Using Vevox with Microsoft Teams - for Meetings & Video calls

This article covers the following sections:

• Introduction
• Set up your Vevox session
• Add Vevox to MS Teams
• How to use Vevox
• Sharing Present view
• How to manage Q&A
• Participation limits
• Best practise when using Vevox inside Teams meetings
• Troubleshooting
• Removing your Vevox session from MS Teams
• Managing Vevox from a single screen

Introduction

The new Vevox Teams integration allows participants to vote anonymously in polls, contribute & up-vote Q&A comments, complete surveys and take part in action filled quizzes. Voting takes place straight from within a Teams meeting,  and the integration will appear on the side panel clearly visible.

Vevox offers 2 integrations for Microsoft Teams. (Both these integrations need to be set up individually.)

1. Integration for MS Teams Meetings & Video calls (read the article below)
2. Integration for MS Teams Channel & Chat (read this article instead)

Watch this video on how to:

• Use Vevox in MS Teams as a participant as an add-in (timestamp start to 2:32)
• How to run Vevox inside MS Teams as a host (timestamp 2:33-3:28)
• How to set up Vevox into your MS Team as a host (timestamp 3:29-end)

Steps to use Vevox when hosting a Microsoft Teams video call or meeting

1. Set up your Vevox session in the Vevox dashboard

Read this article on how to set up your Vevox session. Take note of your 9 digit session ID. Make sure your session is set to the 'Started' status mode before you start your Teams meeting. 

2. Add Vevox to MS Teams

Ensure you have scheduled at meeting via the Teams calendar or Outlook and that you have invited at least one attendee to the meeting.

 Go back to your calendar view, double click on the meeting and select the ‘Edit’ button.

 At the top of the screen, you will see that there are more options including Meeting Notes and Whiteboard as well as a plus ‘+‘ icon. Click the ‘+‘ icon next to the Join button.

 A pop up for ‘Add a Tab’ will appear. Vevox will appear in the ‘Optimized for meetings’ section. If it does not, use the search bar to search for ‘Vevox’.

 Click on Vevox logo and press the purple 'Add' button. A new popup will appear, asking you to enter the 9 digit Session ID that was created when you set up your session in the Vevox dashboard (see ‘Set up your Vevox session’ above). Enter the 9 digit ID and press the ‘Save’ button.

 Once you have saved the Vevox session ID click on the Vevox tab at the top of your applications bar. A Vevox participant app screen will now appear inside your Teams application.

Your Vevox participant application is now linked to that specific meeting.

3. How to use the Vevox application inside Teams (for meeting hosts/participants)

From your calendar – choose the relevant meeting to join or start it. The Vevox icon will now automatically appear in the top bar, next to the chat and participant icons.

Click on the Vevox icon and it will open up the participant application on the side of your screen inside the MS Teams meeting.

From here, your audience is able to send in questions via the Q&A board, answer polls and complete surveys exactly like they would do if they were using the Vevox mobile app on their phone.

The Q&A message board will allow you to post anonymous comments (there will be a notification confirming your anonymity). Click on the double speech bubble to access the Q&A message board and type in your comment at the top. Press the arrow key to send in your comment.

All other polling questions or Q&A will automatically appear in the side panel if the vote is pushed to the meeting participants, enabling you as a meeting host to keep video contact with your meeting participants.

Sharing Present view as a meeting host

If you would like to share the complete Vevox experience, use the ‘Share screen’ button from within the MS Teams meeting. You participants will be able to see the ‘big screen’ version in the main meeting frame with the participant application still open and available for answering polls on the sidebar.

How to manage your anonymous Q&A from the Vevox Teams integration

The benefit of using the Vevox Q&A is that your participants can truly stay anonymous when contributing comments, suggestions and ideas. This is unlike the Teams native chat functionality that reveals a name next to each comment.  It encourages true honest feedback and creates a safe space to mention the real issues. And all the Q&A feedback as well as polling results will be safely captured in the Vevox data report (in Excel format as well as results images) for further analysis.

To manage your Q&A session in Teams do the following:

Set up your Vevox session in the Vevox dashboard. The default session set up is that all participants are anonymous. You can check it by going to the session card, selecting the more options (three dots) and then choose ‘Settings’.

