Add Q&A to a Teams Webinar or Town Hall

Microsoft Teams Q&A provides a structured way for attendees to ask questions and engage during webinars, town halls, and other large virtual events. Organizers and co-organizers can moderate questions, respond publicly or privately, manage attendee participation, and maintain a focused discussion during the event.

Q&A can be enabled before or during a webinar or town hall.

Get Started:

Enable Q&A Before a Webinar or Town Hall

From Outlook

1. Open a new calendar event in Outlook.

2. If needed, select Teams Meeting from the toolbar to convert the event into a Teams event.

3. Select Meeting Options.

4. Locate Enable Q&A and turn the toggle to Yes.

5. Select Save.

From the Teams Calendar

1. Open Microsoft Teams.

2. Select Calendar.

3. Select the webinar or town hall event.

4. Select View event to expand the event details.

5. Select Options.

6. Under Participation, turn on the Q&A toggle.

7. Select Apply.

Note: Q&A becomes available to attendees during the event in the meeting window and as a tab in the event chat.

Enable Q&A During a Webinar or Town Hall

1. Join the event as the organizer or co-organizer.

2. In the meeting controls, select More options.

3. Under Participation, turn on the Q&A toggle.

4. Select Apply.

Best Practices for Q&A

For larger webinars and town halls, consider these recommended settings:

• Add co-organizers to help moderate and manage Q&A.

• Turn off meeting chat if you want attendees to use Q&A as the primary discussion tool.

• Enable moderation for more controlled question management.

• Consider whether anonymous questions should be allowed.

Manage Q&A Roles

By default:

• Organizers and co-organizers can manage Q&A.

• In webinars and town halls, organizers can also allow presenters to manage Q&A.

To change who can manage Q&A:

1. Open the webinar or town hall from the Teams calendar.

2. Select Meeting options.

3. Under Participation, locate Who can manage Q&A.

4. Choose the appropriate role setting.

5. Select Apply.

Notes:

• Presenter Q&A management is only available in webinars and town halls.

• Only presenters from your organization or external presenters with a Microsoft 365 login can manage Q&A.

Moderate Questions

Moderation allows organizers and moderators to review questions before attendees can see them.

Enable Moderation

1. Open the Q&A panel during the event.

2. Select Admin settings.

3. Turn on moderation.

4. Select Save.

When moderation is enabled, questions appear in three categories:

• In review – New questions awaiting approval

• Published – Questions visible to attendees

• Dismissed – Questions removed from attendee view

Moderators can publish or dismiss questions at any time.

Use Private Replies

Private replies allow moderators to respond directly to attendees before a question is published.

Private replies are:

• Visible only to moderators and the attendee who submitted the question

• Available only when moderation is enabled

Note: Private replies are not available for anonymous posts.

Review and Reply to Questions

Moderators can:

• Publish questions

• Dismiss questions

• Respond privately

• Reply publicly

Moderators can also post responses as themselves or as Organizer.

Posting as Organizer provides a unified moderator voice during the event.

Important: Posts and replies made as Organizer remain associated with the individual for compliance purposes.

Allow Anonymous Questions and Comments

Organizers can allow attendees to post questions anonymously.

To enable anonymous posting:

1. Open the Q&A panel.

2. Select Admin settings.

3. Turn on:

   • Anonymous posts

   • Anonymous comments (optional)

4. Select Save.

Important:

• Anonymous questions and comments cannot be associated with an attendee.

• Replies and reactions to anonymous questions are not anonymous.

• Reactions to anonymous comments are also not anonymous.

Upvote Questions

Attendees can upvote questions to indicate interest or importance.

To upvote a question:

1. Open the Q&A panel.

2. Select the Upvote arrow below the question.

Attendees can sort questions by:

• Most upvoted

• Most recent

Turn Off Upvotes

1. Open the Q&A panel.

2. Select Admin settings.

3. Turn off the Upvotes toggle.

4. Select Save.

Archive Questions

Organizers can archive questions to keep the Q&A feed organized during recurring webinars or town halls.

Archive a Question

1. Open the Q&A panel.

2. Hover over the question.

3. Select More options.

4. Select Archive.

Archive All Questions

1. Open the Q&A panel.

2. Select Archive all.

3. Confirm the action.

View Archived Questions

1. Open the filter menu in the Q&A panel.

2. Select Archived.

Archived questions can be restored later if needed.

Attendee Experience

Attendees can:

• Ask questions

• Reply to published questions

• React to posts

• Upvote questions (if enabled)

If moderation is enabled, attendees receive a notification when their question is submitted and another notification if the question is approved and published.

Note: Q&A may not be available to view-only attendees who join after an event reaches capacity.

Download a Q&A Report

After a webinar or town hall ends, organizers and co-organizers can download a Q&A report.

The report includes:

• Source of the post

• Question or reply type

• Participant identity

• Timestamps

• Conversation IDs

• Message content

• Reactions

Download the Report

1. Open the event from the Teams calendar.

2. Select Manage event.

3. Select Reports.

4. Select Download next to the Q&A report.

The report downloads as a .csv file that can be opened in Microsoft Excel.

After the Event

Questions and answers remain available in the Q&A tab within the Teams calendar event after the webinar or town hall ends.