During my time spent at the Rights after Wrongs event on September the 15th 2023, I witnessed, several lives being changed in the brink of minutes with the services several of the vendors offered. There were HIV test, several employers, AR Adult Education, AR Workforce, Central AR Legal Services, District, and Circuit Court holding Leniency Court, Child Support, Driver Control, as well as speakers to assist with how to become more employable. This full event was centered around a person who has something challenging on their background being able to turn their life around with all the services located in one area. There were several volunteers to make this happen, up to an including sororities, churches, masons, city of faith, workforce, as well as employers and many, many others. Throughout the duration of the event, the biggest feature that everyone was interested in, was the Leniency Court, which allowed people to come get their fines wiped away, or tickets wiped away if it was a mist, or a small felony. They also had Central AR Legal Services there to assist with the startup process of expunging people’s records so all they would have to do is take the paperwork to the court to get it finished. Food was provided, as well as several door prizes and gift cards. This event serviced well over 1000 people in the great Little Rock area. Attached is a picture of myself and Steven Vaughn who previously had something challenging on his background, but entered the TEO program under my supervision at the time. He graduated, and has since gone on to become the Director of Mission Services for Goodwill.

Announcements

1. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
2. Starting This week every Friday at 5PM all Revver Documents will be checked in automatically. Please Make sure you are saving your documents back to Revver prior to leaving to avoid any data loss. 
3. 2 weeks Left until City of Faith Moves from Group Me To Teams.
4. No Tech Tuesday Next week

Joining a meeting in Microsoft Teams is a straightforward process, whether you’ve been invited to a scheduled meeting or you want to join an ad hoc meeting. Here are the steps to join a meeting in Teams:

 

Meetings and Calls

1.   Scheduled Meeting:

If you’ve been invited to a meeting that’s already scheduled, you can join it by following these steps:

 

1. Open Microsoft Teams on your computer or mobile device.
2. Look for the calendar icon on the left hand sidebar, and click on it. (or the bottom bar on mobile) This will show your upcoming meetings and appointments.
3. Find the meeting you want to join in the calendar list.
4. Click on the meeting to open its details.
5. Click the “Join” button when it’s time to start the meeting. If the meeting has not yet started, you may see a “Join” button that’s grayed out until the host initiates the meeting.

2. AD HOC Meetings

If you want to start an ad hoc meeting or join a meeting without a prior invitation, you can initiate the process yourself:

1. Open Microsoft Teams.
2. In the left hand sidebar, click on the “Meetings” or “Calendar” tab (varies based on version.
3. Click the “Meet Now” or the Camera Icon on Mobile button to start an instant meeting. You can invite participants by adding their names or email addresses.
4. If you’ve been invited to an ad hoc meeting, you’ll typically receive a chat message or notification with a “Join” button. Click that button to join the meeting.

 

3.   Join by Link:

If you’ve received a meeting link (URL) from the meeting organizer, you can join a meeting using the link:

 

1. Click on the meeting link provided in an email, chat message, or calendar invite.
2. If you have the Teams app installed, it will open and take you directly to the meeting. If you don’t have the app, you may be able to join the meeting using the web version of Teams.

 

4.   Dial In Option (Phone):

1. Microsoft Teams also offers a dial in option for meetings. If the meeting organizer has provided a phone number and conference ID, you can dial in to join the meeting by phone.

 

2. Dial the provided phone number.
3. Enter the conference ID when prompted.

 

Video and Audio Settings:

Before you join a meeting, you can select your camera and microphone preferences and choose to mute or unmute yourself. You can also choose your preferred audio device if you have multiple options.

Cool Features of Microsoft Teams

1. Meeting recap

If you’re not able to attend a meeting live (or you just need a recap), Teams lets you easily revisit the meeting material.

As soon as a meeting ends, Teams automatically saves all material associated with the event: the video recording (if you recorded it), any shared files, loop components, and if you’re the host, the attendance report. If you switch on live captioning (another awesome Teams meeting feature, by the way—it can even translate into different languages in real time), it’ll save a copy of the transcript too.

You’ll find all the recap material in the meeting Chat window or in the Details section of the invite in your Teams calendar.

2. Virtual whiteboards 

Virtual whiteboards make in office brainstorm sessions seem so inefficient—not to mention boring. Think about it: it’s so normal to have a dozen people collaborating on a virtual whiteboard, but can you imagine everyone huddled around an office whiteboard with a marker in their hand? ????

