Teams Meetings with External Users

Joining Teams meetings without a Glow account

Under certain circumstances all meetings created by staff will be accessible by users without a Glow account:

if the meeting organiser’s local authority/organisation has ‘anonymous access’ enabled (please check with your Glow Contact if you have this enabled.)

and/or

the external attendee is from a whitelisted organisation (please check with your Glow Contact for the current list.)

Teams meetings can support:

Meetings with parents/carers

Professional learning or staff meetings with external organisations

Meetings with external experts to support learning under staff supervision

External Attendee from a Whitelisted Tenancy

The whitelisted tenancy must have appropriate settings to allow their users to join meetings
Whitelisted tenancy users will also be able to make calls and receive Teams calls from Glow staff users
Whitelisted tenancy users and Glow staff will be able to chat (instant message) within Teams
The whitelisted user must be logged in against their own tenancy to join the meeting (unless anonymous access is also enabled).Their logged in user will show as their name when attempting to join the meeting.

Anonymous Access

Meetings can be set up quickly to allow a range of educational scenarios to be supported using ‘anonymous access’ in Teams meetings e.g. meetings with external experts to support learning
People who have been invited to the meeting without a Glow account can join it without signing in to Glow and instead free typing their name or use a Teams account from another organisation
Learners should be reminded that they should always be logged in to Glow for Teams meetings (not by free typing their names). If they do not do so this may affect Class Insights, and their ability to use meeting chat or access shared resources
Users on PCs/Mac can either use Teams on the web or the desktop app. Users on mobile/tablets must download the Teams app from the appropriate app store. Functionality between web, mobile app and desktop app may vary.

Tips for staff organising meetings

It is crucial when scheduling a meeting that organisers use the appropriate meeting functionality to control access and facilitate a successful experience prior to, during and after the meeting.

Before the meeting

review the meeting options to ensure they are set correctly e.g. allowing video, chat, presenters etc.
check the names of the people prior to them joining the meeting – that way you know who to expect. You could ask them to type their full name when joining if they don’t have a Glow account or are on a whitelisted tenancy
ask any external person to join the meeting before learners are admitted
request that the person joining switches on their camera to verify their identity at the start of the meeting
check that learners will be joining with their Glow accounts as they usually would for Teams meetings (not by free typing their names).

Do Not

change the meeting setting from using the Only Me lobby. This along with other meeting controls will help to ensure that learners are not left unattended in meetings with external people
publish links to your Teams meetings on public websites or Twitter as this could attract unwanted attendees. Share them using channels where you know they will more likely get to the correct people e.g. via email.

During the meeting

use View Lobby (part of the participant list) to see who is waiting in the lobby to admit or decline participants
remember lobby prompts are visible to all presenters, and will show if screen sharing or displaying Teams on a smartboard. To prevent learners from being distracted by lobby prompts, or admitting users waiting in the lobby ensure they are Attendees, not Presenters
ensure all presenters are aware of who should be joining and understand meeting controls for successfully managing a meeting e.g. disabling video, muting, removing participants
use the Participant List to view who is in the meeting. Right click on the name and select Remove from meeting if required
use Lock the meeting from the Participants menu if someone keeps trying to join and it is disruptive as this suppresses lobby notifications. However this would also prevent anyone else from joining e.g. if a participant drops from the meeting they would be unable to re-join
have a separate communication channel open with other presenters/meeting managers e.g. Teams’ chat to allow for queries and concerns to be raised outside the meeting.

Do Not

admit someone who is requesting to join if you don’t recognise who it is. Click ‘View Lobby’ then the X next to their name to decline (or ignore the request.)

After the meeting

download the Attendance Report to get a list of everyone in the meeting (people who were not logged in will just display with ‘Guest’ next to their name.)
set up new Teams meetings with different links when feasible rather than reusing the same one repeatedly. This should minimise the possibility of people joining who you didn’t intend to if the link has been shared more widely than it should have been
delete a meeting (or set the Only Me Lobby) and set up a new meeting if the link has been shared somewhere more widely than you intended or used inappropriately
always reset the lobby back to automatically admit Only Me if you have ever changed it.

Do Not

just leave the meeting without ending it. This would mean that meeting participants could continue to interact without you being present. As a meeting organiser, click the drop down arrow next to Leave and select End Meeting to remove everyone.

Be Aware

External users can join any meetings held in channels, or scheduled outside of a Team.
For meetings outside of a Team they will be able to view and participate in chat by default.
For meetings held in a Team, only Team members can see the chat and use chat (depending on the team’s settings.) Therefore some of your attendees may not be able to see the chat conversations or type messages.
For meetings where private information may be shared please ensure you have considered all the meeting options to ensure only the intended attendees can join e.g. Parent Council meeting with no lobby set and the link shared publicly may encourage others to try to join!

Microsoft Help

Learn how to join a Microsoft Teams meeting if you don’t have an account by clicking on the link below:

Join a meeting without a Teams account

Other Glow Connect Help

Teams Meetings with Learners

All users should be aware of local privacy and safeguarding policies before making use of this service. Learner use of Video within Teams meetings Learners are now able to use their video when in Teams Meetings. Prior to August 2020 they were limited to using audio only. For a full list of Teams meeting features…

Managing a Teams Meeting

There are a number of ways to collaborate during a Teams meeting. This may vary depending on the purpose of the meeting e.g. a staff meeting or supporting learning with pupils or the number of people joining the meeting. As the person organising and hosting the meeting there are a number of things to consider…

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