If you’re like most people, you probably dread team meetings. You may feel like you don’t have anything valuable to contribute, or that everyone else is smarter than you. But if you want to be successful in a Microsoft Teams meeting, you need to learn how to raise your hand. Here are four tips for raising your hand effectively in a team meeting:
- Make sure your contribution is relevant Before you even think about raising your hand, make sure that what you have to say is relevant to the discussion at hand. If it’s not, chances are nobody else will either. Don’t waste everyone’s time by talking about things that aren’t relevant.
- Be prepared to listen as well as talk When it comes time to raise your hand, don’t just blurt out whatever comes into your head. Instead, take the time to listen carefully and figure out what other people are saying before responding. This will help ensure that your contribution is actually useful and not just random noise.
- Don’t be afraid of silence Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right words when speaking in a team meeting, especially if there are a lot of people talking at once. That’s why it can be helpful to take some time for silence occasionally – it allows everyone else in the room more opportunity to speak up without feeling rushed or interrupted. ..
Interrupting a speaker or presentation in a Microsoft Teams meeting can break the conversation’s flow. So how about you use the raise-hand feature when you want to speak or ask a question? It notifies everyone on the call when you raise your hand virtually.
During a Microsoft Teams meeting call, the raise-hand feature in Microsoft Teams prevents people from interrupting others. It’s available on all platforms, so find yours below to get started.
Raise Your Hand in a Microsoft Teams Meeting on Desktop App
Using the Microsoft Teams app on your computer, you can raise your hand through one of the two methods.
You should see a floating bar fixed in the top-right corner of the video call screen. To raise your hand during an ongoing call in the Microsoft Teams app, hover the mouse over the “Show Reactions” button at the top and choose the “Raise Hand” button. Or, you can press Ctrl+Shift+K to perform the same action quickly.
Everyone on the call gets notified about it. Other people will see a yellow border around your video feed or display picture and a hand emoji next to your name.
After you finish contributing or asking questions, hover the mouse over the “Show Reactions” button and choose the “Lower Hand” button. You can also hit Ctrl+Shift+K to lower your hand.
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Raise Your Hand in a Microsoft Teams Meeting on the Web
While the Microsoft Teams web version replicates the desktop app interface, the floating bar menu appears at the bottom of the screen.
Select the “Raise hand” button to raise your hand. The button’s color will change to show that the feature is active.
It notifies everyone on the call, and a raised-hand emoji will appear next to your name. Unfortunately, the web version doesn’t show a yellow border around your video feed or the display picture or a hand emoji next to your name.
Click “Lower hand” at the bottom when you want to lower your hand.
Raise Your Hand in a Microsoft Teams Meeting on iPhone and Android
The Microsoft Teams app offers a similar interface and options for iPhone and Android. Even the way to raise your hand is also the same.
During a video call meeting in the Microsoft Teams app on iPhone or Android, select the three-dot menu at the bottom of the screen.
That will pop open a menu where you can select the hand emoji. It activates the hand-raise and notifies other people on the call. Also, you’ll see a yellow border around your video feed or display picture, along with a raised-hand emoji in your video feed.
To lower your hand, select the three-dot menu again and choose the “Lower hand” emoji with a purple underline to lower your hand.
See Who’s Raised a Hand in Microsoft Teams Meeting
If you’re in a video call with a large number of people, others have likely raised a hand to speak. You can view a list of people who’ve raised their hands to see how many people will get to speak before your turn comes.
During a video call in Microsoft Teams desktop, select the “Participants” button at the top.
For the Microsoft Teams web version, click the “Participants” on the bottom bar.
A column will slide out from the right-hand side to show a “Participants” menu. The participants who’ve raised hands will have the hand emoji next to their name and will appear in the order in which they raised the hand.
Press Esc to close the “Participants” menu.
On iPhone or Android, you can tap the “Participants” button in the top-right corner of the screen.
When the column opens, you’ll see the participant’s name with a hand emoji next to it, appearing in the order in which they raised their hand. To close the “Participants” menu, tap on the left arrow in the top-left corner of the screen.
That’s it. Raising a virtual hand is a polite way to share your views or clarify your doubts instead of talking over anyone, especially in a dial-in conference.
RELATED: How to Create a Dial-In Conference with Microsoft Teams