Teams’ virtual whiteboards go above and beyond, making it feel like a bespoke online whiteboard app.

You can drag and drop images and video directly onto a whiteboard and create shapes like arrows and perfect rectangles without trying to (very badly) draw them on the board freehand. But my favorite part is the templates. There’s a full catalog of different meeting related templates (e.g., brainstorming, SWOT analysis, and affinity diagrams) that you can drop on your board and start scribbling on as the basis for your meeting.

To access a virtual whiteboard during a meeting, hit the Share button, and select Microsoft Whiteboard (you’ll see a whiteboard button in the chat menu too).

And yes, whiteboards are also automatically saved to the meeting recap. I swear they’ve thought of everything.

 

 

 

3. Loop components 

The name of this feature makes it sound like you need a CS degree to use it, but it’s actually just a fancy name for a simple concept. Microsoft’s loop components are interactive units that help you collaborate and make decisions together in the chat during a meeting. Think: an agenda, a to do list, or even an event plan.

You send a component during the meeting, and everyone can edit and collaborate on that component in real time. Any loop components you create are saved in the meeting chat and also saved to OneDrive, so you can continue working on them after the meeting too.

To create a loop component, click on the loop icon in the meeting chat window. A few different options will come up—pick the one you want, and start collaborating.

4. Spotlighting 

Looking at 49 faces on a single screen is intense—especially if a few different people will be speaking. The spotlighting feature in Teams allows the organizer or presenter to decide which participant(s) should be the main focus of the meeting, instead of just highlighting whoever showed up to the meeting first.

Spotlighting a participant enlarges their window and brings them to the top of the screen, so they appear more prominently. You might want to spotlight senior management in a team meeting or a panel of people who are going to present.

It’s also easy to switch around who’s in the spotlight: click the three dots to the right of their window and hit Spotlight. You can spotlight up to seven people at one time, and the same view will appear for everyone in the meeting. FYI: spotlighting doesn’t show up in meeting recordings, and it also doesn’t work if you’re in Large Gallery View or Together Mode.

(P.S. Does this all sound terrifying to you? If you’re feeling a little camera shy and want to de spotlight yourself, you can go to People > Participants and click the three dots next to your name. You’ll see the option there to Exit spotlight.)

5. Presenter mode 

There was a time when doing presentations online felt impersonal and clunky. But meeting technology has advanced so quickly that presenting in person now feels pretty old school.

Teams has a few presenter modes you can use when working with slides during a meeting, and they’re all really slick and engaging.

Content only. This is just your slides on the screen.

Side by side. Like it sounds: you and your slides in separate boxes side by side.

Standout. Here, your background gets replaced with your slides, and you hover over the top.

Reporter. Your slides appear in a box above your shoulder like—you guessed it!—a news reporter.

To switch on presenter mode, go to Share in the top right once your meeting starts, and select one of the options under Presenter mode. Hover over the icons, and the name of each option will appear.

You can also switch from one mode to another in the middle of your presentation by clicking the icons that will reappear in the presenter toolbar at the top of your screen.

6. Meeting reactions

If you’ve ever presented online to a sea of people who are all on mute, you know just how awkward it can feel. Not being able to read people’s reactions or get the occasional encouraging nod from your teammates isn’t great for your confidence.

This is where Teams’ reactions feature works really well. There are five different types of reactions participants can choose from—standard fare.

When meeting attendees click on a reaction, the reactions bubble up along the bottom of the presentation slides, so you and everyone else in the meeting can see them. It’s a small touch, but it has a big impact on the vibe of the meeting.

If someone wants to ask a question during the presentation, they can use the raised hand icon—that will bring them to the top of the screen so the host can see them. There’s even a keyboard shortcut for this one (control + shift + K). Just remember to repeat the shortcut to put your hand down again. An important tip for anyone else who’s spent a whole meeting with their hand raised.

7. Together Mode 

When you’re attending remote team meetings day in and day out in gallery mode, it gets a bit boring. So Teams spiced it up. Together Mode makes it look like you and your teammates are all in a room together. Or at least it attempts to.

You can choose from a catalog of virtual venues, including a lecture hall, an amphitheater, or (shock horror!) an office space. It sounds a bit corny, but in my experience, it actually works. There’s just something about seeing your colleagues’ faces in a different format that brings a bit of life to the meeting.

To switch on Together Mode, click the three dots in the meeting menu, and select Together Mode; a list of backgrounds will pop up for you to choose from. Apologies to your 1:1s—for this feature to work, you need to have between four and 49 people in your meeting.

