Microsoft Teams: Differences between Teams and Zoom Webinars

Summary

This article will outline the differences between Zoom, Microsoft Teams Webinars and Microsoft Teams Town Halls

Content

 
Platform
Zoom Webinar
Teams Webinars
Teams Town Halls 
(Formerly Live Events)
Use Case 
A single presenter or a panel presenting to a large audience of attendees. Attendees can interact via chat, Q&A, and reactions without camera or microphone.
A single presenter or a panel presenting to an interactive audience of attendees. Attendees can interact via chat, Q&A, and reactions without camera or microphone.

Attendees are visible to all users in the meeting.

Example: Staff Council meetings where attendees will still communicate to all participants in the chat.
A single presenter or a panel presenting to an interactive audience of attendees. Attendees participation is limited to asking questions via Q&A.
Attendee names are not viewable during the town hall, but will be available in reports and Q&A if enabled
Example: Guest lectures where the audience may want to submit questions.
Participants limits

USNH Licenses have a 500 person limit for our Webinars. 

There is one 1,000 attendee license available through Learning Space Technologies (LST). 

1000 Microsoft Teams live events can support up to 10,000 attendees. Up to 50 events can be hosted simultaneously across a tenant, and each broadcast can last up to 16 hours.
Roles 
Host – Schedules, customizes, and starts the webinar, starts/stops recordings, launches polls, moderates users, and ends the webinar 
Co-Host – All host abilities except for starting/stopping webinars. 
Panelists – The presenters for the webinar who can share video, audio, and content, can view and moderate Q&A 
Attendees – Viewers of the webinar who can only interact via chat, answering polls, and submitting questions in Q&A. 
Organizer – the person who creates the Webinar in Teams, can start recordings 
Co-Organizer – Can be assigned to assist in webinar moderation and participant controls, such as unmuting Attendees
Presenters - The presenters for the webinar who can share video, audio, and content 
AttendeesRegistered* viewers of the webinar who can only interact via chat, answering polls, and submitting questions in Q&A. 
Organizer – the person who creates the Live Event 
Co-Organizer – Can be assigned to assist in Town Hall Q&A moderation 
Presenters - The presenters for the webinar who can share video, audio, and content. Presenters can also moderate Q&A. 
Attendees – Viewers of the Town Hall who may only interact by submitting questions in Q&A 
Who Can be the Presenter? USNH  Zoom Users
External presenters
USNH M365 Users 
External presenters
USNH M365 Users
External presenters
Who can attend 
USNH Zoom users only
Any Zoom accounts
Public guests
Can be limited to:
Specific USNH M365 People and Groups
All USNH M365 users - Organization Only
Public guests
Can be limited to:
Specific USNH M365 People and Groups
All USNH M365 users - Organization Only
Public guests
Practice Sessions/Pre-live setup 

Yes, you can open the webinar for presenters (Panelists) prior to the webinar being live for attendees until the Host confirms “Start Webinar” 

Can be limited to: 

Hosts and Panelists Only  

Hosts and Panelists including unidirectional chat to attendees 

Open chat for all participants 

Q&A  
 
Published questions allow for optional upvoting or optional comments to create a response thread. Hosts can also enable anonymous questions.
 
Attendees are always able to emoji react to viewable questions. Comments can be enabled or disabled for attendees to create response threads. Organizers can also enable anonymous questions.

Q&A can be enabled/disabled. Questions can be made openly viewable to attendees or moderated.

Attendees are always able to emoji react to viewable questions. Comments can be enabled or disabled for attendees to create response threads.Organizers can also enable anonymous questions.
Recordings 
 The Zoom Kaltura integration can automatically transfer these to the appropriate host’s personal Kaltura media.  
Once recorded, the video file will be sent to the Organizer’s personal OneDrive. The video will be available to all participants with a 60-day retention period by default, but these settings can be changed by the organizer in OneDrive. 
Same as Teams Webinar
 
Teams Town Halls now have improved resolution and quality from Live Events.
Accessibility  
Options include:
  • Automated transcription and captions
  • Assigning users to provide human generated captions
  • Dedicated sign language interpretation video feeds
  • Separate audio channels for multi-language interpreters 
  • NOTE: Automated language translation is not available by default for USNH Zoom users 
Options include:
  • Automated transcription and captions
    • Assigning users to provide human generated captions (CART)
Camera Views
Hosts can choose from multiple layouts for attendees including customizable gallery views and spotlighting/pinning cameras. 
Gallery view is automated by Teams. Presenter cameras can be spotlighted for everyone or pinned by an attendee.  
Presenters can now Manage what users see and gallery view + shared screen content is fully customizable by all presenters.
Requesting/Allocation Zoom Webinars must be requested either through LST (1,000 person license) or TLT (500 person licenses) and are available on a first come first serve basis. There are limited licenses.  Can be created by any USNH user  Can be created by any USNH user

Need additional help?

For assistance concerning site creation, content sharing, file synchronization, or other common SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, or Office app activities, we recommend our Microsoft 365 Learning sites:

Learn more about the great tools our Microsoft 365 Learning sites offer!

Visit the Technology Help Desk Support page to locate your local campus contact information or to submit an online technology support request.  For password issues you must call or visit the Help Desk in person.