Microsoft is making major changes to the way Teams handles video, giving meeting organizers more control over who is shown on screen

Starting later this month, organizers will be able to disable and enable video for specific attendees and turn off the feed for everyone on the call This could be very useful Especially if you want the meeting leader to focus on what they are talking about, rather than peeking into everyone's workspace

It could also be a valuable tool for those caught off guard Meeting organizers might turn off someone's feed if they are called out of the blue or if their partner shows up dressed in a towel, wine in hand, and singing Britney Spears songs

Disabling video also has the added benefit of reducing the bandwidth and processing power required to participate in a meeting; keep in mind that some companies conduct all-hands meetings on Teams, which can slow down computer and Internet connections It is worthwhile to keep in mind that this can slow down computer and Internet connections

News of this feature was brought to us by Windows Latest, which discovered a Microsoft Teams forum post requesting these options over a year ago The original post pointed out that these are features that are already in Skype for Business and that Microsoft has not added them Of course, Microsoft has essentially killed off Skype and many people rely on Teams for their work

According to the Microsoft page tracking the issue, the update has now been rolled out and affects all platforms including iOS, Android, Windows 10, and MacOS It also adds the ability to add external users to group chats This is very useful if you need to interact with outside agencies on a particular project

Now, back to the video meeting with you, remember that this is the most human contact people are getting now Show the niche gamer trophy in the background and give your colleagues something to look at while the host says, "It's on mute, Sarah," or "The connection is really bad today"