{"id":9362,"date":"2021-11-22T11:56:21","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T19:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=9362"},"modified":"2025-10-03T12:44:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:44:40","slug":"advancing-your-meetings-with-the-microsoft-teams-meeting-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/advancing-your-meetings-with-the-microsoft-teams-meeting-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing your meetings with the Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MicrosoftWe periodically update our stories, but we can\u2019t verify that they represent the full picture of our current situation at Microsoft. We leave them on the site so you can see what our thinking and experience was at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n

At Microsoft, we\u2019re transforming the meeting experience to encourage collaboration and increase productivity.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to predominantly remote meetings inspired our Microsoft Digital team to examine what makes an effective meeting in which everyone feels included. We then used this research to develop the Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide, which is a Modern SharePoint site that\u2019s available to all Microsoft employees. We\u2019ve found this information to be so useful that we\u2019re inviting you to check out a report about the guide<\/a>; we believe that this content can help evolve your company\u2019s meetings, too.<\/p>\n

Getting started<\/h2>\n

Imagine that all your meetings empower participation and meet the goals you\u2019ve set. Imagine further that people attending your meetings know why they\u2019re invited and how to prepare. Imagine still that your meetings encourage building collaboration and communication rather than result in fatigue. Our Microsoft Digital team is helping make these dreams a reality with the creation of the Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide.<\/p>\n

We want to improve how Microsoft employees can achieve more together, helping improve collaboration and promote productivity for all of our employees.<\/p>\n

To create the Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide, we worked with Microsoft Research and product groups to develop a research-based guide about how to run effective meetings. We\u2019ve been using this engaging guide, built in Modern SharePoint, since March 2021, and have updated it regularly as new Microsoft Teams releases new features or best-practice guidance changes.<\/p>\n

This blog post introduces research that led to the development of the Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide and how the guide\u2019s use has helped Microsoft employees. NOTE:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0We\u2019re providing visuals from the Microsoft Teams Meeting Guide as examples only.<\/span><\/p>\n

Examining the remote-meeting experience<\/h2>\n

Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there usually were attendees who joined meetings remotely while others gathered in person. The remote attendees often found themselves inadvertently left out of conversations and, sometimes, even the meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge would be that most of the people there were in person and would start discussions, sometimes even before walking into the room,\u201d says Ed Gonzalez, a curriculum manager on the Global CO+I\/GOLD Learning & Development team at Microsoft. \u201cThey\u2019d be involved in those discussions and, because of that, forget to start the [Teams] meeting. And there\u2019d be two or three of us just waiting and waiting, and so we missed a lot that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic levelled the playing field, as suddenly everyone was attending meetings remotely. We saw this as an opportunity to examine and learn about the gaps with respect to remote meetings. We then applied this learning to hybrid meetings, where there are both remote and in-person attendees. Our Microsoft Digital team researched what makes meetings inclusive and effective, using internal and external surveys, studies, and employee remarks.<\/p>\n

Research conclusions<\/h3>\n

During our research, we discovered that inclusive meetings are at least three times more likely to be effective. Key elements that make meetings more inclusive include:<\/p>\n