2026 Update: Companion Guide to 'How To Create Engaging Meetings Using Teams, Whiteboard and More'

What's Changed Since This Session

The landscape of Microsoft Teams meeting engagement has fundamentally shifted since Jennifer's session in early 2023. You saw her leverage manual workarounds and basic chat functions to keep her audience active. Today, those legacy methods are obsolete.

Microsoft has deeply integrated AI across the entire ecosystem. We now rely on Microsoft 365 Copilot, automated Agents, and native Immersive Spaces to drive participation. The tools are smarter, faster, and require significantly less manual moderation from the presenter.

The following table provides a factual summary of how the technologies demonstrated in the original session have evolved as of April 2026.1

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How to Build This Today

Demo 1: Engaging Audience via Teams Chat

The session showed you engaging the audience via Teams chat. Specifically, Jennifer asked attendees to type their percentage of work time spent in meetings directly into the chat, and she highlighted responses live for discussion.

Here is how you would implement that same engagement technique in April 2026.

Today, asking dozens of attendees to drop unstructured numbers into a chat pane creates administrative chaos. Instead, you must use the natively integrated Polls app to capture structured data instantly. You no longer have to manually build these questions, either. Microsoft 365 Copilot will generate the poll for you based on the context of your meeting.

Step 1: Add the Polls App to Your Meeting

You must prepare the meeting environment before the call begins. The Polls app is powered by Microsoft Forms and is the standard for 2026 meeting engagement.

1. Open the Teams desktop or web application and navigate to your Calendar.
2. Click on your scheduled meeting to open the details page, then select Chat with participants.
3. Click the Add a tab icon (the + symbol) at the top of the chat interface(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-help-with-the-polls-app-for-microsoft-teams-87d92d26-a638-40bf-ae2f-b03547787698)].
4. Search for Polls, select the app, and click Add, followed by Save.
5. A new Polls tab is now permanently attached to your meeting workspace.

Step 2: Use Copilot to Generate the Poll

With the tab installed, you can leverage AI to do the heavy lifting. Copilot eliminates the friction of drafting engaging questions from scratch.

1. Navigate to the newly created Polls tab and select Create New Poll.
2. Look at the side-pane on the Polls portal page. Copilot automatically displays suggested polls based on your meeting's title and invite context.
3. If you do not see a suggestion matching Jennifer's percentage question, simply type a prompt into the Copilot dialog box: "Create a rating poll asking attendees what percentage of their day is spent in meetings."
4. Copilot will instantly generate a Rating Poll, allowing users to slide a scale rather than type a raw number.
5. Click Save as draft to stage the poll for your live session(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/poll-attendees-during-a-teams-meeting-9923b7d4-ea97-4aa2-b8b8-b45fefe7d454)].

Quick Win: Need a poll instantly during a live call? Click the Polls icon in your top meeting control bar. Type a single keyword in the Copilot prompt box, hit enter, and click Launch. The poll will pop up center-screen for all attendees in seconds.

Step 3: Launch and Manage Live Results

When you reach the engagement portion of your presentation, it is time to push the poll to your audience.

1. During the active meeting, click the Polls icon in the top meeting control bar(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/poll-attendees-during-a-teams-meeting-9923b7d4-ea97-4aa2-b8b8-b45fefe7d454)].
2. The Polls pane will open on the right side of your screen. Locate your drafted percentage poll.
3. Click the Launch button.

The poll will immediately pop up in the center of every attendee's meeting screen. It will also appear simultaneously in the meeting chat window for anyone who dismissed the pop-up. You will see the results update in real-time within your Polls pane, allowing you to speak directly to the aggregated data rather than scrolling through individual chat messages.

Warning: Only meeting owners and designated presenters have the permissions required to create, manage, and launch polls. Ensure your co-facilitators have the correct roles assigned in the Meeting Options before the call begins.

Alternative: Managing Unstructured Chat with Copilot

If you specifically want to recreate Jennifer's unstructured chat experience—where attendees type raw thoughts—you must use Copilot Chat to manage the incoming data. In 2026, manually reading fast-moving chat feeds is highly unprofessional.