8. Mute notifications 

I learned about this feature the hard way. I was once in the office, presenting online to senior staff, when a notification popped up from someone else in the office asking what I wanted for lunch. Not the most professional moment of my career.

But embarrassment aside, any notifications popping up when you’re in presentation mode—or even just in the middle of a call—can be incredibly distracting. That’s why Teams lets you change your settings so that notifications are always muted during meetings and calls.

Go to Settings > Notifications > Meetings and Calls, and switch on Mute notifications during meetings and calls. This will keep all in app notifications automatically muted for calls until you go back in and change it again.

Keep in mind that this will only mute Teams in app notifications. If you use any other programs that send desktop notifications, you’ll need to mute them separately, or use a notification blocking app.

9. Meeting polls 

If you’re in a meeting and you want to get everyone’s opinion on something quickly, you can run a quick poll in the meeting chat window. Think of it like a “raise your hand if…” moment in an in person meeting.

To run a poll, go to the messaging extensions button (three dots below the chat bar) and search for the Forms app.

Once you select it, the option will instantly appear to create a poll question and potential answers you want to use. Add your question, and hit Send. The poll will appear in the meeting chat window, and the results will come through below the poll in real time.

10. Live Transcription

This awesome feature was created for accessibility purposes as well as making your designated note taker’s job 100% easier. The automatic transcribing feature is perfect for someone who may have missed the meeting and wants to later go back to the meeting recap in the chat to read everything that was discussed or for someone who needs to read captions in real time due to, for example, a hearing impairment or language barrier.

 

This visual aid appears along the right side of the meeting screen and is labeled by the speaker’s name as well as the time spoken. Check out the link in the photo caption below to learn how to enable live transcription. 

 

11. App Integration

Seamlessly add several apps to a meeting for things Office 365 or Microsoft Loop.

Microsoft Teams allows you to enhance your collaboration and productivity by integrating various apps and services directly into your workspace. Here’s how to use and add apps to Microsoft Teams:

 (Site your Sources The Above Information Comes from Zapier’s Katie Paterson )

Using Apps in Microsoft Teams:

1. Apps in the Left Sidebar: When you open Microsoft Teams, you’ll see a left sidebar where you can access various apps and services. This includes features like Chat, Teams, Calendar, and more. You can also access external apps by clicking on the “Apps” icon in the sidebar.

 

2. App Tabs: Some apps can be added as tabs within a channel. For example, you can add the Planner app as a tab to keep track of tasks related to a project. To do this:

Navigate to the channel where you want to add the app tab.

Click the “+” icon to the right of the channel name.

Select the app you want to add as a tab.

 

3. App Connectors: You can set up connectors for certain apps to receive notifications and updates within a channel(These require an account on the relevant app). For example, I have connected freshdesk to send me a message when someone submits a ticket. To set up connectors:

Navigate to the channel where you want to set up the connector.

Click the ellipsis (…) next to the channel name and select “Connectors.”

Configure the connector settings for the app you want to connect.

 

4. Messaging Apps: You can integrate messaging apps, like Trello or Asana, to send and receive notifications and updates from these apps directly in your chat conversations. To do this:

Click on the “Chat” tab.

Open a chat conversation.

Click the “…” (More options) icon and select “Apps.”

 

5. Bot Integrations: You can integrate chat bots to automate tasks, answer questions, or fetch information from external sources. Bots can be added to individual chat conversations or to channels.

 

Adding Apps to Microsoft Teams:

 

1. From the App Store:

Click on the “Apps” icon in the left sidebar.

Click “Browse Apps” to open the Microsoft Teams App Store.

Search for the app you want to add.

Click “Add” to install the app.

 

2. Custom Apps:

If your organization has custom developed apps or integrations, you can add them to Teams by selecting “Upload a custom app” in the App Store and following the provided instructions.

 

3. App Permissions: Some apps may require permissions to access your Microsoft Teams data. Be sure to review and approve these permissions when adding the app.

 

4. App Configuration: After adding an app, you may need to configure its settings to tailor it to your specific needs. Configuration options vary depending on the app.

 

5. Personal Apps: You can also add personal apps and connectors by clicking on your profile picture in the top right corner of Teams and selecting “Settings.” From there, choose “Permissions” and then “Apps.”

 

By using and adding apps to Microsoft Teams, you can streamline your work processes, access information from various sources, and collaborate more effectively with your team.

