There are multiple ways to meet in Microsoft Teams: meetings, webinars, and live events.
This article, intended for administrators and IT Pros, describes the differences between meetings, webinars, and live events. It then provides links to the information you need to quickly roll out this functionality for your users.
Meetings, webinars, and live events are all types of meetings, but webinars and live events provide additional control for the organizer over the conversation and participants. Webinars provide two-way interaction while live events provide a managed Q&A experience.
The different types of meetings also have different participant limits and participant capabilities.
The following table summarizes the three types of meetings, the number of recommended participants, and how participants can interact in the meeting. Sections with more information about each type of meeting follow the table. This article also includes a section on best practices for large meetings.
| Type of meeting | Number of participants | Interaction | Registration supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meetings | Up to 20,000* | - Participants up to 1,000 have fully interactive equal meeting capabilities. - Participants over 1,000 up to 20,000 have View-only capabilities. | Yes, with Meetings with registration (webinars 1.0) |
| Webinars | - Up to 1,000- Increased limits with View-only capabilities coming soon. | - Participants up to 1,000 have fully interactive capabilities. - Audience interaction configurable. - Can specify presenters. | Yes |
| Live events | Up to 20,000** | - Broadcast to large audiences. - Moderated Q&A for audience interaction. - Can specify producers and presenters, including external presenters.- Supports more advanced production capabilities. | No |
Note that NDI is fully supported in meetings, webinars, and live events, allowing you to produce the broadcast by using tools such as OBS and Wirecast. For more information, see Use NDI® technology in Microsoft Teams.
Note
For additional information and to get guidance by role for delivering online events using Microsoft Teams, see the Virtual Event Playbook. You can also join the Virtual Event Forum on the Microsoft Tech Community.
Note
For details about quickly configuring Teams meetings and events on different platforms, see Teams features by platform.
Meetings in Teams include audio, video, and screen sharing for up to 1,000 people and view-only capabilities for participants over 1,000. Participants don't need to be a member of an organization (or have a Teams account) to join a Teams meeting. They can join directly from the calendar invitation via the Join meeting link or call in via audio if available.
As the administrator, you'll configure meeting settings and control which meeting features are enabled for your organization by specifying meeting policies.
In addition to regularly scheduled meetings, your users can create channel meetings. With channel meetings, everybody in a team can see there is a meeting, join the meeting, and use the meeting chat. Channel meetings are a way to quickly invite everyone in a team to a meeting. For more information about how end users schedule meetings, see Schedule a meeting.
For information about the view-only meeting experience, see Teams view-only meeting experience.