1. Instruct your audience to type their answers into the standard meeting chat.
2. Open the Copilot Chat side panel by clicking the Copilot icon in your meeting controls.
3. Prompt Copilot: "Summarize the percentages attendees just dropped in the chat and calculate the average."
4. Copilot uses your organization's Work IQ data to analyze the live transcript and chat history.
5. It will instantly output a concise summary of the chat sentiment and the mathematical average of the numbers provided.

To highlight a specific attendee's brilliant response, use the modern Pin feature. Hover over the attendee's chat message, click the More options ellipsis (...), and select Pin for everyone(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pin-a-chat-message-to-the-top-of-a-chat-in-microsoft-teams-9c07c454-70bd-4693-a610-21eebca3f136)]. This anchors their specific response to the very top of the chat list for all participants to see and discuss.

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Demo 2: Using Teams Reaction Buttons

The session showed you using Teams reaction buttons. Specifically, Jennifer prompted the use of the smiley face reaction button to respond to the statement 'At least 55% of employees multitask during meetings.'

Here is how you would implement that same engagement technique in April 2026.

Using reactions is still a phenomenal way to gather nonverbal feedback without interrupting the speaker's workflow. However, the 2026 interface separates Live Reactions (which float across the video screen) from Chat Reactions (which are pinned to specific text messages). You must guide your audience on which feature to use.

Step 1: Utilizing 3D Live Reactions

Live reactions are designed for immediate, ephemeral feedback. When Jennifer asks her question about multitasking, you want a visual wave of responses across the screen.

1. Instruct your audience: "If you agree with this statement, click the React button at the top of your screen."
2. Attendees navigate to the meeting controls at the top of the meeting view and click React (the emoji icon)(https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/express-yourself-in-microsoft-teams-meetings-with-live-reactions-a8323a40-3d07-4129-934b-305370a36e21)].
3. They select from the expanded 3D animated options: Like, Love, Applause, Laugh, or Surprise.

When an attendee clicks a reaction, the 3D emoji bubbles up from the bottom of the main meeting window. Crucially, if the attendee has their camera on, the reaction will dynamically float over their specific video feed or profile picture. This allows the presenter to see exactly who is reacting, creating a highly engaging, visual feedback loop.

Warning: Live reactions are technically disabled when users are viewing the meeting in Together mode or the Large gallery view. If you plan to rely heavily on floating reactions, ensure your attendees are utilizing the standard Gallery view.

Step 2: Utilizing Multi-Emoji Chat Reactions

If you want the feedback to be persistent rather than ephemeral, direct the audience to react to a specific message in the chat pane. As of late 2025, Teams allows multiple emoji reactions per message.

1. Type your statement into the meeting chat: "At least 55% of employees multitask during meetings."
2. Ask your audience to hover over that specific message in the chat pane.
3. Attendees click the smiley face icon that appears on the message hover menu.
4. They can now select multiple emojis to convey nuanced sentiment.

For example, an attendee could react with a "thumbs up" to agree, and a "laughing face" to acknowledge the humor of the multitasking statistic. This richer, layered feedback keeps discussions focused and prevents the chat from being flooded with single-word replies.

Step 3: Managing Reactions as an Administrator

As a consultant, you must understand the backend controls for these features. Not every meeting requires high engagement; sometimes, reactions are a distraction.

1. Prior to the meeting, open your Meeting Options.
2. Locate the Allow reactions toggle.
3. Turn this toggle Off for large corporate broadcasts or highly sensitive meetings where you want to keep the meeting recording free from reaction pop-ups.

IT Administrators can also set tenant-wide defaults for these reactions within the Teams Admin Center, ensuring organizational compliance.

Bonus: Voice and Face Profile Enrollment

While not a direct button click, engagement in 2026 relies heavily on the system knowing who is reacting and speaking. In April 2026, Microsoft rolled out the Voice and face profile enrollment dashboard for admins.

Ensure your team has opted into express voice enrollment. When users speak or react, this biometric profile enables Copilot to accurately attribute transcripts, isolate voices, and generate precise meeting recaps. If a user has not enrolled, they will receive an in-product prompt to opt-in simply by speaking during the meeting.

