What are the Differences Between Attendees vs Panelists in Teams?

You may have read about or experiences different users assigned different roles in Teams meetings and thought, "Attendees? Presenters? Participants? What's the difference?" Attendees and presenters are both participants, as well as the organizer who is the one who scheduled the Teams meeting. There are a few key differences between attendees and presenters laid out in this article.

With greater participants controls in Microsoft Teams, comes additional terms to learn and understand. One huge component of managing your meetings is determining who to make a panelist, who to make an attendee, and what the differences are. Below we list some of the main differences in permissions and access.

Attendees have limited access

Attendees are limited in what they can access and share. A panelist must let attendees into the room from the lobby before they can join the meeting. Additionally, attendees will not be able to share their audio or video, unless allowed by a panelist or organizer.

To let attendees into the meeting click the pop up that says someone is waiting in the lobby or go to the participants view.

Show participants view allows you to click a check to let someone into the meeting.

Presenters have attendee controls

Presenters will have the ability to manage attendees. This includes being able to mute or unmute an individual, allow participants in from the lobby, and remove participants when necessary.

Most of this can be done from the participants list. Click show participants to find this list. Then access the management options by either hovering or right clicking on the participant’s name.

You can unmute by clicking the microphone or right click for more participant control options.

Presenters can share screens. Attendees cannot.

The main role of presenters is to give information that attendees can then receive. Only presenters (and the organizer) can share their screens and request control of another presenter’s screen share.

To access share screen, wiggle your mouse and click the icon in the center of your actions bar.

The share screen button is easy to find but only accessible by panelists.

Now that you’ve got the basics of different roles, learn more in our participant management for Teams article. Alternatively, if you are want instructional videos, we have got you covered with our Teams video library.  Use these tips to improve your Teams meetings and your collaboration and communication!.

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