Webinars, Meetings, and Live Events

In Microsoft Teams, you can host and attend meetings, webinars, and live events. Each of these three features have different capabilities, and this article compares the services and provides guidance on when to use each one.

When should you use a Webinar?

What differentiates a Webinar from a normal meeting is the added functionality, such as the registration page. The integrated registration page lets you create a page, much like Eventbrite, from within the platform. Webinars should be used instead of normal Teams meetings when you want to require registration to an event.

Creating a Webinar in Microsoft Teams is just as easy as booking a normal Teams meeting, and the process is exactly the same. Webinars are Teams Meetings with extra functionality. If you are booking a Teams Meeting normally, you can turn on the registration requirement to turn it into a webinar.

When should you use a Live Event?

A Live Event is for broadcast purposes with no audience interaction capabilities. Unlike Teams Meetings, Live Events do not provide the same level of interaction between presenters and audience members. Live Events are great for delivering a presentation to a large audience that you do not need to interact with. Below is a comparison of the three types of meetings.

	Meeting	Webinar	Live Event

	Meeting	Webinar	Live Event
Registration Feature	Not Available	Included	Via University Calendar or Landing Page
Attendee Microphone	Microphone can be disabled (which prevents attendees from enabling their microphone)	Microphone can be disabled (which prevents attendees from enabling their microphone)	Disabled for attendees
Attendee Camera	All cameras can be disabled, or individual cameras can be enabled/disabled	All cameras can be disabled, or individual cameras can be enabled/disabled	Disabled for attendees
Audience Participation	Interaction level can be customized by the organizer	Interaction level can be customized by the organizer	Interaction limited to moderated Q&A
Join by Phone	Yes	Yes	Yes
Breakout Rooms	Yes	Yes	No
Attendee Count	Fully interactive audience (can talk, answer polls, etc) - up to 1000 users. View only mode - up to 10,000 users	Fully interactive audience (can talk, answer polls, etc) - up to 1000 users. View only mode - up to 10,000 users	10,000 users in view only mode, with capabilities for a Q&A
Maximum Video Feeds	Up to 49	Up to 49	1 at a time