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Demo 3: Additional Chat-Based Engagement

The session showed you additional chat-based engagement. Specifically, Jennifer asked in chat if cameras are generally on or off in their organization's meetings, and she asked for opinions on the new Teams avatars.

Here is how you would implement that same engagement technique in April 2026.

The "cameras on vs. cameras off" debate was solved by the maturation of Mesh Avatars. Today, Avatars are not a novelty; they are a core productivity tool for combating meeting fatigue while maintaining a visible presence. Furthermore, the standalone Mesh application was retired in December 2025 and integrated natively into Teams as Immersive Events.

Step 1: Creating an AI-Generated Avatar

In 2023, building an avatar was a tedious, manual process. Today, the Create from photo feature uses machine learning to instantly generate your likeness.

1. Navigate to the left sidebar of your Teams application and click the Apps icon (the square with a plus sign).
2. Search for Avatars and click Add(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/join-a-meeting-as-an-avatar-in-microsoft-teams-5384e7b7-30c7-4bcb-8065-0c9e830cc8ad)].
3. Open the Avatars app and click the actions button (...), then select Create from photo.
4. Choose Upload image or select Use camera to snap a live picture.
5. The Teams AI will analyze your facial points—detecting your eyes, nose, and face shape—to predict your hair style and eyewear.
6. Select your preferred skin tone and choose from the AI-recommended base avatars.
7. Click Save and edit to tweak your digital wardrobe, then hit Save.

Quick Win: Pin the Avatars app to your left sidebar by right-clicking the app icon and selecting Pin. This gives you instant access to modify your avatar's wardrobe before your next meeting.

Step 2: Deploying Avatars in Standard Meetings

When Jennifer's audience wants to remain "off-camera" but highly engaged, they simply deploy their pre-built avatars.

1. Join a meeting from your Teams calendar.
2. On the pre-join screen, manually toggle your physical camera to Off.
3. Click the Effects and avatars button on the pre-join screen.
4. Select the avatar you wish to use from the right-hand panel.
5. Click Join now.

If you are already inside an active meeting, simply click the dropdown arrow next to your Camera button in the top control bar. Navigate to Avatars within the Effects and settings menu, and click Turn on avatars.

Your avatar is not static. You can trigger Emotes and Gestures (like waving or nodding) from the avatar control pane to react to the speaker naturally. Furthermore, the app includes a Text-to-Speech (TTS) system; pressing Ctrl + B allows the avatar to speak typed text for advanced accessibility.

Step 3: Transitioning to Mesh Immersive Spaces

For maximum engagement, you can transition a standard 2D video grid into a fully realized 3D environment. As of the December 2025 update, this requires no secondary software.

1. During an active Teams meeting, direct your attendees' attention to the top control bar.
2. Click the View icon.
3. Select Immersive space (3D) from the dropdown menu(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-immersive-events-in-microsoft-teams-a69189df-39c7-478f-a335-0aef7c4e5781)].

The meeting instantly transforms into a 3D digital space. Attendees navigate this environment using their custom avatars. The integration of Spatial Audio means that participants can form small clusters and hold side conversations naturally; audio volume adjusts dynamically based on avatar proximity.

As the organizer, you do not need coding expertise to build these spaces. The native no-code editor allows you to apply your company's branding, logos, and presentation content directly onto the virtual walls of the pre-built 3D templates.

Warning: Immersive spaces require adequate hardware. Devices need at least a two-core processor and 6GB of RAM, though a four-core processor and 8GB of RAM are highly recommended for a fluid 3D experience. Low-bandwidth connections may result in avatars taking over 10 seconds to load.

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Demo 4: Overall Context and Whiteboard Collaboration

The session showed you overall context techniques for creating engaging Teams meetings, including specific mentions of Whiteboard for collaboration.

Here is how you would implement that same engagement technique in April 2026.

Microsoft Whiteboard is no longer just a blank digital sketching tool. It is an intelligent, structured collaboration hub heavily integrated with Microsoft Loop and Copilot. It bridges the gap between synchronous meeting engagement and asynchronous project management.

