Microsoft Teams is Improving the Hybrid Workspace

Navigating the new presentation landscape has been a whirlwind in the past year. While presenters try to make the best of what is available, developers are continually improving upon their offerings. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently said, “In fact, at Microsoft, meeting recordings are the fastest-growing content type.” This was in a LinkedIn post detailing Microsoft’s vision for the future of hybrid work. Recognizing the need for fast change, Nadella states, “hybrid work represents the biggest shift to how we work in our generation, and it will require a new operating model, spanning people, places and processes.”

Microsoft’s Vision for Hybrid Work

So how exactly are they responding? Microsoft recently revealed a new video titled “Microsoft Teams: The future of meetings.” Their vision is to “level the playing field for everyone, allowing virtual and in-person attendees to be represented equally.” The proposed future of hybrid work seeks to provide natural, immersive, high-quality experiences. In fact, this includes an updated interface.  It will display remote colleagues on life-size screens with room for live meeting chat notes & actions. It’s looking like the hardware required could be quite the overhaul, though.

Collaboration Without Compromise

Microsoft has truly re-imagined the meeting room. They’ve identified the robust tools they plan to utilize to make this new unified experience come alive.

  • Big screens– Interactions will feel more natural while sitting face-to-face across from life-sized, remote colleagues.
  • Eye-level cameras– Improves perception of eye contact.
  • Spatial audio– Provides the ability to hear peoples’ voices from their position on the screen, giving them an established presence in the room.
  • Premium microphones – Technology fades into the background, tucked up and out of the way in the ceiling.
  • Intelligent camera technology– Brings colleagues clearly into view through individual video streams, detecting who is talking and bringing them into view.

Presentations are Getting Personal

Alright, so this all sounds great for meetings—but how might this affect presentations? Well, admittedly this doesn’t seem to invite much improvement for large gatherings.  However, this could greatly improve your seat in the boardroom. This new vision for hybrid work gives you a seat at the table without the need for travel. We’re seeing companies all over the world diverting their travel budget into big improvements elsewhere. Another consideration is Microsoft’s commitment to security. As we know in the presentation space, trust is everything. Microsoft is adopting a Zero Trust architecture to keep your presentations more secure.

These exciting improvements to hybrid work are changing the way we approach meetings. As things progress, we are continually challenged. We’ve resolved to find the best ways to represent ourselves and our companies in whatever capacity–virtual, in-person, or hybrid. Presenters all know that improvisation is part of the deal, so this makes us uniquely suited to adapt. Take some time to run through some worst-case scenarios before your next big pitch and try to troubleshoot them ahead of time. With increased technology comes some margin for error—so get ahead of the bug! Need some help? We answer presentation questions day in and day out—and we’d be happy to answer yours! Reach out today to talk to a presentation coach about how Ethos3’s full suite of presentation services might improve your approach to moving forward.

Join our newsletter today!

© 2006-2024 Ethos3 – An Award Winning Presentation Design and Training Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Contact Us