Hey there, welcome to my blog! Today I’m going to talk about something that you might have heard of but not really know what it is: a Microsoft Teams account. What is a Microsoft Teams account and why do you need one? And what are the benefits of a Microsoft Teams account to an oral historian.  Let me explain.

Yes, I know it’s been more than two years since the pandemic started but we have to admit some of the habits we adopted during the pandemic are still being used today. For some of us it brought a lot of changes, like having to adapt working from home, wearing masks, social distancing and getting vaccinated. We had to deal with the stress of uncertainty, isolation and anxiety. Sadly, some had to cope with the loss of loved ones, jobs and opportunities.

But we must appreciate the fact that humans are incredibly resilient creatures. With covid almost ending our social lives with the no contact policy put in place, we still found a way to communicate with our loved ones and still show up at work without having to physically show up. Technology was used to stay connected, informed and entertained. One of the popular platforms used was Microsoft Teams with over 115million daily active users by 2020. This just shows how many people turned to using the platform during the pandemic.

So, what is Microsoft Teams? Microsoft Teams was launched in 2016 as a competitor to Slack but it quickly became more than just a chat app. It integrates with office 365 and other Microsoft products as well as hundreds of third-party apps to provide a seamless and productive work environment for teams of any size. It has video conferencing capabilities which proved to be essential during the lockdowns. You could also host webinars, interviews and live events and online classes with up to 10,000 participants.

So as an oral historian here are some of the benefits of owning a Microsoft Teams account for all your oral history interviews and meetings. 

– You can create topic channels to organize your conversations and files by project, department, or interest. This way, you can keep track of everything that’s relevant to you and avoid unnecessary distractions.

– You can have rich and engaging interviews or meetings with video, audio, screen sharing, live captions, and chat. You can also record your interviews or meetings and access them later from the chat window or the meeting tab.

– You can use apps and bots to enhance your productivity and workflow. For example, you can use Planner to manage your tasks, Forms to create surveys and quizzes, or Polly to run polls and get feedback from your team.

– You can customize your Teams experience with tabs, connectors, and extensions. You can add tabs to access your favorite websites or apps within Teams, connectors to get updates from external sources like Twitter or RSS feeds, and extensions to add extra functionality like emojis or stickers.

– You can communicate and collaborate with anyone inside or outside your organization. You can invite guests to join your teams and channels or create private chats with external contacts. You can also use Teams to call landlines and mobile phones with low rates.

Personally, I think teams is here to stay and will continue to improve as more individuals and organizations adopt it. Teams is not just considered a tool but a platform that enables new ways for oral historians as well as every other user to work together, learning from each other and creating value.  

If you don’t already have a Microsoft Teams account, check out my blog on how to open a Microsoft Teams account and its benefits towards all your remote interviews.

That’s it for this blog, I do hope it was helpful. Remember to always be kind stay positive and learn to unwind