” was an application that runs in a MS-DOS, we use to type the command win.com to bring up the Windows 3.0(runs in shell called progman.exe) which was not a multi-tasking platform at all at that time but now, MS-DOS has become a small application in new age windows (which currently use a shell called explorer.exe).

 

Similarly there is no wonder, in future,  if an company launches MS Teams only device and it could accommodate all digital Work, Learn, Personal & Entertainment needs in a single device-single platform-single vendor model. Teams is a such a wrap that it could possibly cover and serve the entire stack of digital workspace in a single place in very near future.

 

This series of article episodes will brief about new enhancement in Teams General, Apps, Unified Communication and would try my best to cover all the verticals of MS Teams in the upcoming articles.  Let’s directly jump into the new feature listing and definition. The information and feature release mentioned in this episode, are based on the July conference and release by Mr. Jared Spataro who is one of the Vice President  for Microsoft 365. In today's article I am planning to present few Teams Meeting & Collaboration oriented top features that grasped my attention.

 

Together Mode

Together mode is a new meeting experience in Teams which will be soon launched, that uses AI segmentation technology to digitally place participants in a shared background, making it feel like you’re sitting in the same room with everyone else in the meeting or class. Together mode makes meetings more engaging by helping participants focus on other people’s faces and body language and making it easier to pick up on the non-verbal cues that are so important to human interaction.

 

Together Mode.png

Together mode with auditorium view is rolling out now and will be generally available in August. And Microsoft is bringing more views to Together mode in a very near future.

 

Dynamic view

While Together mode offers an extraordinary new meeting experience, it’s not intended for every meeting. Traditional video meetings people use every day can also be more engaging and dynamic. Microsoft have added few enhancement to the existing traditional meeting experience to provide more control over the content and participants. Below are the few capabilities of Dynamic View.

 

  • Using AI, meetings dynamically optimize shared content and video participants.
  • Ability to show shared content and specific participants side-by-side
  • Ability to let you personalize the view to suit your preferences and needs
  • Large Gallery Views – 49 participants in a single view
  • Virtual Breakout Rooms, which allow meeting organizers to split meeting participants into smaller groups

Dynamic ViewDynamic View

 

Video filters

We’ve all become familiar with video filters used in photography and social media apps, and now Microsoft is bringing them to Teams. Before joining a meeting, you can use the filters to subtly adjust lighting levels and soften the focus of the camera to customize your appearance.

Filter.gif

 

Live reactions

Non-verbal cues like smiles and head nods can be difficult to notice in online meetings, making it challenging for presenters to gauge audience reactions and for participants in large meetings to share a sentiment without interrupting the meeting flow. Live reactions is a shared feature with PowerPoint Live Presentations, which allows audience members to provide instant feedback to the presenter. Microsoft also soon bringing PowerPoint Live Presentations to Teams in near future, further enabling audience engagement right from Teams.

 

Live ReactionsLive Reactions

 

Reference article : Reimaging Virtual Collaboration

 

Regards

Jason

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