 

The Next Tech Tuesday will focus on our next series Network and Internet Safety protocols starting with Password Sharing and Last Pass!

Otherwise the  meeting to learn about Teams and have  a Q&A  will be for the Teams Launch party on November 15th at 12PM CST

Join Here

Read this anytime by visiting Cofess and going to Employee News or by utilizing the Knowledge Base.

 

 

Announcements

1. Starting Next week from today every Friday at 5PM all Revver Documents will be checked in automatically. Please Make sure you are saving your documents back to Revver prior to leaving to avoid any data loss. 
2. 3 weeks Left until City of Faith Moves from Group Me To Teams. 

Channels and Tasks

There is so Much you can do with Teams Channels and Messaging features. Channels function like Groups and allow for instantaneous communication in a variety of ways.

Check out The Channels

• Channels function like large scale group chats for group communication
• There Are Private and Public Channels

Public Channels are for Everyone

• General- A place to chat regarding company business this channel allows for posts regarding the job we do.
• Announcements- A place for admin staff to place all calls to the company
• Human Resources- A place to post policy changes and directives while containing some helpful links Only HR will be able to post here.
• Policy and Procedures- a place to discuss policy and make sure everyone is recieving the same information
• Technology- This is my stuff has access to the help desk and a way for me to create tickets with you and chat in real time
• Water Cooler -my personal favorite a channel to post good news, pictures, and other off topic items.

Private Channels are for your locations and teams

• Location Teams- A place for locations to communicate without having to look up everyone’s numbers prevents a lapse in communication! Beats Group Text Easily!
• Team Channels(TAM, EM, LEADERSHIP)-These channels are more specific to teams you work with.

All Channels I have Access To This will vary based on the person

Channel Tabs

 

Channel tabs allow for different items to be viewed in a channel allowing for access to specific resources. They are at the top of every Channel by the name of the Channel.

 

Additional Tabs can be added and Customized as needed.  Any website can be added and wide variety of apps.

One Tab is The Events and Tasks Tab

 

Events and Tasks

Events and Tasks allow for Easy assignment and tracking of specific things that need done and even allow for assignment.

This an example of Both an Application and a Tab.

if you have issues don’t forget to log a ticket at here. Next week will Focus on Meetings/Calls/ and Apps.

Read this anytime by visiting Cofess and going to Employee News or by utilizing the Knowledge Base.

 

 

 

 

Announcements

1. Starting two weeks from today every Friday at 5PM all Revver Documents will be checked in automatically. Please Make sure you are saving your documents back to Revver prior to leaving to avoid any data loss. 
2. The next series after teams will be internet and network safety and secure password sharing with last pass.
3. Don’t forget to check the forms bureau on Cofess to make sure all of the forms you need to complete your job are there.

How to Download Microsoft Teams for Work or School

As promised last week here’s a how to guide for for how to add Teams to your device.

What You Need:

– A computer or a mobile device with the internet.

– An cof email address (some users may need to create a microsoft account with this address if you fall into this category let me know and I will assist you otherwise you may need to click forgot password)

 

For PC:

 

Step 1: Open Your Web Browser

1. Open your web browser like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

 

Step 2: Visit the Microsoft Teams Website

2. Go to this website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/download-app

Step 3: Choose Your Computer Type

3. Select Work Or School for Windows

 

Step 4: Start the Download

4. Clicking that button will start a download. It might take a bit.

 

Step 5: Install Teams

5. After it finishes downloading, open the file (it’s usually in your Downloads folder) and follow the instructions to install Teams. Most company devices should do this automatically.

 

Step 6: Sign In

6. When it’s done installing, open Teams and sign in using your work or school email and password.

 

For Mobile Devices (Android or iPhone):

 

Step 1: Open Your App Store Or Scan the QR Code below:

 

Get the Teams mobile app

1. On your phone or tablet, open the App Store (if you have an iPhone) or the Play Store (if you have an Android).

 

Step 2: Search for Microsoft Teams

2. In the store’s search bar, type “Microsoft Teams” and press search.

 

Step 3: Download and Install

3. When you see the Microsoft Teams app, tap the “Install” (for Android) or “Get” (for iPhone) button to download and install the app.

 

Step 4: Open Microsoft Teams

4. Once it’s installed, open the app.

 

Step 5: Sign In

5. Sign in with your work or school email and password.

That’s it! Next week entry will focus on team channels and group and company tasks!

Once you’ve gotten signed in feel free to say Hello! and of course if you have issues don’t forget to log a ticket at here.