Sharing Screen and Content in Microsoft Teams
Screen-sharing will be a key part of presenting online. This is something most of us are used to, although you may not be aware of all the options within Teams Meetings. The presented material will often be a PowerPoint presentation, but it can also be used to demonstrate software or other on-screen activities.
Notes on how to Share
- 'Share' is a tool in Teams Meetings, accessible from the top menu during a meeting.
- Once you select this you have a few options. These include:
- 'Screen' allows you to choose to share the entire screen when presenting. If you are using more than one screen, it will allow you to select the correct one.
- 'Window' allows you to choose a specific window you have open on your computer. This is only recommended if you are certain what you are demonstrating won't open key information in new tabs or windows.
- 'Presenter mode' gives you some options of how your camera and shared content will display together. In most situations you will probably use the default.
- 'Microsoft Whiteboard' allows you to open and present a collaborative whiteboard tool.
- 'Content from camera' allows you to show documents or objects with a camera, similarly to a visualiser.
- 'PowerPoint Live' runs your PowerPoint from within the Teams Meetings, allowing you to see notes and other presenter options. Note this option may not work as intended if your presentation contains embedded materials such as videos.
Advice for successful use of Sharing your Screen
- Always share entire screen if relevant material may open in a new window while presenting.
- Think about readability of words on screen, and change screen resolution or font size of necessary. Remember viewers may be on smaller screens than you are.
- Ensure sensitive apps like e-mail, calendar and Teams chat are closed and won't be accidentally visible.
- Check you are not showing any browser tabs or bookmarks you do not want others to see if your browser may be visible.
- Declutter your desktop and remove any private files that may be visible.
- Mute apps that will cause pop up notifications, or close them completely. Set Teams chat and Outlook so they do not show previews of emails and messages in pop-ups in case you forget to do so.
- Webinar tools like Teams Meetings are not made to stream video, for example if you play a YouTube video as part of your lecture. In these cases it's recommended to provide the link separately for students to watch in their browsers.