Here are ten ways you can get more information and continue your learning journey with Teams. The places listed here have the best content on how to maximize what Teams has to offer. The list contains both free and paid resources in online and in-person formats. Working with a modern cloud-based service like Teams is a constant learning journey, and I continue to learn new things every single day.
Get information directly from Microsoft
Microsoft Teams has grown faster than any other Microsoft product in history. This isn’t an accident, and Microsoft has devoted a massive amount of resources to ensuring the product succeeds. Microsoft maintains a couple of websites that include documentation for Teams. These sites contain a treasure trove of learning resources and cover everything from end-user guidance to hard core administration procedures. Be sure to bookmark these sites so you can pull them up frequently.
microsoft.comis focused on how to do more administrative tasks, but also includes content for regular users and power users. You will find Teams in the Office section. The following figure shows the Teams landing page for administrators.microsoft.comis a relatively new site that replacessupport.office.com. This change reflects that fact that Microsoft has integrated its products and services and Microsoft Office is no longer such a stand-alone product. Microsoft’s internal mantra is that it is now “One Microsoft.” This is opposed to the past culture at Microsoft where each product team was nearly its own company, and integration between products was hard to find. When you land on thesupport.microsoft.compage, you can scroll down and select Microsoft Teams to view the help center. Here you will find online classes, training, and more tips about using Teams.
Enroll in an online class
Learning through one of the online class platforms is a popular way to learn new things. Online classes offer how-to videos that walk you through a specific task or scenario. I have used the following platforms to learn about Teams and I recommend them.
Check with your local library to find out if it has a subscription to an online learning platform. Many libraries make this available with the only caveat that you need to go into the library to log in to the platform.
- com/LinkedIn Learning: The Lynda.com site has become one of my favorite sources for learning Microsoft technologies. Lynda.com used to be its own training site until LinkedIn acquired it and it became LinkedIn Learning. Microsoft has since acquired LinkedIn, so it makes sense that the platform will continue to include great Microsoft training content. A quick search for Microsoft Teams training yields 69 courses, as shown.
- com: This site provides another wealth of online learning courses. I did a search for Microsoft Teams and the site provided 7,809 results. With such a wealth of content I tend to filter the results based on ratings of the instructors. This is one of my favorite sources for all types of learning online, and it includes a vast amount of Microsoft Teams content.
- org: This site provides university level courses online in all manner of subjects. When I searched for Microsoft Teams, I received 42 courses. Each of the courses is self-paced and the interface is easy to use. I have enjoyed taking courses here.
Keep up with experts
Microsoft continues to nurture a program for experts. The program provides a designation for key community contributors and experts in various Microsoft technologies and products. The designation is known as a Most Valuable Professional (MVP), and it is considered a top honor. Most MVPs maintain blogs, and you can stay up-to-date with the latest features by reading their current posts.
Most MVPs maintain a blog where they cover the latest happenings in their areas of expertise.
You can search for MVPs. I entered Teams into the search parameters and received a listing of 533 MVPs from all over the world, as shown.
Attend user groups and meetups
Getting together with others around a common cause is a great way to dig deeper into any subject. Name just about any subject and you will likely find a group of people that gets together once a month to discuss the topic. And Microsoft Teams is no exception! You can use your favorite search engine to look for groups near you.
I recommend starting a group within your organization for others that are interested in getting the most out of Teams. It is a great way to have a big impact in your organization. You can learn and share with others how Teams can be used to improve productivity.
The Microsoft Teams Users Group defines themselves as “The definitive meetup for Microsoft Teams professionals.” You can search the site for groups in your area. Another great place to find meetups of all sorts is Meetup. The site has a topic specifically for Microsoft Teams, and you can search the site to find meetups in your area.
Get certified
Microsoft certifications have always carried significant weight. They are not easy to obtain and are considered a gold standard. Microsoft has a certification designed for Teams called Microsoft 365 Certified: Teamwork Administrator Associate. This certification covers several aspects of teamwork using Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
You can find information about training and certification on Microsoft.com as well. Use your favorite search engine and search for “Microsoft Teams Training.” The first listing that appears (that isn’t an ad) should be the page dedicated to Teams training, as shown.
Subscribe to the Microsoft Teams podcast
To learn more about Microsoft Teams, you can add the Teams on Air podcast to your listening rotation. Teams on Air is a podcast dedicated to everything Microsoft Teams. It is created and presented by the Microsoft Teams product group, which releases a new episode every two weeks. The podcast features product updates, how-to tutorials, and the latest feature releases. Teams on Air is an audio podcast but also includes a visual component.
You can subscribe to the Teams on Air podcast in all the common places. The official site is shown in the figure. I listen on Apple Podcast, and I have also seen it on Player FM, YouTube, Libsyn Pro, and even Spotify.
Attend the Microsoft Ignite conference
Conferences are similar to local meetups and user groups. The difference is in the scale. Whereas a local meetup or user group might include 25 people, the Microsoft Ignite conference might include as many as 25,000 people.
Other conferences focus on Teams, but the biggest one is Ignite. Ignite is the mother of all Microsoft conferences, and I would recommend attending if you can find the budget.
Ignite takes place toward the end of the year. Lately it has been taking place in Orlando, Florida, but it has also taken place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ignite covers all Microsoft products including Teams. You can find more information about Ignite using your favorite search engine.
The figure shows the Ignite keynote presented by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in November 2019. I was happy to see Teams playing a major focus in the keynote presentations. There was an amazing number of sessions on Teams at the 2019 conference, and you can find many of them on YouTube.
Get updates in your inbox
Microsoft maintains a blog for Teams, and you can subscribe to it so that any new posts appear in your inbox. To subscribe, use your favorite search engine and search for “Microsoft Teams Blog.” On the blog page you will find an RSS feed button, as shown. You can use this link to set up the RSS feed in your Outlook client.
You can find details on setting up an RSS feed in Microsoft Outlook in Microsoft Outlook 2019 For Dummies by Faithe Wempen and Bill Dyszel (Wiley), and a detailed procedure on the For Dummies website.
The Microsoft Teams group also maintains a Twitter account where you can get instant updates on Teams. The Teams Twitter handle is @microsoftteams.
Discover the Microsoft Teams Roadmap
That all changed with new services like Teams. Microsoft adds new features to Teams at a breakneck pace. It seems like every week I wake up to a new feature showing up in Teams. To keep up on the upcoming features, I follow the roadmap Microsoft has outlined for Teams. You can find the roadmap by searching for “Microsoft Teams Roadmap” in your favorite search engine. The roadmap is shown in the figure. You can see what features Microsoft is currently developing and when they are scheduled to ship.
If there is a feature you want added to Teams but you don’t see it in the roadmap, you can add your voice to suggested features on the Teams User Voice. It is a site where the community can add new ideas for features and vote on existing ideas. Microsoft keeps a close eye on the site and implements the most popular feature requests.
Continue learning with Rosemarie (your author)
Last — but hopefully not least! — I have embarked on a journey to share my hard-earned knowledge with others. I compiled an incredible stash of tips and tricks I’ve learned working with hundreds of clients over the years. Working with organizations around Microsoft 365, Office 365, SharePoint, and Teams, I have figured out what works and what doesn’t.
I want to work with you, your team (pardon the pun), and your organization on the specifics. You can find me on my Learning with Rosemarie page, as shown.
