Scheduling a meeting with external colleagues in Microsoft Teams


Using Microsoft Teams you can schedule and host meetings with people who are external to the University. You do not need a new 'Team' setting up to be able to do this.

How to schedule a meeting with people external to the University

You can set up a meeting either through Outlook or Teams.

Setting up a Teams meeting through Outlook

In Outlook, just set up a meeting as normal and click on the Teams meeting button in the ribbon at the top of the screen (as pictured below). This will insert a link to the Teams meeting in the meeting invitation. In the 'To' box you'll need to invite your external colleagues using their email address. Instructions on how your external colleagues can join the meeting can be found further down this page under 'Join a meeting'

Image showing Microsoft Teams meeting button in Outlook

If the Teams Meeting button is not visible in Outlook, you will need to schedule the meeting in Microsoft Teams using the instructions below. 

 

Setting up a meeting through Microsoft Teams

To set up the meeting through Microsoft Teams use the 'Calendar' Meetings button tab on the left hand menu in Microsoft Teams. Once you have scheduled the meeting all invitees will receive a link to join the meeting in Teams.

1 - Select the 'Calendar' Meetings button tab

2 - Select the '+ New meeting' button which is located in the top right of the screen.

3 - On this screen you can add a title for the meeting in the 'Add title' field and set the date and time of the meeting using the date and time pickers

4 - In the 'Add required attendees' field you'll need to add all the people you want to invite to this meeting. For members of the University you can begin to type their names or email addresses and their details should populate.

If you need to add an external email address please type the full email address in this box. Please note as you are typing an external email address you may briefly see a prompt saying 'No results found. Check spelling or try another name'. Ignore this and continue to type the full email address. Once you have typed the full email address an 'Invite' option will appear. Select the 'Invite' option as pictured below.

Image of adding an external email address to a Teams meeting

5 - You can leave the 'Add channel' and 'Add location' fields blank and continue to fill in any other details for the meeting where there is a prompt which says 'type details for this new meeting'. Please note if you do select a Team or Channel in the 'Add channel' field your meeting will be posted to the selected Team/Channel where anyone who is part of that Team/Channel will be able to join your meeting.

6 - Once you have finished filling out the details, select the Save button located in the top right hand corner of the screen. This will close the scheduling form and send an invite to all the email addresses you have invited.

 

Joining a meeting

When you send an invitation out to an external colleague, they will receive an email which contains a link to the Teams meeting in the invitation. People who are external to the University should follow guidance on Microsoft' website which explains how to join a Teams meeting if you do not already have a Teams account.

When they click on the link they will be placed in a lobby. The meeting organiser and other internal attendees who are already in the meeting will be notified that the external person is in waiting in the lobby. When you receive this notification you'll need to click 'Admit' to grant them access to the meeting.

Please note if your external guest is left in the lobby for 15 minutes they will be automatically removed and will need to click the 'Join Microsoft Teams Meeting' link in their email invitation to rejoin.

 

If your external colleagues are still having difficulty joining a meeting you have scheduled via Microsoft Teams then an alternative option is to use Skype for Business.