Host an immersive event in Microsoft Teams

Notes:

Organizing and attending immersive events in Teams are available as part of the public preview program and might undergo further changes before being released publicly. To get access to this and other upcoming features, switch to Teams public preview.
Organizing immersive events is available in Teams Premium, an add-on license that provides additional features to make Teams meetings more personalized, intelligent, and secure. To get access to Teams Premium, contact your IT admin.
Teams Premium isn't required for attending immersive events as an organizer or co-organizer.

Host an engaging immersive event in Microsoft Teams by customizing the environment, presenting content, and interacting with attendees throughout the event.

Screenshot showing avatars sitting at a screen sharing presentation in an immersive event.

Before an event starts

Here are a few tips and considerations for making sure your event runs smoothly:

Add custom content or objects to the immersive environment before your event starts to foster a unique experience.
Create and personalize an avatar that best represents you.
Complete any customizations to the immersive environment at least 10 minutes before the event start time.
Total event capacity: 300 attendees
Total host capacity: 10 organizers
Notes:
- Attendees who want to present or engage in Q&A during the event can raise their hands.
- While immersive events are only available in public preview, any organizers, co-organizers, and attendees must also be in public preview to join the event.

Join an event

To join an immersive event:

Find the immersive event in your Teams or Outlook calendar.
Select the event to open the pre-join screen.
- If you don't have an avatar, you'll join the event as a 3D version of your profile picture. Once you're in the event, customize an avatar by selecting your profile icon and selecting Edit avatar.
Select Join now.

When you join as an organizer, you'll be placed in the Host room, separate from attendees.

Cross-room connection and the People People or Show Participants button panel help you find specific attendees, hop across rooms, and engage with your audience.

Start an event

When it's time to start your event, select Start event to kick it off for everyone. Screenshot showing the "Start event" prompt in an immersive event.

In Event configuration, set up preferences for the event:

Spotlight myself: Immersive events require at least one organizer to be spotlit. Anyone who's spotlit will be seen and heard across all of the rooms in an event. When you're not spotlit, only those in your immediate room can see and hear you.
Attendee audio: Control mic access for all attendees in the event. To turn off mic access in the event, turn off the Attendee audio toggle. Adjust this setting anytime by selecting People > Configure event in the app bar.
Hand raises: Turn on the Hand raises toggle to allow people to raise their hand during the event. Adjust this setting anytime by selecting People > Configure event in the app bar.
Seat attendees: In immersive events, people can move freely within the 3D environment. Turn the Seat attendees toggle on to automatically teleport attendees into available seats near the stage at the start of the event. This helps ensure everyone is in the right place when you start presenting.

Select Apply to save your configurations and begin the event.

Return to these configurations anytime during the event by selecting People People or Show Participants button > Configure event Configure event icon in the app bar.

Manage the lobby

Depending on lobby bypass settings, attendees may need to be manually admitted from the lobby before they join the event.

When someone joins the lobby, you'll receive a notification with options to View lobby or quickly Admit or Deny them.

Screenshot showing an organizer's view of lobby notifications in an immersive event.

To view and manage people in the lobby, select People People or Show Participants button >Lobby in the app bar. To admit or deny a specific person, select Admit Admit icon or Deny Deny icon next to their name. To admit everyone, select Admit all.

Share your screen

Present content to your entire audience by sharing your screen across all rooms in your event. To start sharing your screen, select Share Teams share screen icon in your meeting controls. Choose the content you want to present and select Share.

Notes:

Only organizers and co-organizers can share their screens during immersive events.
You won't see your own shared content while presenting in the immersive event.
Screen sharing doesn't currently emit audio. To play videos with audio, customize the event before it starts and add a video object.

Event rooms

Immersive events are multi-room experiences. Attendees will be placed in event rooms automatically when they join the event. Each room has a capacity of up to 16 attendees and is an identical copy of the 3D space.

Attendees will be placed in the same event room until that room fills up. Once a room reaches capacity, new attendees will be placed in the next room.
Attendees in the same room as you will appear as avatars you can talk to.
Attendees in different rooms will appear in your room as profile pictures. You can see their movements and reactions, but you can't directly interact with them.

Host room

If you're an organizer or co-organizer, you'll join the event in the Host room, a room separate from the attendee rooms. You can change rooms to interact directly with other attendees.

Connect across rooms

Although you're separated from attendees when you join an event, there are a few different ways to connect with your audience.

Reaction and crowd visualization

People in your current room will appear as avatars or 3D profile pictures, but people in other rooms will appear as colorful low-res bubbles. Screenshot showing host view during an immersive event.

To manage visualization controls:

Select Menu > Settings > Controls in the app bar.
In Crowd Visualization:
1. Select Full Visualization to see everyone at all times.
2. Select Reactions Only to see people who are reacting.
3. Select No Reactions to hide the audience entirely.

During crowd visualization, you can only interact with people in your room. Change rooms to interact with attendees in other rooms.

Change rooms

Select People People or Show Participants button > Current room in the app bar to see the room you're currently in, as well as who's in it with you. Move freely between other rooms in your immersive event as an organizer.

To change rooms, select People People or Show Participants button > Additional rooms and select Join room Join room icon next to the room you want to move to.

Your avatar will spawn in the room you move to, allowing you to interact directly with those attendees.

Screenshot showing how organizers can change rooms in an immersive event.

Enter the spotlight

Event organizers and co-organizers can use the spotlight tool to broadcast their avatars and audio to all the attendee rooms. When someone is spotlit, everyone can see their avatar and hear their voice.

To see active spotlights, select People People or Show Participants button > Spotlight in the app bar. You'll see a live counter showing how many people are currently spotlit in the event. Up to five people can be in the spotlight at the same time.

View raised hands

To view active raised hands, select People People or Show Participants button > Hands raised in the app bar. You'll see a live counter showing how many attendees are actively raising their hands. You'll also see the order in which individuals raised their hands.

Find specific people

Select People People or Show Participants button > Find people Icon used in the search bar to find content in Journal to search for specific attendees in the event and see the room they're currently in. If they're in another room, select them and move to their room to interact with them directly.

Submit feedback

To submit feedback about your immersive event experience, select Menu App launcher button > Give feedback Give feedback icon inside the immersive event.

To give feedback about the Teams experience, such as scheduling or the event window (including the Join screen and features like audio, chat, or screenshare), select Settings and more Generic Ellipsis button > Report a problem bug with six legs in the top-right corner of your Teams event window.