Microsoft Rolls Out ‘Communities’ for Teams

Microsoft India announced the launch of Communities in Microsoft Teams – a new experience that enables people to come together, connect, share, and collaborate. Communities in Teams is available for all iOS and Android customers using the free version of Microsoft Teams. 

Groups ranging from recreational sports teams, event planning committees, parent-teacher associations, or even small businesses, can now access an all-encompassing digital space to stay connected before, during, and after gatherings. 

Getting started

Using suggested community types on the home screen, you can create a community, and even add branding elements to it such as a cover image. Group members can then be invited via their email address or phone number, or by sharing a link or QR code so they can join directly. Community owners can easily manage settings to oversee guidelines, moderate content, and add/remove participants as necessary.

Keep communities in sync

You can now create a space for community groups to come together, organize, and share ideas. Users can:

• Easily post messages to everyone in the group
• Organize events and add them to the community calendar for everyone to see
• Share and store documents dedicated to group activity
• Filter content to quickly access photos, videos, events, and links

Organize and host community events

Communities in Teams includes a new events experience for organizing virtual, hybrid, or in-person events. For instance, you can add new events or meetings to your community calendar, invite guests, track attendance, and follow up with attendees through direct private chats. When it comes to online events, you can easily add dial-in details and a link so your participants can join seamlessly. For in-person events, you can add a location and give attendees precise directions with a visual map.

Hybrid and virtual guests can join events from any device via audio or video. Features such as adding an event cover image, together mode, and screen sharing can help you foster a sense of unity and engagement during meetings—no matter where everyone’s located.

Using Teams to connect as a community

Microsoft is also working with organizations such as Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras); AISECT; American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO); and California School for the Deaf, Riverside. 

• IIT Madras will be using Teams to enable mentorship-led communities for its data science program. Mentors will be able to help students with course curriculum and technical questions, both asynchronously and with live online office hours, in one place. 
• AISECT is one of India’s leading social enterprises, and aims to upskill women, job seekers, people with disabilities, and nano entrepreneurs to improve workforce participation. With Teams, AISECT will be able to publish training calendars, schedule and share details about recurring classes, broadcast announcements pre- and post-sessions, run surveys on training quality, and address other needs in real time.
• AYSO plans to use Teams to help connect volunteers, centralize communications, and create a single location for its 500,000-member community group off the field. Coaches can learn more about their players, set practice schedules and field availability, make announcements about upcoming practices, and discuss enrollments for next season.
• USA Hockey, the largest youth-based hockey organization in the US, plans to use Teams to advance and grow the game of ice hockey, beginning at the youth grassroots level. Its vast coast-to-coast network of volunteers, coaches, officials, and parents will use Teams to ease the coordination of games, trainings, and development programs—on and off the ice.
• California School for the Deaf, Riverside uses Teams to connect staff, students, and families. The staff uses the community platform to share ASL vocabulary videos, weekly events, and details about upcoming classes, and to conduct Q&A sessions. Teams is helping families bridge the gap and stay connected.