Teams Rooms Asia Monthly | June 2024 Issue

While it's just ticked over to winter in Sydney, I'm about to head off to Las Vegas for #Infocomm24 where it's anything but cold right now! Before I get packing, let's go through what was a HUGE month of updates, not only for #MicrosoftTeamsRooms, but also #Copilot and #MicrosoftPlaces. Happy June everyone!

Top of Mind

In October 2022 Microsoft announced Microsoft Places, a "new connected workplace platform that will reimagine hybrid and in-person work." Since that moment, there has been constant interest from the market about Places. When is it coming? What does it do? How can I use it? Thankfully last month Microsoft released answers to all those questions and more!

With Microsoft Places, an app that reimagines flexible work, AI can make coordinating in-office time and connecting with coworkers even easier.

My team is spread across Asia, Europe and North America and while #MicrosoftTeams does a great job keeping us connected asynchronously, I also feel disconnected from the business working at home everyday. I'm not alone, 43% of employees feel the same according to the May 2024 Work Trend Index survey. I'm hearing the same in conversations with others everyday. How do you stay connected to others AND maintain flexibility in when and where you work?

The answer is Microsoft Places.

I'm not going to go deep on what it does here, see the link above to the announcement blog, but I will say the magic of Places is that it's delivered to employees in the apps they are already using everyday - Outlook and Teams. It's also licensed simply in #TeamsPremium, adding even more value to an already must-have license.

One other question that's come up a lot is how does Microsoft Places compare to say - #CiscoSpaces. From the start it was assumed they were two competing platforms and companies had to choose. There's already a strong ecosystem of partners onboard to ensure that regardless which platform you're already using to manage your office space - it will integrate with Microsoft Places. ❤️

You can opt-in to the Microsoft Places public preview today.

What's New in Microsoft Teams

#ICYMI - #MicrosoftBUILD was in May and with it came a tonne of new stuff and announcements. There's just too much to cover here, instead click through to the What's New in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Build 2024 Edition blog for all the latest updates to Microsoft Teams.

Not least of which was the announcement of #TeamCopilot, an AI team assistant!

May was also busy month for #CertifiedforMicrosoftTeams announcements! It was a big month for MTR-W peripherals in particular.

• The Poly Studio Base Kit G9 Plus includes a HP Mini IP Conferencing PC with Microsoft Teams Rooms and a Poly TC10 touch controller that delivers the familiar Microsoft Teams interface, ready to be combined with powerful Poly video and audio technologies.

• The Poly Studio G62 and Poly TC10 Console has been certified for Microsoft Teams Rooms in large meeting rooms. The best part? The Poly Studio G62 is made from 80% post-consumer recycled plastics and 20% recycled metals.

• The Crestron Electronics IV-CAM-P12, IV-CAM-P20, IV-CAM-I12 and IV-CAM-I20 range of 1 Beyond cameras were all certified as Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows USB peripherals. This is Crestron's new range of PTZ cameras that powers their #Slightlines experience with #AutomateVX.

• The Crestron Electronics Flex Pods just plug into a native Microsoft Teams Room and with the push of a button, your meeting’s ready to go — right out of the box. Super flexible audio solution for meeting spaces.

• The AVer Information CAM520 Pro3 has been certified as a Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows peripheral offering users a 36X total zoom PTZ camera, upgraded AVer SmartFrame, Preset Framing, and a Sony WDR Sensor.

• The Yealink SmartVision 40 is an ultra-high-definition intelligent all-in-one conference system designed for small to medium meeting rooms. It integrates leading intelligent AI algorithms to enhance meeting efficiency. It is now certified as a Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows peripheral.

• The MAXHUB XT10-WS Kit incorporates a high-quality UC BM35 Speakerphone and UC W31 USB Camera with the already certified XCore Kit. Catering to participants’ dynamic audio and video needs, this bundle provides a flexible and seamless collaboration experience for any focus room or small space.

• From AI-driven presenter tracking to audio-based multi-camera switching, Q-SYS VisionSuite improves the visiblity of in-room participants to promote a natural viewing experience for the far-end, empowering teams to feel united and stay engaged no matter where they are.

For the full list of currently certified devices click here

Teams Rooms Asia Masterclass - 13th June 2024

Register today for this Hands-On , Technical enablement session and learn how to configure the Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Management portal according to best practices and manage your customers environments at scale. With special guest Kim Matlock, We will be covering everything from Groups, Permissions, Update Rings, Incident Management, 3rd Party Platform integration and more...

Agenda

Introduction to Pro Portal - What is it? - 10 Min

Configuring Pro Portal to manage your customers - 20 Min

• Permissions
• Grouping
• Alerting and Reporting
• Updates Management

Planning and Inventory Management - 10 Min

Hands On Configuration of Pro Portal - 40 Min

Break - 10 Min

Virsae – Service Management Platform “End-to-End Management” - 30 Min

This will be a "Hands-On" session. 2 Days prior to the event, we will share with you a Username and Password to connect into a Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal for this session.

Register here 👉🏼 June 13th 10am-12noon AEST or 2pm-4pm AEST

Copilot Corner

Every month there's something Copilot-related I want to mention in here, so I gave #Copilot it's own corner.

For context, I'll refer to a recent post from Ilya, specifically on the Team Copilot announcement.

Did you catch it?

I'm so excited about our team bringing Team Copilot to Teams Rooms, starting with MTR on Windows, later this year.

That's right, work is happening right now to bring the power of Team Copilot to a Microsoft Teams Room near you. This is HUGE! Imagine offloading time keeping duties or agenda management. What about the potential for transcription and intelligent recap of offline meetings? I'm sure we're only scratching the surface here.

Each Copilot announcement gets me closer to my goal. Getting an intelligent recap for every meeting, even if it's a 1:1 in a busy cafe. Right now I can have Copilot transcribe and summarise an audio file, but this means for in-person meetings I have to record audio AND pass it off to Copilot for each meeting. It would be better if the recordings were never saved at all, just transcribed and summarised. One day 🤞🏻

#Infocomm2024 | Las Vegas, Nevada

Excited to announce that Microsoft Teams is heading to InfoComm 2024 in Las Vegas! 🎉 Join us from June 12 - 14 for an insightful journey into the future of work.

Don’t miss our Innovation Main Stage presentation titled “Revolutionizing the Workplace Experience & The Future of Meeting Rooms and Spaces” on Thursday, June 13, at 10:30 AM. It’s your chance to get a glimpse of cutting-edge innovations that are transforming how we collaborate and connect.

Important Dates

13th June - Teams Rooms Asia Masterclass - AM & PM Sessions

13th-15th June - Infocomm (US) 2024

17th-19th July - Infocomm Asia 2024

21st-23rd August - Integrate 2024

3rd-5th September - Infocomm India 2024

I often update this list after publishing the newsletter as dates are announced / changed. Always check back for the latest!

There we go, another 🚋TRAM has come and gone. If you find this valuable, share with your peers, your team, your network. If you have feedback or suggestions, put them down in the comments. Until next time!

Lee

#MicrosoftEmployee #MicrosoftAdvocate