Microsoft Teams spotlight, a feature that was initially
released in October 2020, is set to get better later this
month. As per the updated roadmap, organizers and presenters
can finally spotlight up to 7 participants simultaneously
during meetings on Windows 10, macOS and mobile platforms.
The Spotlight feature basically allows the organizer/presenter
to highlight an individual video feed for all attendees during
a Teams meeting. The highlighted attendee is the “spotlight”,
the main focus of the meeting and their video will be shown to
all other participants.
Spotlight is a great way to control what each participant is
seeing during a meeting, but its functionality is currently
limited. For example, organizers cannot highlight multiple
attendees as the spotlighting works only when you select one
attendee.
Fortunately, Microsoft has listened to the customers’ feedback
and announced support for multiple spotlights to make group
presentation less awkward. After a new update, which will be
released later this month, hosts can soon use the spotlight
feature for multiple users at the same time.
“This release of Multiple spotlights in Teams meetings will
allow organizers and presenters to spotlight up to 7
participants simultaneously for everyone to see during meetings
and will roll out across Microsoft Teams Desktop, Mobile and on
the Web,” Microsoft said in a statement.
The desktop rollout and mobile rollout will start in mid-June
and complete by the end of the same month.
As per Microsoft, users can get the most out of the spotlight
experience by following these tips:
- Start spotlight on multiple participants by accessing their
context menu from the participant roster or from the stage. - Stop individual spotlights or stop all spotlights in bulk
from the roster - Spotlight a maximum of 7 participants simultaneously in a
meeting.
In addition to improved spotlight experience,
Microsoft Teams is also getting support for live
translation when presenting documents using PowerPoint
Live.