Under the Identification tab, the 'Anonymous' option will be selected. 

The Q&A moderation setting can also be turned on or off in the meetings settings under the 'Features’ tab. We suggest that you keep the moderation off for a simple Q&A experience. If you would like to review & filter all responses before they are shared on the Vevox tab for all to see, turn the moderation to ‘On’.

From the Q&A section in the navigation menu in your dashboard, type in your message or announcement that you would like to send to the Q&A board. Press the send button. This message will appear at the top of the Q&A board in the Vevox tab in MS Teams.

When participants first join the meeting in MS Teams they will see the welcome/information screen in the Vevox tab. Participants can navigate to the Q&A board by clicking on the double speech bubbles within the Vevox tab. The red dot indicates that there are unread messages in the Q&A board.

 Participants can enter their comments and feedback in the ‘Ask a question’ section. Then press the arrow to send their message.

From the Vevox dashboard, messages can be sent to archive or marked as favorites by the host.

For more functionality, reviewing processes and showing published Q&A messages read more about managing Q&A messages.

Participant limits in Teams

A normal Microsoft Teams meeting allows a maximum of 1000 attendees. For large meetings with over 1,000 participants – any people that join the Teams session over the 1000 limit will only be able to view the video feed of the Teams meeting – called Teams Lite. This means the Vevox add-in would not be available to those participants in the sidebar of the Teams meeting. But they can still take part by joining the Vevox session on their phones - they would need the 9 digit session ID to join. 

Best practices when using Vevox & Teams

1. Make sure you have an account with Vevox, and if you don’t sign up for one!
2. Ensure you've created a Vevox session so that you can add it into Teams.
3. Be prepared by adding the Vevox add-in in advance of a meeting. You can also add it during the session if you forget – but it is better to add it in advance.
4. In addition, you can add Vevox to Channels and individual chats if you wish.
5. Communicate to your meeting attendees when the Vevox app has been added and/or when you've started the session and tell them how to open it by clicking on the Vevox icon at the top bar in your Teams meeting. Vevox is not ‘forced’ open.
6. If you have a survey as part of your Vevox session, send the web app link of the session in the MS Teams chat in order for participants to complete the survey via the web app after the session. This grants users time to work on the survey on their own time.   
7. All editing for the Vevox settings must be done by the facilitator/meeting host in the Vevox dashboard through the browser version. 

Troubleshooting

When you are in a Teams meeting or call where Vevox is being used, but cannot see the Vevox logo at the top of the toolbar you will need to update your version of the Microsoft Teams application and rejoin the meeting/call. 

To check for updates:

Click your profile picture in the top right corner of the Microsoft Teams app.

Select 'Check for updates' in the drop-down menu.

Microsoft should update automatically.

Remember to log in to your Teams meeting once again from the calendar tab by selecting the 'Join' button. The Vevox logo should now be visible in the toolbar next to the 'Show Conversation' &  'Raise Your Hand' icons. 

Alternative to using Vevox inside MS Teams

If your participants cannot connect to Vevox inside the Teams meeting side panel, there is an alternative. The host can direct participants to the Vevox App, or to vevox.app where they can access the session via their web browsers, and use the Session ID provided by the host. Participants can still access the session via their mobile or desktop browsers and join in the same audience interaction alongside the Teams meeting.

Read this article on how to invite your participants to your session using the 9 digit session ID.

Remove your Vevox session from your Teams meeting

Sometimes, you would like to remove your Vevox session from your Teams meeting when you connected the wrong Vevox session or changed your mind about using Vevox in your meeting.

To remove the Vevox session, do the following:

Start or join your MS Teams meeting. (You do not have to wait till the actual scheduled date, you can go to your MS Teams calendar and press ‘Join’ for the relevant meeting.

Select the Vevox icon in the top menu bar.

Now click the three dots (more actions) next to the Vevox name in the sidebar. And click ‘Remove’.

A pop-up will appear asking you if you want to remove the Vevox tab permanently. Select ‘Yes’.

The vevox session will be removed from this specific Teams meeting, but it can easily be re-added or replaced with another Vevox session.

Guide to managing Vevox for MS Teams in single screen setup

Read this guide to easily manage your Vevox session in your Microsoft Teams meeting or video, when you have a single screen set up.