PLEASE NOTE: The intended functions in this article are for use when creating a Teams meeting that must be open to members of the public. The user setting up the meeting will want to make sure that it is secure, to prevent people from being disruptive while still allowing them to participate to comply with the Open Meeting Laws.

Create a Secured Teams Meeting

• To create a meeting click the Calendar tab in the Teams Desktop App. Find the date and time you want to schedule the meeting for and double-click that time. A new window will open to schedule your meeting. Type in the meeting title and select the Team Meeting option (if not already selected) to make it a virtual meeting.
• Type the names of the people you want to invite in the Invite Attendees text box. These will most likely be your committee members.

• Click Meeting options which will only appear after the Teams meeting option has been selected and attendees have been added. 
• In the Meeting options window, make sure you leave the default set to Everyone under the option Who can bypass the lobby.
• Turn off Announce when people dialing in join or leave.
• In the Roles section type in the names of the committee members/invited guests to be the co-organizers of the meeting.
• In the Who can present drop down menu make sure you select Only organizers/co-organizers.

• Turn off Allow mic for attendees.
• Turn off Allow camera for attendees.
• Turn off Meeting chat.  
  • Please Note: You may want to create a separate chat with your committee members separate from this meeting if you want to communicate privately without the external guests/attendees. This allows you to communicate with committee members while preventing external guests/attendees from disrupting the meeting in the chat.

• Turn on Q&A. The Q&A is how members of the public can interact with the committee. 
• Turn off Reactions. Reactions are another method for people to be disruptive.
• Make sure the Allow attendance report option is turned on.
• Click Apply at the bottom of the window and then click Send in the top left to create the meeting and send invites to the people you invited (committee members).
• Double-click on the meeting on your calendar and then click on the down arrow on the green Join button and select Copy join link.
• This will copy the link to your computer's clipboard

Paste the link to where you want to share/advertise the meeting (for example: email, web page, calendar, flyer, etc).

Run a Secured Team Meeting

When you join the meeting make sure you go to the Q&A section and click on the settings/gear icon and then click on Moderate posts and then click Save. This will prevent external guests/attendees from seeing every question that is submitted. The organizer and co-organizers can then see the questions and choose to publish them for everyone to see or not.If you want to allow an external guest/attendee to turn on their camera or mic you can do so by clicking the People tab and using the People pane during the meeting.

• • Please Note: If you need to go into Closed Session during the meeting, the Organizer can Lock the meeting in the People pane under the ... More options menu and then remove external guests/attendees who should not be in closed session.