Online communication

Communicating online has become a way of life for many. The tips below will help you to make the most of your online communications.

Tips for online communication

Be a good host

Before an online meeting starts, consider how you want attendees to interact and set the Teams meeting options accordingly. For example, are you going to allow attendees to turn their microphone and camera on? If you only want certain people to be presenters, who can access the chat and who can bypass the lobby and go straight into the meeting?

If you are going to be presenting, join the meeting a few minutes early and set up an introductory slide that outlines your expectations for the meeting so the audience know how to interact. For example, what is the meeting about? Can attendees speak as needed? Do you want them to raise their virtual hands?

Find out more about running meetings and teaching events with Microsoft Teams online course.

Engage with others

You can use the meeting chat to facilitate discussion, ask and answer questions, upload documents and also add a layer of interactivity in meetings. If you need to reply to a specific person or need to get someone's attention, it's a good idea to @mention them so they'll also get a notification of your post. If you need to look back at the chat after the meeting, you'll find it in your chat list.

To add some interactivity to a meeting, you can click the + button in the meeting chat and add an app, such as Forms, to create a quick poll. Don't forget that Mentimeter can be used to create instant polls or to integrate live polls and questions into a PowerPoint presentation.

Be inclusive and accessible

There are many different ways that you can set up your Teams meeting to be more inclusive and accessible, such as turning on live captions, live transcription and presenting via PowerPoint live. Small changes make a big difference and can improve the overall experience for everyone.

How these features support accessibility:

Live captions can be really helpful to aid comprehension. Meeting attendees can turn on Live Captions under the three dots menu, in the Language and Speech section, so that everyone can tune in to what you are saying.
Meeting presenters can also enable live transcription from the three dots menu. This brings up a new pane and transcribes the meeting for as long as you have it turned on.
Also consider using PowerPoint Live for better navigation and screen reader compatibility.

For more information see the guidance for presenting inclusively.

Hit record

If you or your attendees need to re-watch a meeting again later, it can be helpful to record it. Make sure that you let people know that you plan to record a meeting, then from the three dots menu, select Record and Transcribe and hit Start recording. This will let everyone know you are recording and provide a real-time transcript.

You'll need to stop the recording before you end the meeting, but once you do it will be saved into your Teams/OneDrive account and will be linked in the meeting chat (in Teams File area if it was a channel linked meeting, in your OneDrive recordings folder if it was an ad-hoc meeting). For a more in-depth rundown, visit the recording Microsoft Teams meeting page.

Apply a background effect

Consider applying a background effect during the meeting - perhaps to hide what's on display behind you, or add a layer of professionalism to your presenting. You might just apply a subtle blur or if you prefer, you can add a background or upload your own images. Keep background images relatively simple as they can distract from what you're saying, for example, avoid animated backgrounds. There are also a range of Lancaster University branded Teams backgrounds for you to use.

Don't forget your meeting etiquette

Sometimes it's easier to understand people when you see them in person - body language and facial expressions are powerful visuals to help convey meaning so it's a good idea to have your camera on in smaller meetings or when talking in larger meetings. It's also good from the perspective of digital wellbeing to reduce meeting fatigue.

Try to mute your microphone if you are not talking - this helps minimise background noise and distractions for others who are speaking and listening. If someone is talking and you want to ask a question or add a comment, consider raising your virtual hand.

To improve wellbeing for those with back to back meetings, consider shorter meeting times e.g. 25 or 50 minute long meetings to allow time for a short break. Take a look at the meeting guidance from Organisational Development for more information.

Email or Teams message?

Email is best for communication that is formal, traceable and non-urgent. If you want to send a short, informal message or collaborate in real time, then Teams chat is a good option.

To find out more about managing your Outlook mailbox effectively, as well as using mailing lists and shared mailboxes, check out the Managing email and calendars with Microsoft Outlook online course.