Step 1: Launching an Existing Whiteboard

In the past, launching a whiteboard meant starting from scratch, wasting valuable meeting time. Today, you can pull pre-prepared work directly into the live call.

1. During your active meeting, click the Share icon in the top meeting control tray(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/whiteboard/use-whiteboard-in-a-teams-meeting)].
2. Navigate down to the Whiteboard section.
3. Select Microsoft Whiteboard.
4. A new menu will appear allowing you to select an existing whiteboard. Choose the board you prepared earlier to instantly share it with the attendees.

Step 2: Embedding Live Loop Components

The most powerful 2026 update to Whiteboard is the integration of Microsoft Loop. You can now embed live, syncable components—such as a voting table, task list, or the Microsoft Forms poll you created in Demo 1—directly onto the Whiteboard canvas.

1. Locate your existing Loop component (e.g., a Kanban board in a Teams chat or Outlook email).
2. Click the Copy link button in the upper right corner of that Loop component.
3. Open your active Microsoft Whiteboard during the meeting.
4. Use the right-click context menu or press Ctrl+V to paste the link directly onto the canvas.

The component will instantly render as an interactive module on the whiteboard. Your attendees can vote on the poll or update task lists directly from the Whiteboard canvas, and those changes will sync in real-time to every other chat or email where that Loop component is embedded.

Warning: Loop components on Whiteboard have platform limitations. On iOS and Android devices, users can view and edit Loop components, but they cannot paste new ones. Furthermore, external or anonymous guests joining your meeting cannot view or edit Loop components due to security policies.

Step 3: Guiding the Audience with the 'Follow' Feature

An infinite whiteboard canvas can easily disorient participants. To regain control of the engagement, you must use the Follow feature. This forces all attendees to view exactly what you are looking at.

1. As the presenter, click your profile icon in the top right-hand corner of the active Whiteboard.
2. Select Everyone follow me from the dropdown menu [Guide participants through a whiteboard with Follow].
3. An invitation is sent to all participants.
4. If an attendee ignores the invite, they will automatically be forced to follow your view after 20 seconds.

As you pan across the canvas to discuss different Loop components or sticky notes, the screens of your attendees will automatically pan to match your exact viewport. If a participant deliberately pans away to explore on their own, a "resume following" button appears at the bottom of their screen, allowing them to snap back to your guided tour instantly.

Alternative: In-Meeting Screen Annotations

Sometimes, a full Whiteboard is overkill. If you are sharing a specific document or application window, you can use the streamlined Annotation feature to drive engagement over your existing screen share.

1. Initiate a standard screen share or window share in your Teams meeting.
2. Move your cursor to the top of the shared screen to drop down the presenter toolbar.
3. Click the Annotate icon (which resembles a pen)(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-annotation-while-sharing-your-screen-in-microsoft-teams-876ba527-7112-437e-b410-5aec7363c473)].

A lightweight Whiteboard toolset will appear at the top of the screen for everyone in the meeting. Attendees can immediately grab markers, highlighters, or sticky notes and drop them directly over your shared application. Collaborative cursors are enabled by default, displaying the names of every participant so you can easily track who is making which edits in real-time.

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Licensing Quick Reference

To implement these 2026 engagement strategies, you must understand the current licensing architecture. On April , 2026, Microsoft executed a massive restructuring of its commercial suites, significantly altering the boundary between Teams Standard, Teams Enterprise, and Teams Premium.

The most critical change is that advanced event capabilities—previously locked behind the Teams Premium add-on—have been democratized. Teams Enterprise users can now host highly interactive events (including reactions, raising hands, and live polls) for up to 3,000 concurrent attendees without a Premium license.

The following table serves as your quick reference guide for exactly which licenses are required for the engagement features covered in this report(https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/licensing-enhance-teams)].

Warning for Legacy Customers: If your organization purchased Teams Premium licenses before the April , 2026 transition, you will retain legacy access to all original product experiences (including 100k attendee capacity) until your current subscription term officially expires. Upon renewal, you must adopt the new Enterprise capacity pack model to maintain those large-scale event features.