June developments
This month, Microsoft Teams brings us a lot of refreshing news. Digital Meeting ID is a new feature, where users will be able to join meetings by Meeting ID. This update will be available on Microsoft Teams Desktop, Mobile, and Web, and will allow you to join a Microsoft Teams meeting by entering Digital ID and Passcode.
Teams are adding markers to indicate when you joined or left a meeting. You will only see your join and leave markers because they are personalised. Markers allow you to skip ahead to a section of the meeting you may have missed. Markers will only appear on recordings of Teams meetings to which you have been invited.
The new ‘brightness adjust filter’ feature will help you improve the video quality if you are in a poorly lit room. This is a really needed function as we hold increasingly more meetings out of the office, or around the timezones.
The ‘soft focus’ filter can also be used to create a subtle smoothing effect for your video. Both filters are now available before and after joining meetings. Simply enable these filters in your device settings.
Together Mode creates a virtual common space in which participants feel like they are sitting in a similar room. Presently, meeting organisers and moderators can start “Together Mode” to bring all members together. To enable this feature, just check the Select Together Mode for Everyone choice after you pick a scene.
Wonder released one of the most interesting updates, and that is the mobile version of Wonder app. They designed a simplified interface that facilitates navigation through conversations and maintains excellent video and audio quality. All functions are the same as on the browser, located at the bottom in order to make meetings more interesting.
Wonder introduced the option of sticky notes, so participants have the opportunity to leave a message to whoever they want or to share some information when participants enter the space. You can add sticky notes to the sidebar and you can change and delete them.
(Source:Wonder.me)
Google Meet announced a new feature that offers the option to pin 3 items during a meeting. You can pin a participant or presentation, and if you use sign language in a meeting, you can pin an interpreter simultaneously.
As for the new features related to Cisco Webex, there is an option for users of Webex Assistant or Captioning to select spoken language transcriptions for English, French, Spanish, and German. Cisco Webinars offers you the option to upload a picture so that participants might see panellists in the practice session. With this option, you can get your audience thinking about a topic, direct them to a poll, or just show a stunning photo with a warm welcome message.
In the July announcement, Webex committed to improving its language pack by adding support for the right-to-left scripts in all of its products.
After almost two years of Zoom Basic accounts being able to have unlimited meeting duration, the company is retracing this feature for its customers. This was the case for all users that opened Zoom accounts during the outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. From now on, Zoom Basic account users will be able to only host 40-minute meetings. Other features will remain as they are.
With new updates from Zoom, it is easier for hosts and co-hosts to manage breakout rooms by having the option to search for participants or breakout rooms by name. It is thus possible to quickly and efficiently move participants between breakout rooms.
Overall, we can see a slowdown in market share for online meeting companies. Microsoft Teams has captured a new portion of the market and Zoom seems to have maxed out its outreach. The number of online classrooms will double in 2022, and companies will try to improve capabilities and solutions related to online learning.
Predictions are promising for the entire sector throughout 2030. They say that the industry will grow to around US$20 billion by the end of the decade .
A lot of space for new players and new technologies.
Are you planning an online meeting or event, 
and need urgent advice?
Our ConfTech Help desk provides countries and organisations with immediate advice on how to organise and run online meetings and events. Get in touch with us at conftech@diplomacy.edu.
